Telex: Teletype expanders

[oscillateur]

Thanks for making the opening time world-friendly
Are the prices with or without shipping ?

[x2mirko]

I agree with @madeinspace and @ghost. I was planning to get two txos, but I’d be fine with a limitation if many people are interested and are concerned if they’ll get one in time. Better for many to get some than for some to get many.

[sandy]

Agree with the sentiments above that one set per individual would be the fair thing to do.

Anyone wanting more can always DIY some or pay someone to DIY for them.

[cocco88]

i think the limitation can be two modules for person
talking as a european buyer, we’re planning to make a group buy (two or three persons) to reduce shipping and taxes

[speakerdamage]

Also agree that there should be a limit due to extremely low number of units (relatively speaking).

[Random]

This is kind of an aside, but… well… given the discussion here probably relevant.

The community has been great at making their designs available. If there is a clear need for more of something perhaps we need to put together an ‘offer’ good enough that someone with the equipment and experience and inclination will step up and make, say, 10 of something. There has been an ‘interest in Aleph’ thread along these lines for a while.

I realize that it is much more convenient / fast / etc. to get in on an existing order, but it is pretty clear these are going to go fast and interest is larger than demand, so…

In a supply and demand world, how much would you pay for a Telex that might entice someone to make one? For many, as of the end of the current sale, that is the reality. What is the price that would entice someone to take this on?

I hugely appreciate @bpcmusic making the Telex but it seems to me that these are a labour of love not a profit centre given the price, the development time, the relatively small volumes, etc. etc. etc.

I’ve thought about this with regards to the Aleph so this isn’t an academic argument to me. Plus I suspect I’ll want more TX’s at some point.

[x2mirko]

I agree that people buying a second pair after already owning one could be seen as not being perfectly fair, but I don’t think that it follows that we should just throw our hands up and say “we give up, if we can’t make sure that no one gets more than one, we can’t limit anything.”

I think it’s still a good idea to strive for as much fairness as can reasonably be enforced. At least if the community agrees on this.

[oscillateur]

I’m flummoxed by this idea of mob rule. I thought the market demand dictates the rules.

The main point here is that this community is much more about respect and appreciation of each other than unadultered “market rules”. At least that’s the way I perceive it.

[x2mirko]

I’m not going to continue this discussion as I simply don’t care enough. I’m going to say that “mob rule” is an interesting way to frame this, though. For one thing, it’s still the decision of @bpcmusic how they’re going to do it. Furthermore, if they are interested in the communities opinion on this, another term one could come up with would be “democratic”.

[PacificNorthWes]

I’m hesitant to even chime in here because I don’t think this is actually going to be a big deal BUT, one slightly more complicated way to do it would be to limit purchases to something like 2 of any item (including the combo, which seems reasonable), but only for the first 24 hours. That way you give everyone a fair chance to get up to a couple of each, but afterwards if anyone is interested in building out a ridiculous teletype system, then they can do that then.

That said, I have no idea how much of a pain in the ass that would be to do in Shopify, and like I said, I don’t actually think it’s going to be that big of a deal unless someone is a huge jerk.

[xeric]

I think a reasonable limit could be beneficial for the community and make everyone’s units more valuable – the more individuals with the expanders, the greater community of contributors we have to the project – both moving the firmware development forward, but also development of more scenes making use of expanders.

Although it’s (hopefully) an unlikely edge-case, the worst scenario I could imagine is that someone swoops in and buys as many modules as possible with hopes of reselling for profit. We could easily protect against that situation with a limit of 4 or 5 modules per person.

I like @PacificNorthWes ’s idea about limiting the first 24 hours to give everybody a chance, and then opening the flood gates afterwards, but it might introduce some extra headaches on @bpcmusic ’s side to manage that change.

