Would You Pay A Fee For OS Updates?

[thextreme1]

Personally, I would pay a $50 to $100 fee, if they would release one or two OS updates a year with features suggested by Fusion Owners. That way they can justify supporting the keyboard wihtout wasting resources.

Your thoughts?

[falcon]

It don't like the idea of paying for updates if they only include fixes. But if they are major updates with new functionality, I'll gladly pay. $100 feels a bit high to me (not that I cannot afford it, but you've already paid for the device and buy an upgrade, not a new product). $50 seems reasonable to me.

Interesting poll. If Alesis can find a way of making more money from the Fusion by developing it further: go ahead .

[gwenhwyfaer]

I'd have to say, not unless it offered something utterly compelling. (For an example of that, there's the Typhoon OS, which apparently made the TX16w feel like a different instrument - but that was a third-party development.)

Also, right now, affordability is a concern to me; I overextended myself to buy the Fusion in the first place, and having just decided to leave uni (it's not working out) I'm broke until I can get some contracting work in. I appreciate that this won't always be the case, of course, but the point is that the Fusion is already more instrument than I know what to do with; I suspect there will always be more compelling things for me to spend money on than an updated OS for it.

An SDK, on the other hand...

[agonzalez]

I would be willing to pay for an update with NEW features, of course (I mean, for an upgrade). To me the FUSION is just about right as it is today, but new features are always welcome.
Price ? That's a tough one. Maybe $50 US dollars for a rather rich upgrade, maybe $100 for a very rich upgrade.

[Jesse]

Once all the features stated in the literature are implemented and fully functional I would consider paying $25 to $50 for major upgrades, not bug fixes or features listed by Alesis stating what you can do with the Fusion in their literature and on the box the Fusion came in. I like Gewn's idea of an SDK also.

[thextreme1]

jesse said:

Once all the features stated in the literature are implemented and fully functional I would consider paying $25 to $50 for major upgrades, not bug fixes or features listed by Alesis stating what you can do with the Fusion in their literature and on the box the Fusion came in. I like Gewn's idea of an SDK also.

Agreed. I would at least like to see the SATA HD/CD Burner implemented. I feel that Alesis would be more open to future OS upgrades(New/Improved Features) if they felt that the costs could be recovered.

[mps]

This thread is starting to veer into a "missing features" direction. I am not going to lock or delete the thread... yet. The topic was about paying for an OS upgrade...

[diametro]

I think a model Alesis could follow is how Roland handled the V2 audio tracks expansion (lots of new features). New owners get it for free; others pay $50.

Not a horrible trade-off.

I'd be willing to pay that alone for a re-sampling/mixdown feature.

However, bug fixes should always be free.

Still, things like this -- as we all know -- can get into a grey area.

Roland released a free Fantom X OS update that now allows its audio tracks to record audio from its inputs and apply the internal effects to it whereas before they were strictly dry. Not exactly a bug fix, but obviously Roland thought it was a reasonable expectation in a workstation to have that functionality when dealing with audio tracks.

I just hope the sales allow Alesis to justify further refinement/development.

[mps]

diametro said:

I just hope the sales allow Alesis to justify further refinement/development.

I think we are all on the same page there.

[thextreme1]

mps said:

diametro said:

I just hope the sales allow Alesis to justify further refinement/development.

I think we are all on the same page there.

Agreed. They have to continue to show interest if they want the public's though. They should re-market it as the everything keyboard, all for $999! With that in mind, the SATA features should be implemented. It would be a marketing rebirth for the instrument, and many would probably think it is a newly released keyboard. They should also work out incentives with resellers to push the board even harder. Large banners in music stores would be a great start.

It just doesnt seem like they are continuing to do any legwork to get the word out. I only found out about the Fusion by accident. I am glad I did, but the point is it was by accident not because of marketing.

I love this keyboard, but Alesis needs to step it up. They cant just drop the price and expect everyone to flock to it.

[diametro]

But would you rather Alesis spent its money on marketing or refining the OS?

I think a smashing OS update would do more to generate good will than forking over a bunch of money to retailers or keyboard magazines.

That's an interesting thought, though ... HOW DO YOU MARKET A SYNTH WORKSTATION?

