monome opinions

doc holiday · Post by **doc holiday** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:53 pm

Tone Deft wrote: I can guarantee you that your plan is totally half baked. there's no way
you can build one, put a case on it and sell it for any significant profit if
you sell it for the same cost of what the monomes are selling finished
64s for.

feel free to try to prove me wrong, I ran the numbers on this project about 9
months ago, before the kits were announced and I thought the only way I
could get one was to make my own.

you haven't really thought this through. the monomes' margins aren't
what you think they might be.

250 for the kit

450 retail

the only extra cost is the leds plus material to build the case

besides if i cant sell it i'd have 2

I might just by one kit, but I think the assembly process for two at once wouldn't be
much more work. besides i like tinkering with things, and building it would be fun.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:02 am

doc holiday wrote:250 for the kit

450 retail

the only extra cost is the leds plus material to build the case

besides if i cant sell it i'd have 2

I might just by one kit, but I think the assembly process for two at once wouldn't be
much more work. besides i like tinkering with things, and building it would be fun.

$100 for a top plate, cause 64 holes adds up. me and dozens of other people scoped this out.

case - totally open, I'll probably spend $100 for a case from a plastics shop,
I'll just IGNORE the case, call both of them FREE.

64 LEDs - ~$50 depending, but they can easily be more than $1 each.

call it $150, ignoring the case, tax, shipping and tools you might need.

times TWO is about $300 in parts for the two. sell one for $200 profit, you're still fucked.

as you get to know the monome ethos you'll understand where I'm coming
from. some people just don't get it, they're called Republicans, they're only
out for their own.

you're right, it's not like scalping tickets, that's a working business plan.

Michael Hatsis · Post by **Michael Hatsis** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:39 am

Tone Deft wrote:
doc holiday wrote:250 for the kit

450 retail

the only extra cost is the leds plus material to build the case

besides if i cant sell it i'd have 2

I might just by one kit, but I think the assembly process for two at once wouldn't be
much more work. besides i like tinkering with things, and building it would be fun.
$100 for a top plate, cause 64 holes adds up. me and dozens of other people scoped this out.

case - totally open, I'll probably spend $100 for a case from a plastics shop,
I'll just IGNORE the case, call both of them FREE.

64 LEDs - ~$50 depending, but they can easily be more than $1 each.

call it $150, ignoring the case, tax, shipping and tools you might need.

times TWO is about $300 in parts for the two. sell one for $200 profit, you're still fucked.

as you get to know the monome ethos you'll understand where I'm coming
from. some people just don't get it, they're called Republicans, they're only
out for their own.

you're right, it's not like scalping tickets, that's a working business plan.

Then, if you dont have a soldering Iron, that costs too. Not to mention the time it takes to resource parts, faceplates...Then soldering 64 little LEDs to the Board...Crabtree has already stated that if your looking for a cheap way to get monome this ain't it. Also, a couple peeps tried selling their finished kits and they were asking for more than the OG price of the 40h, and they were just trying to break even...

doc holiday · Post by **doc holiday** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:38 am

i'm not looking for a cheap monome, and you might convince me to only go for one. but i want to build one. the work would not be a problem.

but, tone, your right. the faceplate would be the hardest part

Michael Hatsis · Post by **Michael Hatsis** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:07 am

doc holiday wrote:i'm not looking for a cheap monome, and you might convince me to only go for one. but i want to build one. the work would not be a problem.

but, tone, your right. the faceplate would be the hardest part

Def get two, or even four

... You can just chain em up how u see fit. Just got a 128 and now i wish i had a 256... you mentioned that you wanted to get two and sell one, thats why i said there is no point - there isnt. But if your gonna use both, youll be upset you only got one. I think im gonna hold out for the kits, grab 2 and make a modded 128 with bigger buttons...Hopefully ill sleep through the sale tommorow, so i wont be tempted...They're gonna go fast though...

