Birdkids offGrid - Kickstarter

The Lounge General Discussion
#41

Have received mine and I’m super happy with it! It has a great tactile feeling, is super portable, the battery is still going from the first charge…

I have never had any interest in the musical arena in iOS, since 1) I have an iPhone SE so the real state is limited and all musical apps UXs are not so usable and 2) the lack of tactile feedback is something that really really bothers me.

But now, I’m finding myself looking at my iPhone with different eyes thanks to the OffGrid. I’m having lots of fun with Koala, again, pre-OffGrid was of little interest, but now is fun. Also looking to connect OffGrid with M8 using WIDI Jack, got halfway there the other day, still need to keep at it.

Great piece of gear, truly recommended it. And also the “play against odds” motto, after reading Mike’s comment above. I have to say their communications in the Kickstarter campaign have been great but didn’t read as personal as this comment, which resonated a lot more with me.

Thank you @MikeBeim and partner, BirdKids, for all the hard work getting this great piece of hardware out, in spite of all odds, for the great communication, and for doing what was needed to keep the boat afloat through very hard times!

#42

from the kickstarter comments section:

"Dear Backers and supporters, we want to reassure you that an update is coming. We’ve withdrawn the last update draft scheduled for early July, monitoring the current shipping and logistics crisis with FedEx. Roughly 60% of packages were significantly delayed between March and August. An exceptionally high amount was also damaged or flat-out lost. Nevertheless, we’ve been fulfilling continuously throughout the last months.

We want to manage your expectations, a decision to stop operations as birdkids GmbH has been made by the three shareholders. Of course, we will cover every aspect of what led to that hard decision and what that means for the campaign’s goal in depth. We promise you closure.

We’d also like you to know that more than a third of backers have been rewarded for participating in the campaign already. And we wish that we could reward every backer for the trust put in us, but that won’t likely happen.

Behind every vitriolic comment, there’s a fair amount of objective criticism poorly phrased. You should know that aside from a few accusations of misuse of investment, we bear no resentment toward any backer voicing their opinion however they choose to do so. We know that there is a lot of enthusiasm and real anticipation behind each pledge, and we appreciate it to no end. We believe that all of you, at every point, wanted to see this campaign succeed, and we choose to stay naive in assuming the majority pledged to the campaign’s goal, fully understanding the risks of one (Trust and accountability — Kickstarter) by trusting us to do good. And we believe we did better than we possibly could within the circumstances.

We can’t wait to share with you the full story; stay tuned, and thank you, as always, for the patience and continued support!"

#43

and of course they still list it for sale on their site:

#44

I have one I’m selling if anyone wants it. I don’t get along with the pads. Not sensitive enough for me—I’m stroker not a banger.

FWIW mine arrived (in Germany) just fine, a week after ordering.

#45

They put stock in stores and on their website (where I got one) and some backers never got theirs? I’d be rather pissed.

#46

Yikes, that sucks to hear they’re dissolving. I like my Offgrid and use it a fair bit with Drambo, but there’s definitely still room for polishing. Hopefully they’ll end up open sourcing the firmware or something.

#47

they claimed that in order to continue producing them to fulfill the Kickstarter that they had to start selling them to the public to generate income…

I’m pretty pissed…their entire campaign was handled badly, poor communication etc etc etc

I don’t know anything about Austrian bankruptcy laws but they may not be able to open source the offGrid - I hope they do - obviously I think it’s a good idea since I supported the Kickstarter :expressionless:

1 Like
#48

Well, as someone who was among the first 10 supporters (and also a supporter in the first failed offGrid campaign), I can’t say I’m happy. It’s sad to see a nice innovative company go bust, it’s worse when they still haven’t sent you the reward, and it’s the worst to be one of their earliest supporters and still not having the reward.

1 Like
#49

This is why I never crowd-fund. We tend to treat these campaigns like pre-orders, but there’s no guarantee you’ll ever get the “reward.”

Still, I can’t imagine the stress of realizing you have a zillion euros of other people’s money in the bank, and the expectation to deliver on a hardware product asap. And all during a pandemic where nothing works right.

2 Likes
#50

Nah, I’ve funded close to a hundred campaigns and I’m mostly happy with the experience. But yeah, sometimes shit happens. Still worth it in my opinion.

4 Likes
#51

I’m so sad to hear this. I’m hoping they open source the firmware so the hardware can still live on, if they’re dissolving.

But also realize that might not happen in the end for whatever reasons outside the general knowledge.

For what is worth, I was one of the backers that got their reward, even after they started to sell to t he general public in order to have funds and keep running, a decision I fully understand. Keeping a hardware company afloat with the times we’re living is not an easy task.

2 Likes
#52

Wow. Criminal it’s still on the website. Almost purchased. Glad I looked here first.

1 Like
#53

Birdkids is now insolvent :frowning:

2 Likes
#54

Ugh, sucks for everyone involved.

#55

Birdkids website is down and the editor is offline. Can’t edit any templates and presets anymore. Does anyone know how to edit the presets without the online editor?

#56

Don’t count on it. Your device is pretty much useless as an assignable midi controller.

#57

The editor is still online:
https://offgrid.birdkids.io/#/editor

1 Like
#58

Yes, someone should use Jdownloader, wget or whatever to archve the page in case it’s downed.

1 Like
#59

That’s already surprising, given that their email responses are basically “we’ve closed the company, so fuck off”. Wouldn’t expect them to care enough to keep it online.

#60

Offline here. Not sure why.