From Blake Wilson Sent Wed, Jun 2nd 2004, 18:10
From Blake Wilson Sent Wed, Jun 2nd 2004, 18:10
At 11:48 AM -0400 6/2/04, xxxxxx@xxx.xxx wrote: >Hello Mike, > >Maybe there isn't one - there are doubtless many arguments to the >contrary, but what I see is: > >In the past, the longest-lived synth companies have either been >corporate giants or tiny 'one man band' operations, whereas the ones >that were of modest size croaked (for a variety of reasons) despite >some extraordinary successes. > >Not sure where the likes of Analogue Systems, Analogue Solutions, >Doepfer, Technosaurus fit in. They are all relatively new. > >If any conclusion can be drawn from this, maybe it's that it is >worth the wait for the 'one man band' to deliver, if he's got what >you want and the big boys' offerings just don't do it for you... don't forget the fact that serge has been in business since the early seventies, and my knowledge of the company indicates that at the height of success (late 70's/early 80s) they had quite a crew (15-20 people, perhaps) involved in the development, manufacturing, and merchandising of their instruments. when i became a customer in 1996, it was a 4 person concern; recently, it sounds like its even less than that. ems sounds like they are in the same boat, historically and personnel-wise. whether they are one man band operations is debatable. but i can attest for the fact that serge has stayed in business (at least since rex took over in 1992) because of extremely *realistic* and non-pecuniary visions of the owner; in other words, rex has not attempted to cover all the markets, nor has he overloaded himself w/ overhead or staff. as a businessman, he's a got a blacksmith's mentality, not a corporate raider's. reading "analog days" you get the idea that moog, sequential, et al, kind of sold out for the big bucks, and ended up out of the picture for quite a while as a result. in their desire to sell as many synths as possible, they unwittingly had to complete with the big boys and naturally lost that battle. just my thoughts. blake