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:08 am

doc holiday wrote:i'm not looking for a cheap monome, and you might convince me to only go for one. but i want to build one. the work would not be a problem.

but, tone, your right. the faceplate would be the hardest part

yeah, to put it another way, the soldering isn't the hardest part. even then, watching the first set of kits being built we were able to diagnose those pretty quick (I was more active on that forum then, I'll get back to it), mostly missed solder connections and occasional LED or diode being reversed or not having the ribbon cable seated solid.

ultimately for faceplates, group buys won out in the end. chat it up, see what happens. like I mentioned, I bought mine via paypal from some random guy in Belgium, risky in any other situation, but it's all good. damn the exchange rate!!

you should've read some of the rants against people selling them for profit and all that, very civil (that community's pretty chill, unlike the dripping vag you find here) but people were quick to call bullshit, no real drama though.

anyway... really open ended devices, cool community, I need to put a freaking case around mine. hope I didn't come off too strong, I know some people hoping to get in on the sales frenzy.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:09 am

mike@TrackTeam Audio wrote:
doc holiday wrote:i'm not looking for a cheap monome, and you might convince me to only go for one. but i want to build one. the work would not be a problem.

but, tone, your right. the faceplate would be the hardest part
Def get two, or even four ... You can just chain em up how u see fit. Just got a 128 and now i wish i had a 256... you mentioned that you wanted to get two and sell one, thats why i said there is no point - there isnt. But if your gonna use both, youll be upset you only got one. I think im gonna hold out for the kits, grab 2 and make a modded 128 with bigger buttons...Hopefully ill sleep through the sale tommorow, so i wont be tempted...They're gonna go fast though...

but mike, being able to use 2 64s like 1 128 is dependent on YOU hacking the software to map all the controls.

fuck it, I got mine, good luck getting yours.

Michael Hatsis · Post by **Michael Hatsis** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:39 am

Tone Deft wrote:
mike@TrackTeam Audio wrote:
doc holiday wrote:i'm not looking for a cheap monome, and you might convince me to only go for one. but i want to build one. the work would not be a problem.

but, tone, your right. the faceplate would be the hardest part
Def get two, or even four ... You can just chain em up how u see fit. Just got a 128 and now i wish i had a 256... you mentioned that you wanted to get two and sell one, thats why i said there is no point - there isnt. But if your gonna use both, youll be upset you only got one. I think im gonna hold out for the kits, grab 2 and make a modded 128 with bigger buttons...Hopefully ill sleep through the sale tommorow, so i wont be tempted...They're gonna go fast though...
but mike, being able to use 2 64s like 1 128 is dependent on YOU hacking the software to map all the controls.

fuck it, I got mine, good luck getting yours.

Nah, you just hook the two of them up then in Monomeserial, just set the 2nd 40h to a column offset of 8...boom insta 128... Its gonna be be jungle warfare on the monome site tommorow afternoon. peeps are gonna hold the monome shopping cart for ransome...Even if not, Those things are gonna go in like 2 hours. Good for Tehn and the entire Monome community...So much love...

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:42 am

^ thanks for that, I haven't been paying attention to their site for a while, after I posted that I thought there might have been a workaround, I'm slippin', and will stfu.

Michael Hatsis · Post by **Michael Hatsis** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:50 am

Tone- any plans on enclosing or adding some mods to ur kit?

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:51 am

you could get a bag of 100 led's for about 10 bucks on ebay, but that faceplate is a killer

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:56 am

mike@TrackTeam Audio wrote:Tone- any plans on enclosing or adding some mods to ur kit?

This made me think about this comment (from the monome site):

the 256, 128, and 64 all have an 8-bit digital port available, as seen on the top photo to the right of the circuit board. with open access to the JTAG and ISP ports we’re hoping to see some new modifications soon.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 5:58 am

mike@TrackTeam Audio wrote:Tone- any plans on enclosing or adding some mods to ur kit?

definitely. I was playing with optical encoders and I think the accelerometer is a great addition. probably 1 of each. I was also thinking of putting a switch on it to swap the accelerometer for an encoder. so, encoder + accelerometer or 2 x encoders, which is more usable in a basic setup. none of this helps to decide on a case to make.

at the time I had to reprogram the chip to change half of the ADC port to an encoder port, and so on, then Live 7 hit, then I moved and all's been chaotic lately, more later when I get back into it.

sparklepuff · Post by **sparklepuff** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:00 am

Machinate wrote:
mike@TrackTeam Audio wrote:Tone- any plans on enclosing or adding some mods to ur kit?
This made me think about this comment (from the monome site):
the 256, 128, and 64 all have an 8-bit digital port available, as seen on the top photo to the right of the circuit board. with open access to the JTAG and ISP ports we’re hoping to see some new modifications soon.

Jesus you're up early.

Machinate · Post by **Machinate** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:05 am

In terms of mods I actually think a couple of menu-type buttons would be the real kicker: most people end up using the 40h as a "7x8" instead of 8x8 because they need to mute/un-mute (as in mlr)