MIDI Notes question...

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]I've said it many times before....you get what you pay for, every time.

The H3PC software is free already, with no restrictions as far as FPS hardware add-ons goes.

I agree with the whole you get what you pay for statement above, however, intentionally leaving features undeveloped that were available in the older console for the sole purpose of restricting the use of third party hardware was a bad move. Some people that actually owned consoles and wings had a real use for Midi notes, and it took almost 3 years of members begging and pleading to get support for it. Why did it take so long? It's simple, it wasn't a priority because HES felt that it would take away from the sales of their wings.

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]One thing people may not realize is that the blue anodized aluminum bodies of all the wings, widgets, etc is extraordinarily expensive for HES to buy from the single source that makes them.

The machining of the aluminum is probably where they are spending most of their money, because anodizing in any kind of quantity is not as expensive as one would think. If this single source is so expensive, why don't they shop around to find a cheaper supplier? This would lead to higher profits for HES and could lead to an eventual drop in prices on their wings. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know what wings used to cost, and they were not that expensive back then.

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]As has already been seen with the sucess of the new line of widgets (they are much less expensive now), I would think this trend will continue in whatever/whenever the next generation of products comes along which would bring costs down.

This is a good thing, and I hope that this trend is carried over to their wings. HES should come up with a black box playback and programming wing and call it their budget line for those of us that are drooling over the blue ones. I'm almost positive that this would increase their console's popularity in some non-profit and low budget venues.

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]Not sure why a widget upgrade would be so expensive or why you did not take advantage of the long running upgrade offer when H3PC initially came out years ago. When they first offered the program it was very affordable (I upgraded my personal widget in this manner for very little).

Back then widgets cost an arm and a leg. The upgrade cost back then made sense as it was approximately 25% of the cost of a new widget. With today's prices of widgets, we are looking at the upgrade costing 67% of a new widget.

The reason that I didn't upgrade back then was because I was waiting for midi playback support and trying to figure out how to afford the upgrade and a playback wing. Also, as we have all seemed to have forgotten, the console wasn't bug free stable when it first came out.

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]I've said it many times before....you get what you pay for, every time.

The H3PC software is free already, with no restrictions as far as FPS hardware add-ons goes.

I agree with the whole you get what you pay for statement above, however, intentionally leaving features undeveloped that were available in the older console for the sole purpose of restricting the use of third party hardware was a bad move. Some people that actually owned consoles and wings had a real use for Midi notes, and it took almost 3 years of members begging and pleading to get support for it. Why did it take so long? It's simple, it wasn't a priority because HES felt that it would take away from the sales of their wings.

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]One thing people may not realize is that the blue anodized aluminum bodies of all the wings, widgets, etc is extraordinarily expensive for HES to buy from the single source that makes them.

The machining of the aluminum is probably where they are spending most of their money, because anodizing in any kind of quantity is not as expensive as one would think. If this single source is so expensive, why don't they shop around to find a cheaper supplier? This would lead to higher profits for HES and could lead to an eventual drop in prices on their wings. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know what wings used to cost, and they were not that expensive back then.

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]As has already been seen with the sucess of the new line of widgets (they are much less expensive now), I would think this trend will continue in whatever/whenever the next generation of products comes along which would bring costs down.

This is a good thing, and I hope that this trend is carried over to their wings. HES should come up with a black box playback and programming wing and call it their budget line for those of us that are drooling over the blue ones. I'm almost positive that this would increase their console's popularity in some non-profit and low budget venues.

[QUOTE=Marty Postma;60256]Not sure why a widget upgrade would be so expensive or why you did not take advantage of the long running upgrade offer when H3PC initially came out years ago. When they first offered the program it was very affordable (I upgraded my personal widget in this manner for very little).

Back then widgets cost an arm and a leg. The upgrade cost back then made sense as it was approximately 25% of the cost of a new widget. With today's prices of widgets, we are looking at the upgrade costing 67% of a new widget.

The reason that I didn't upgrade back then was because I was waiting for midi playback support and trying to figure out how to afford the upgrade and a playback wing. Also, as we have all seemed to have forgotten, the console wasn't bug free stable when it first came out.