How many people use the Internet to guide their decision? Or do they just show up at the local music store and take home the one the salesguy likes and they don't hate.

Personally, I don't know how anyone wouldn't use the internet to aid in such a big purchase.

I'd still like to know how many Fusions have been sold and how many Alesis thinks they could still sell. Let's face it ... it's not a PS3.

How many peope are looking for a workstation?

[thextreme1]

diametro said:

But would you rather Alesis spent its money on marketing or refining the OS?

I think a smashing OS update would do more to generate good will than forking over a bunch of money to retailers or keyboard magazines.

That's an interesting thought, though ... HOW DO YOU MARKET A SYNTH WORKSTATION?

How many people use the Internet to guide their decision? Or do they just show up at the local music store and take home the one the salesguy likes and they don't hate.

Personally, I don't know how anyone wouldn't use the internet to aid in such a big purchase.

I'd still like to know how many Fusions have been sold and how many Alesis thinks they could still sell. Let's face it ... it's not a PS3.

How many peope are looking for a workstation?

I guarantee I could market it for them. I think there are a lot of keyboard players out there that would love an all-in-one recording studio. There are a million things they could do, one is huge banners sent to large music stores throughout the US. Another is keeping the new features coming via consistant OS updates, which would create great and free word-of-mouth advertising. They could nab a few artists to pimp the Fusion too.
The problem is, it doesnt seem like Alesis has that never-say-die attitude. Which they they should with this great keyboard. It is better than most anything out on the market and at only $1000.

I agree also, with wanting to see the sales numbers. I want to see what is holding the support/new/promised features back. It wasnt until someone from the forums!!! figured out what the problem was with the sync, that they fixed it. Were they even actively persuing the problem?

I am not coming down hard on Alesis as I do love the board, I just wish they wouldnt leave the crew that did buy their machine in the dark. It isnt like a weekly update on these forums would take much of their time.

[gwenhwyfaer]

thextreme1 said:

It wasnt until someone from the forums!!! figured out what the problem was with the sync, that they fixed it. Were they even actively persuing the problem?

No, what was figured out in the forums was how to reliably reproduce the bug. In the software world it's not uncommon to be completely unable to reproduce a reported bug until someone tells you how they did it, especially if you developed the thing in the first place. It can be quite frustrating for both parties - the users feel as though they're not being taken seriously, and the developers feel as though they're expected to be clairvoyant. The fact is that it took months to draw that bug out, and from what was said on the other forum, the fix turned out to necessitate the modification of the sequencer's internal format... now to me, that sounds like a huge effort in terms of rewriting, and yet it still took considerably less time than pinning down the bug! That is the way of software development - try to fix something until you know exactly what's broken and you'll invariably do more harm than good, and what seems like a tiny glitch can, if you're really unlucky, end up with you having to rewrite half your code.

[eskimo]

How about Alesis releasing the source code, surely we've all paid for it. Indeed, the story of stone soup springs to mind. That is to say, stone soup tastes great if we all add something. I.E. carrots, potatoes, peas and meat, get my drift. Hence, a better machine for us and a better machine for Alesis too retail... everybody benefits, and we all work together. Hope this has added the carrots.. LOL. Who likes carrots?

[gwenhwyfaer]

I know I've advocated the same thing in the past, simply because I like to know what I'm running, but to be honest the source code wouldn't be any use to any of us without a development system or an emulator, and anyway it's probably not in a public-ready state right now. I'd rather the Fusion team kept on developing it than put any effort into either of those two things.

However, I would like to see either the source code or hardware specs released (in whatever state it's in at the time, to be honest) if Alesis completely disband the Fusion team - but that's only because I think it's basically polite, if you're going to leave your users to fend for themselves, to give them the means to do so! I wish other synth companies had done the same; if they had, my EVS1 would still be a viable synth rather than a rackmountable paperweight, and I might be able to give my XL7 a couple of data entry buttons. *grumble* But whilst I'd like to see it happen, I doubt it will, and I won't mind about that unduly. (On the other hand, if the 6HD ever does get remaindered off, I'd be tempted to buy another one and see if I could make any headway writing an OS myself...)