The shown too soon dilemma.
At trade shows, companies face a dilemma with how early to show a new product. There is pressure to show what you’ve got, 'cuz we want to see it. And there is risk if you show it too early, people will either peg the product by the unfinished design, or be expecting the release soon, and think the company is not capable. And you paint a target on your back with the competition.
It needs to be said, products frequently take several years to develop, and can have schedules that are almost impossible to predict !
This year these products might be thought of as in the category of “shown a little early”, and may need a serving of tolerance from some of us : ( This is opinion, and not true for everyone. )
- Korg "Phase 5"
- Erica Synths Steampipe
- Modal Carbon8
- Reliq Hybrid Control Surface
- PWM Mantis
- Aodyo Anyma Omega
- Tiptop Audio ART series products
- Thingstone Track8
- UDO Super Gemini
- Lambda Synthetics PolyPulse
- Tasty Chips GR-MEGA
And Superlative is really sticking themselves way out-- showing a new product, the Monolab, when they are not done with another product they sold with Kickstarter, that is very delayed, the Space Bee SB-1. Both products are now in the “shipping very soon” category.
Actually from the inside, i am pretty tolerant of “too early”, but there damn well is a line, and you don’t want to cross it.
Last year some companies showed a product perhaps a little early, but have come through this year with it finished and are ready :
- Finegear Modmix
- Finegear Dirt Magnet
- Klavis Grainity
-
Expressive E Osmose
And many others.
There are also other companies that like to wait, wait, wait, until the product is done, done, done, before showing anything, which has risks and faces criticism as well. Two of these :
- Ashun Sound Machines
- Novation
And i won’t even mention the companies that have shipped too early !
I know i’ve missed a lot ( Polyend, SOMA, others ?? ) with these lists ( maybe i posted this too early ), so go ahead and fill a few in.
Behringer is not on the list, as they “don’t do shows”, but … well that’s something perhaps for another thread.