Weekly update 15
Hi all!
Here is the 15th weekly update with the adventures of the week. I decided to take a bit more time this week to elaborate on some things so I hope I don't bore you to death with too much details.
Panels
The quotation for the panels came in yesterday. I still have a few questions which I sent to the factory (lead time being one of them). I'm expecting to get the answer this week.
I'm actually quite happy to work with these guys again (they also did the prototypes of the first controller). Sure, they're more expensive (double actually), but they deliver top quality and really think along with me for solutions and options. I know they hold a high standard and won't ship panels that are not perfect.
About the refunding process of the old panels: I'm still working on it. The factory still refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing but I managed to retrieve the message in which I specifically tell them that the rivets should absolutely not be visible on the top and brought it in as evidence for the dispute. I am aiming for a full refund so I hope the intermediary will decide in my favor.
Packaging
The package factory sent me a new sample but, as happens often here, it got lost in the mail. Luckily I was able to retrieve it before it got sent back but this delayed the production process by another week.
There was a minor mistake in the sample so I sent them a prototype again (I already sent them one before but they sent it back to me and need it again to fix the mistake). The new sample is on its way and is currently at my neighbors place (who is not home).
Woodwork
I'm a bit over halfway with the lacquering of the (current) woodwork and am very excited about how much better the woodwork looks once it's treated! Like mentioned before, the woodworker is now working on another batch so that I have enough for all the orders. He ordered the wood last week.
The wood for the last batch
Soldering
All PCBs have been soldered but about half of them still need the faders soldered on. Luckily, this is going rather quickly but yesterday I actually ran out of solder. Usually this is not an issue and I will quickly go to the electronics shop here around the corner. However, I've just learned that they are closing all physical shops and won't be stocking anything anymore meaning I had to order some online.
I do want to take this opportunity to thank the people at Conrad for years of shopping pleasure!
Testing
I'm currently testing the software, meaning the firmware, the Ableton MIDI remote script and the editor. All functionality seems to be working and from now on, no new features will be added. I'm really curious to see what you guys will think of how it works. I hope to have some time soon to make a video but looking at the amount of work on the board, that will probably take some time.
I will also start testing the soldered controllers one by one this week. I bought fancy Quality Assurance stickers to keep track of which controller passed the first test. I will test them again when they are fully assembled.
Overall status
So what's the current status? We are slowly getting closer to being able to actually start assembling. The big showstopper of course are the panels. Once they are in, I have to do some post-processing on them in order to fit the rotary potentiometers.
Other than that, the following things still need to be done:
- Laser the logo on the stands
- Testing each controller before assembly
- Assembling the controllers
- Testing again
- Package the controllers
- Ship the controllers
This is the first batch, like mentioned, for the second batch I will receive new woodwork that needs to be milled, glued, sanded and lacquered. So if you ordered late, you might have to wait a bit longer.
Future for Midique
Apart from working hard to get all the controllers ready, I also am thinking about the next steps for Midique. I would really appreciate it if you could fill in/out a survey to help me understand my audience (and my company) better. It will take less than 5 minutes of your time (unless you decide to write elaborate stories in the open answer fields, which I only encourage):
That was it for this week. See you next week!
Cheers!
Koen