Full disclosure, I currently own a TXi and only plan on buying a TXo

[bpcmusic]

I think I’ve processed the above properly: I hear that initial limits would be appreciated. After some investigation, I’m thinking on leaving things limit free. Follow my thinking here:

I’ve explored setting a $670 dollar cart limit (before shipping). This allows for the purchase of 2 TELEX bundles (2xTXo + 2xTXi) and a pair of bus boards per order. The problem is, this is only per order. There is no way to stop folks from doing multiple orders with the Shopify plugins that I have access to. It feels way too easy to game - and frustrating for folks trying to do legit group buy things.

Since it isn’t a good solution - I’m considering just leaving it wide open and hoping that everyone is cool about it. Considering how nice and thoughtful everyone is here, I don’t think that will be a problem. My experience with this whole process is that everyone has been crazy super cool about everything. That is the nature of the group on this forum.

So - I hope that turning off any limits is OK with everyone. After my investigation (and plug in installation), It just seems to be the easiest, fairest option.

–

Ok, now to clear up some details from the thread above:

• There are limited numbers this build - but still a fair number of units. There are 20 TELEX Bundles going into the store (each a pair of TXi and TXo), 19 standalone TXi, 9 standalone TXo, and 40 powered bus boards. (That equals 29 TXo and 39 TXi total!)

• I have (possibly) 3 TXi and 6 TXo that will drop in the store once everyone has their units and is happy. That number will decrease if I need to use them for any issues. As I have done 4+ QA passes on all the units, I’m not anticipating any problems. (Didn’t have any last time with 2x+ the units.)

• These units are built out of my initial volume order of PCBs and Panels. They weren’t built in the first run because I didn’t have any pre-orders for them.

• This is the last 100% hand-built run that will be sold at cost. I’ve commited most of my nights and weekends for the last year to send 250+ TELEX out into the universe. It has been awesome - but I’m ready to use that time to make music, catch up on projects, and possibly design some new stuff for you all. That doesn’t mean that I won’t be helping any more get built. See the next point.

• There may be additional runs of the expanders, if there is sufficient interest. I’ve been in contact with a manufacturer who will do all of the assembly steps for us. The price will be higher as I didn’t factor any labor into what I’ve charged. How much higher depends on the demand volume, which is really hard to gauge. We will cross this bridge if there is enough apparent demand.

• Regardless of any future run, anyone can build one of these things if they have the appropriate skills and equipment. Everything you need is up on GitHub. Also, I have some additional panels in my inventory that I’ll put in the store at some point to help - though I don’t have a lot of them left. (There are also panel files in the repo if you want to 3D print or laser cut them.)

• The store will open this Friday at 2PM PST. I’m not posting the opening anywhere else within the first 24 hours. After that, if there are units left, I’ll put a notice on Instagram.

• There will be a small pre-sale opportunity of a couple of hours for a shortlist of folks that missed out on the first build and were in direct contact with me at the time. They are the reason why I did this second run and I have previously promised them some advance access. (Please don’t reach out to add yourself to that list. To be totally fair and transparent, I’m not adding anyone else at this point.)

–

Hopefully this eases some of the anxiety out there. Please understand that I’m trying to do this as simply and fairly as possibly. The whole point of all the work to date to make these little guys is so that you all could have them to use. Worst case scenario, even if you miss out this round, we’ll figure something out.

[bpcmusic]

Happy Friday!

This is just a little note to let you all that the TELEX store is now officially open for business for this run.

bpcmusic store

b

[x2mirko]

Annnd we’re live

I’ve got mine. Thanks again for doing this run! Very excited to get started with these!

[ghost]

Likewise. Looking forward to exploring these new possibilities!

[misuba]

In there!

(Now I just need the Teletype.)

.

(Don’t get mad at me, it’s been in the plan for months)

[x2mirko]

And mostly sold out already? That was even quicker than I expected.

[jnoble]

That’s probably the fastest order I’ve ever completed.

[jnoble]

Oh, and a big THANK YOU to @bpcmusic for making more of these for us to enjoy!!!

[demangone]

@bpcmusic thanks again for building these.