[iosonofuturista]

Wow, this seems absolutely amazing for my use case.

Seems a perfect machine to just connect a nice synth with a multi fx pedal, and crank out a new song in a couple of hours! No distractions.

I guess I wont be able to justify the asking price you seem to be avoiding mentioning (which I can totally understand why, don't get me wrong), but I will surely follow the progress with great interest!

In any case, congrats and best of luck!

[col_rad]

Ahh yeah, price :sweat_smile: with 100 Units as a first batch I'd have to ask for EUR 1500 (incl. 20% Tax) or EUR 1250 (without tax to non EU customers).

Anything below, and it would be hard to make profit if sold via a reseller. (they grab like 30-40%)

[iosonofuturista]

Not my thing personally, but would you consider making a kit version like other manufacturers? At least for the early adopters could be a nice route and lower the price somewhat.

Although you did not mention it I never expected a sub 1000€ price tag.

That would make it the most expensive piece of gear in my home studio, if you do not count the laptop.

As I said, it certainly seems to tick all the boxes, but hard to justify. I still hope that you can validate the concept and in a couple of years I can grab one for around 500€.

Once again, best of luck on a very interesting if very niche project!

[col_rad]

I briefly thought about making a Kit version ... but this actually does not make it much cheaper. As long as there is anything pre soldered to the Board, you'd need CE to comply in the EU. (some manufacturers simply ignore that) Besides this, PCB assembly is pretty cheap compared to all the Component Costs.

And as I'm currently doing the end assembly by myself, for free. There is no cost saving in this either.

I might be able to make a cheap version in the future. But this would probably be a completely different product (no full size connectors, smaller display, made in china, ...) It would only share the software with the current version.

[follower]

Have you considered pricing the first batch at EUR 4000 each? :)

To quote myself[0] from too long ago:

"Very rarely will someone tell you that you're not charging as much for something as you should (perhaps with the exception of patio11 because he wants us all to make more money :) ) but generally there's always someone who will say something costs too much."

Due to a number of factors (including some past experience with hardware development & a recognition that most people purchasing low volume hardware do not have a realistic perspective on the costs involved) one of my hobbies is suggesting low volume hardware developers consider increasing their prices in order to potentially create a more financially sustainable business over the long term. (An outcome which is both better for the developer & their customers.)

Of course, such suggestions cost me nothing (as I don't currently have the disposable income either way) and their worth can be valued at the price you paid for them. :)

(And if @jacquesm advises you otherwise, I'd advise ignoring me. :D )

On the other hand if you decide to increase the price by even EUR 100 and you still sell out the batch, well, "it's free real estate" as they say...

Anyway, the prototype unit you demo in the SOS video looks really slick, so, nice work. :)

In case it's helpful here is a link dump[1] of various hardware-related manufacturing/pricing resources I've collected over the years, in rough suggested reading priority order:

* Case study of mechanical keyboard kits and "Vickrey auction as price discovery mechanism": https://kevinlynagh.com/notes/pricing-niche-products/

* Advice via "co-founder & former CEO of Contour" action camera company (esp. excellent section on pricing): https://learn.adafruit.com/how-to-build-a-hardware-startup?v...

* "Hardware by the Numbers (Part 2: Financing + Manufacturing)": https://blog.bolt.io/hardware-financing-manufacturing/

* "Will Your Hardware Startup Make Money?": https://blog.bolt.io/make-money/

The more VC-funded startup focused info may be less directly applicable to your situation but still has value.

Also, if you haven't already I'd suggest looking into the journey of the Synthstrom Deluge[2] (& maybe contacting them) as it seems to share some characteristics with you & your product in terms of market, pricing & team size. (I'm familiar with it primarily from meeting some of the team early-ish in their journey due to living in the same city at the time.)

Hope some of this is of use & either way, best wishes for the journey ahead!

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8453391

[1] Mostly extracted from an earlier post/rant of mine here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15444477 (Also, archived link of a couple more: http://web.archive.org/web/20160330204925/http://www.labrado... )

[2] https://synthstrom.com