Avid Stickers For S6 Locate Switches

[diamondschwin]

I keep tabs on the s6 forum since I am happily chugging away on an Icon or Artist Mix daily.... I continue to consider the s6, but just hearing that for that kind of money they cant create a program for correct key caps is insane to me.



My dad had a BMW motorcycle years ago where the chrome started to pit terribly after a year. He went to the dealership, fully prepared to get a quote to replace it all. The dealership informed him they had made an error in plating the early run of motorcycles and replaced ALL the chrome for free.

Yes it cost BMW a lot of money, but they created a situation where they handed a deficient product that wasnt up to their standards to their customers and they wanted to take care of it. Avid has decided in their wisdom to change those buttons functions, and expects people to put stickers on a console that can go well into the 100k plus range...


But maybe I am bitter since I remember hitting buttons on the old Control 24 and getting the fabulous 'Feature not implemented yet.....' flash across the LED screens, that unit went EOL from Avid and to the trash heap a few years later and guess what... the feature was NEVER implemented.

[EddieJones]

Originally Posted by StonehengeX

If I spend over $100k on a board I expect better than stickers. If you designed it so that changing the keys is a pain point come up with a better option.

Stickers are an insult.

The stickers are optional...you don't have to use them.
Please PM me if you want the previous Appset or you can manually change what the buttons do yourself.

I'm not sure how providing a user with this (Optional) flexibility is insulting.

[EddieJones]

Originally Posted by diamondschwin

I keep tabs on the s6 forum since I am happily chugging away on an Icon or Artist Mix daily.... I continue to consider the s6, but just hearing that for that kind of money they cant create a program for correct key caps is insane to me.



My dad had a BMW motorcycle years ago where the chrome started to pit terribly after a year. He went to the dealership, fully prepared to get a quote to replace it all. The dealership informed him they had made an error in plating the early run of motorcycles and replaced ALL the chrome for free.

Yes it cost BMW a lot of money, but they created a situation where they handed a deficient product that wasnt up to their standards to their customers and they wanted to take care of it. Avid has decided in their wisdom to change those buttons functions, and expects people to put stickers on a console that can go well into the 100k plus range...


But maybe I am bitter since I remember hitting buttons on the old Control 24 and getting the fabulous 'Feature not implemented yet.....' flash across the LED screens, that unit went EOL from Avid and to the trash heap a few years later and guess what... the feature was NEVER implemented.

Comparing a failed manufacturing process with the stickers is a bit unfair. Again these are optional, and a consequence of the incredible flexibility the S6 provides. We looked at a button system that would allow customers to replace/move them around but this would have raised the cost of the S6 at a time when we were trying to keep it down.

I have designed a number of Console related products and its always a good idea to add spare buttons even if we don't know if we will ever use them. I'm sure you would agree that having a few buttons that don't do anything initially and could be used for future features is better than not being able to implement anything new. Sure there's a risk of them never doing anything but is that really a reason to be bitter ?

[StonehengeX]

Originally Posted by EddieJones

The stickers are optional...you don't have to use them.
Please PM me if you want the previous Appset or you can manually change what the buttons do yourself.

I'm not sure how providing a user with this (Optional) flexibility is insulting.

My point is this. Avid designed a console with ultimate flexibility, including the ability to change these pre-printed buttons to be whatever we want them to be. That's amazing. However, at the price point for these consoles I expect to be able to change the function of these buttons as well as their label. Key caps would've been a perfect solution.

Now if I want to keep these functions as they are and be able to train a new user on them I have to either apply a sticker (as any 5 year old would) OR print out a cheat sheet to provide to said new user until they can memorize what these buttons do.

This is a professional console with many power users. That I can reprogram the buttons to match is not the point. You could have built a system with key caps, you chose not to. You could have come up with another solution that wasn't stickers (a small keyboard skin comes to mind), but chose not to. You could have replaced all of the modules with correctly printed buttons, you chose not to.

Avid took the single cheapest way out on their premiere console without regard for the users opinion. Thats my issue.

[EddieJones]

Originally Posted by StonehengeX

Avid took the single cheapest way out on their premiere console without regard for the users opinion. Thats my issue.

OK I get you and I understand, but what you are basically saying is that Avid should not have looked at keeping the price down but instead made the best console possible regardless of cost. You think that this would have been in the best interest of customers, I personally don't agree with that as I know many customers where a higher cost S6 would have put it out of their reach financially. The Euphonix S5 was a console made with no expense spared at the time, but it cost twice as much as S6.

[StonehengeX]

Originally Posted by EddieJones

OK I get you and I understand, but what you are basically saying is that Avid should not have looked at keeping the price down but instead made the best console possible regardless of cost. You think that this would have been in the best interest of customers, I personally don't agree with that as I know many customers where a higher cost S6 would have put it out of their reach financially. The Euphonix S5 was a console made with no expense spared at the time, but it cost twice as much as S6.

Eddie,

Due respect. You've done great with this console. I can't imagine how complex it must've been to get it this far. I don't think Avid should have made the best possible console regardless of cost, I just wish this one thing had been a little more adaptable. I utilize the rest of the board far more than this small set of function keys, so I'm going to just let this go.

Maybe in time there will be another solution.

Thanks again for your continued development and hard work.

[EddieJones]

I'm sorry to reply to you aggressively but when I see comments like we didn't care about users (which is totally the opposite) it hits a nerve. Anyway I'm glad you like the S6 overall.

[Marsdy]

Personally I'd like to see a My Liitle Pony themed set of stickers. ;-)

It's my understanding that profit margins on M10 systems are quite low. This was to get the S6 within range of the D-Command market. Had it been any more expensive it would have been out of my price range. Personally it's a design compromise I'm willing to live with if it makes the S6 affordable.

And as I've already mentioned.... Your muscle memory kicks in really quickly. I'm not even looking at the legend on the keys anyway. Yes it would be great if they were labelled correctly but in the end this is a first world problem!

[Postman]

Thank you StonehengeX, and others, for expressing my own feelings so clearly.

[diamondschwin]

Originally Posted by EddieJones

Comparing a failed manufacturing process with the stickers is a bit unfair. Again these are optional, and a consequence of the incredible flexibility the S6 provides. We looked at a button system that would allow customers to replace/move them around but this would have raised the cost of the S6 at a time when we were trying to keep it down.

I have designed a number of Console related products and its always a good idea to add spare buttons even if we don't know if we will ever use them. I'm sure you would agree that having a few buttons that don't do anything initially and could be used for future features is better than not being able to implement anything new. Sure there's a risk of them never doing anything but is that really a reason to be bitter ?

The button on the Control 24 were not 'spare buttons' they had labelled features on them, that were never implemented at all, its not as if they were generic.


I understand motivations to keep cost down, but you and the team at Avid MUST know that when trying to launch a new product, you need to earn as much positive mindshare in the customers minds, and when I as a potential s6 purchaser hear of stickers being handed out because there was a hardware functionality change to everyones console by Avids decision, I lose MAJOR interest in investing the cash in your system. For now my head is still set on some more used Artist mix consoles, and if I had to put stickers on those I wouldnt care, because they dont cost as much as a new SUV.