Dom Mcsweeney
Roadie
- Messages
- 955
I never tried one but was always noticing them back in the day... I don't know if they are good or not, but they made an impact visually that's for sure!
Fractal Audio Axe Fx IV Product Imminent??
- Thread starter SeeD
- Start date
0XI0
Roadie
- Messages
- 675
u don't remember this thing flying off the shelves? something about a 1-foot footprint that does 15 different things is guitarist fatal attraction
- Messages
- 10,455
I do not remember that thing flying off the shelves, no. Got any stats??
0XI0
Roadie
- Messages
- 675
- Messages
- 507
Do they still make it? If they don't then it wasn't flying off the shelves. It's difficult predicting market acceptance. What seems iike a good idea, and even passes focus group testing can still be a flop.
Product development is more costly than ever so manufacturers are reticent to take risks.
- Messages
- 10,455
It's like... people who don't make products, and who don't make anything, think they know all of the ins and outs. But they really do not.
I'm currently looking at building a software package. It has a small niche appeal. If I could sell it to 3000 people for $199 each, then I stand to make almost $600,000. Sounds good right?
Until you look at the numbers.
If takes me 8 months to develop, I have to account for my hourly wage. Let's price it lowish, at about $100. Let's say I work 7 days a week, because I typically do at the moment, that'd be about 56 hours a week. 8 months would be almost 35 weeks. Total hours about 1950. At $100 an hour, that makes our base development cost to be about $195,000.
Even if I put my working hours at 42 a week, that would still turn into $146,000 or so.
So.... revenue goal.... $600,000.
Dev cost ... $146,000.
Taxes at say 25% ... $149,000.
Payment processing, call it $20,000.
Support and infrastructure... call it $30,000.
Marketing... call it another $30,000.
$375,000 in costs, leaving me with $225,000.
Okay, not bad for a solo developer. But it assumes no delays, no refactors, no failed research/design, no unexpected costs, no scope creep, no new competitor release, no customer blowback, no piracy, no slow adoption curve, no marketing misfires, and no burnout.
So.... small niche software product, 3000 units .... that's a pretty good number. Not much music software hits 3000 units in the first year, without serious marketing....
Ultimately, you really need to be SURE about the thing you're going to spaff 8 months of your life building, and I'm just talking from a small indie dev perspective. Shit gets wild from a corporate perspective.
TLDR; I had one of those Boss multi-wahs. It sucked. I don't think they really sold that well. Source Audio have been on record saying that their swish-as-all-hell expression pedal did not sell well enough, and long and short of it.... it's difficult to sell these kinds of products. They're not big and sexy.
0XI0
Roadie
- Messages
- 675
they don't make it anymore, digital wah is like digital filters, nobody actually want digital filters. they just want 1 real one
laxu
Rock Star
- Messages
- 8,565
I'd add that the right product at the wrong time is also a thing, and hard to predict.
I've been recently looking into buying a Marshall Vintage Modern. Back when it released in 2007, it was probably at the worst time of "people want a proper Plexi" hype as those kind of amps were starting to get popular again due to better attenuators on the market etc. Marshall didn't do a good job explaining it as a "modernized JTM45", and it wasn't a traditional Plexi, so not many wanted it.
Now that "Plexi but better" type amps, whether master volume designs or NMV amps with various tone altering switches of all kinds are out there, I think it would do a lot better.
If released at the wrong time, you end up in a cycle like: New product -> not enough buyers -> discontinued -> someone finds it years later and shows "Hey this is actually awesome" -> renewed popularity, but no money for the OEM because people just buy the used ones. Even if it gets reissued, it's not a guarantee that it will sell well.
I feel like the hype cycle is shorter than ever. Who even remembers that amp or pedal that came out a few months ago, if you didn't buy into the hype then?
JiveTurkey
Goatlord
- Messages
- 22,952
He was kidding. I hope 
Boudoir Guitar
Rock Star
- Messages
- 5,580
- Messages
- 12,762
These sounded fantastic but weighed a ton. They were way ahead of Dunlop with the tweakable wah pedal thing.
paisleywookiee
Rock Star
- Messages
- 9,528
The XP-100 Whammy/Wah, which was actually really cool (I had one), was also relatively short-lived. Now they’re popular to mod and put all of the XP series effects on.
- Messages
- 12,762
Another piece of gear from the 90’s that was hated when it came out and go for big bucks now, mostly thanks to Korn and JHS.
They were the Whammy replacement at the time and were universally hated as a result…..except from the Korn guys, who particularly loved it for the shitty Whammy.
paisleywookiee
Rock Star
- Messages
- 9,528
Another piece of gear from the 90’s that was hated when it came out and go for big bucks now, mostly thanks to Korn and JHS.
They were the Whammy replacement at the time and were universally hated as a result…..except from the Korn guys, who particularly loved it for the shitty Whammy.
Yeah. It wasn’t a great Whammy, but it had its own sound. I had fun with it.
GTR37
Rock Star
- Messages
- 5,099
I think I read Digitech is actually relaunching these at NAMM w the talker
paisleywookiee
Rock Star
- Messages
- 9,528
TEMPTING INDEED!!
ispunk
Roadie
- Messages
- 176
Southpaw-DD
Roadie
- Messages
- 150
Reminded me of the Digitech Expression Factory. I wanted one of these many moons ago.
Similar threads
