Build update
Short version: we’re a few weeks behind schedule, but everything is going well and the first orders will be sent out in September.
a table full of half-assembled Beat Friends
The slightly longer version is that we hit a couple of delays with packaging and power supplies. The company that was going to supply our printed cardboard boxes decided to stop making boxes completely a couple of months ago and we only found out when we went to place the final order. The power supplies just took a while to source and test. Both issues are resolved now and we should have everything we need in a couple of weeks.
Nick and I have made and sold vinyl, CDs, cassettes, t-shirts, books, posters, stickers and apple juice before, but this is the first time either of us has made and sold an electronic machine. We’re learning a lot!
Last week we spent a solid 7 days building Beat Friends, refining the process, making jigs, listening to lots of albums and tuning the drums until they’re just right. We’re extremely happy with the enclosures, the screen printing and the way everything fits together (and the way it sounds, obviously). It’s a solid machine that should keep on making beats for many many years.
While we wait for the packaging and power supplies to arrive we’re checking off a bunch of little firmware tweaks that have been sitting in the todo list for a while, refining the beats, testing the USB firmware update process and building more units. Oh, and writing emails to our favourite mailing list subscribers.