Korg is cutting into our turf

[Mark Hammer]

Unveiled this week at NAMM; Korg's Nu:Tekt OD-S overdrive pedal kit.  Not sure that making your own pedal gets much easier than this.

[Rob Strand]

They make a point of saying it's a solderless construction.

Not sure what the motive would be for a company like Korg to sell kits.
Perhaps:
- new employee who builds pedals convinces management to sell  kits
- kits might get around product certifications in some counties ultimately making it cheaper,
  that saving is on top of the saving in assembly (and testing) costs.
 

[digi2t]

Bah. Reminds me of the AMDEK projects. All that is old is new again. At over $300 for a kit, don't think it'll be making that big of a splash with the DIY crowd. After all, we are notoriously cheap. At that price, I would be more inclined to go with Rob's first hypothesis.

Which reminds me... I have a brand new Amdek DMK-100 kit sitting in the box still awaiting assembly.

[Rob Strand]

At over $300 for a kit,

Ouch, not cheap.

[bean]

Well, that's not DIY. That's a production end-line.

[newjackruby]

Well, that's not DIY. That's a production end-line.

Exactly!

"Okay, here's 100 fewer people we have to hire."

[Mark Hammer]

Actually Korg has a couple of Nu:Tekt products that snap together, including a NuTube headphone amp and a synth.  They also hooked up with littleBits a few years ago to make snap-together synth modules.  I guess it's for folks who want "the DIY experience" without the misery.

[Rob Strand]

They also hooked up with littleBits a few years ago to make snap-together synth modules.

Interesting,  that makes the motives far more blurred.

Well, that's not DIY. That's a production end-line.

I guess it's for folks who want "the DIY experience" without the misery.

Somewhere between fake DIY and modern "engineering".

[tubegeek]

I guess it's for folks who want "the DIY experience" without the misery.

I thought the misery was the whole point?

[vigilante397]

I thought the misery was the whole point?

That's why I'm here for sure. I wouldn't build pedals if I didn't hate myself

[deadastronaut]

i concur i love the suffering and misery, its all part of the fun...


as for the nu tube stuff, ive read a few reviews where they say they sound naff....(havent tried myself)

which may explain why they get others to build them ....

[Ben N]

But who am I to judge? I finished 5 projects in the last two weeks, all of them on RTS boards and several in pre-drilled, powder-coated enclosures.  And while I have a few more aspirational projects in the queue, the backlog of more-or-less paint-by-numbers stuff (including two of Nathan's, one of Dino's, etc.) is going to have to be worked through before I have the space, on the workbench or in the brain, for stretching out. So, if these kits grab someone's imagination, good on them, and maybe next they will graduate to a more complete DIY experience--this could be a fine gateway drug. I doubt very much any of the committed solder junkies around here will be trading their next eight Tayda/SmallBear/Mouser/Farnell/BLMS orders for one of these.

[bluebunny]

I wouldn't build pedals if I didn't hate myself

Don't you mean "hurt myself"?   

[GibsonGM]

Looks like the last 5 minutes of a 5 hour project, LOL.

[bluebunny]

I guess it's for folks who want "the DIY experience" without the misery.

It's almost "the DIY experience" without the DIY.  Like putting together something from IKEA that only has five parts.    As Mike and Brian have suggested, it's just regular manufacturing with the last bit left to the consumer.

Having said that, I did "build" a couple of Amdek kits back in the day.  But I didn't pay $300 for them...

[Mark Hammer]

There are gradations of DIY.  Is working off a vero layout that someone else drew up and tested DIY?  Is ordering a legended PCB or a parts kit with PCB and machined enclosure DIY, or does one have to design, etch and drill the board and machine/decorate the enclosure yourself?  I do know that making a cake from a Duncan Hines mix gets me credit at social functions for a "home-made cake".

I grant that Korg has created a niche that makes DIY mere inches away from simply unboxing.  At the same time, there may well be legal reasons for doing so, related to the phrase "Made in...".  I know that Godin guitars maintains facilities on both sides of the US/Canada border precisely for those reasons, and recent trade negotiations regarding automobile manufacture had much to do with how much could be made in this country or that.  Maybe completed products incur duties, or other hurdles, that to-be-assembled ones don't.  I don't know this, I'm just speculating.  I expect others here will have more informed legal opinions.

All of that said, those who do MORE themselves will get more credit than those who subcontract more out to others.  I'll confess here that, in an effort to not spend time in a VERY cold garage, I order pre-drilled powder-coated enclosures from Tayda.  But I do etch and drill my own boards, when I have a layout.

[bean]

I thought the misery was the whole point?

That's why I'm here for sure. I wouldn't build pedals if I didn't hate myself

I've never heard it put better. It's like self-immolation without the sweet release of death.

Well...maybe that's going too far! But I do still burn myself every day with the soldering iron.

[duck_arse]

cake! when did yellow become a cake type, besides the uranium kind?

[VintageGear]

Didn't know IKEA invested in Korg?

[Nasse]

NTS-1 digital KIT fx section sound demos are impressive ...