Behringer CMD Series

[partylike1369]

I believe most of the crankiness is not about how early Behringer announced it.... It's just how long it's taken. Simple midi controllers should not take over a year to bring even from the design stage to the release stage.

Is this oilythread striking back?

[Nikefutbolero]

But what is the problem with an early announcement?

People complain about companies not communicating with users. So here's a company that communicates a product release that is expected to happen 9 months later. That decision was made because (a) fully working prototypes were available to show, and (b) because this was a very big change in their product lineup. Instead of keeping people in the dark, or playing coy, they said "Here, look at what we're working on.". It's not some under glass vaporware - it's live stuff you can put your hands on.

I'm missing the part where that kind of communication is a bad thing.

Essentially what you're complaining about is that once a product is announced, you feel entitled to it. You don't think you should have to wait for it to be released. And you feel so strongly about this that you would apparently rather be kept in the dark than wait.

Doesn't this sound like childish behavior to you?

If you weren't being communicated to, I might understand it. If CMD were shown non-functioning under glass like the X7 or the VCI-B1 I might understand it. But none of that is true.

Apparently no good deed goes unpunished.

Childish behavior? Like telling the consumer "they'll be ready when they're ready" isn't? If that's the case then start announcing products in the infancy of their developmental stage and just tell everybody they'll be ready when they're ready. If that wasn't bad enough, you have Mr. Behringer himself set a date of when to expect them only to miss by a mile. A small wait is a tease and that's not a bad thing to create some hype. But that all eventually turns into frustration if the product isn't released promptly after the announcement. There is a reason why established companies of anything don't do this. Behringer has made the costumer wait long after the date the company itself set. Don't announce something that isn't ready, tell the people to expect them at a certain date, then tell them "well forget what we said we didn't mean it, they'll be ready when they're ready so stop bitching". That's bad business.

[karter34]

But we're very close, and I think the wait is worth it.

in your opinion, at the current state of production over at behringer, would "very close" be before or after Christmas?

[Solitaire]

in your opinion, at the current state of production over at behringer, would "very close" be before or after Christmas?

As someone who's day job is commercial logistics.

If they aren't ready within the next week and ready to be shipped out, then they aren't ready for christmas. Getting something from Factory -> Origin Port -> Ship -> Destination Warehouse -> Store Distribution warehouse -> Store. Best case scenario is Half a day to a day for most of these steps to happen within the same country unless you have everything cranking out in a just in time scenario, or production and main distribution are happening in the same location/near each other

Don't even get me started on customs

[MrPopinjay]

Simple midi controllers should not take over a year to bring even from the design stage to the release stage.

Coming Q4 2013, whiskeyflip's midi controllers! Because he can do it better!

[fullenglishpint]

Re. missing the date, would people prefer a rushed product or a better product? These things are going to be in production for some years to come and in the grand scheme of things 3 months is not a big delay.

It's not childish to say they'll be ready when they're ready. As this thread has shown, if you announce a release date then have to push it back, people bitch like crazy just as much as when you don't announce a release date.

[nem0nic]

I believe most of the crankiness is not about how early Behringer announced it.... It's just how long it's taken. Simple midi controllers should not take over a year to bring even from the design stage to the release stage.

I'm pretty certain that you're in no position to have any idea how long it takes to develop a product. Because if you were, you would not have said this.

Like telling the consumer "they'll be ready when they're ready" isn't...

Listen to your post. This is EXACTLY what I was talking about. You're upset because we told you what we were working on instead of keeping you in the dark.

As someone who's day job is commercial logistics...

I actually explained this previously, and you're right except that you've ruled out the possibility of air freight. And typically freight is going to spend a month on the water going from China to the US.

[DeeJam]

Out of curiosity, what would you consider a stupid mistake by a DJ company in the last year or so?

Stanton didn't abandon Final Scratch, and M-Audio didn't abandon Torq. Final Scratch ran it's course (over 6 years of active development, with 2 iterations for hardware and many more for software), and established the market for digital vinyl systems. M-Audio developed the Torq software, came out with 2 pieces of dedicated hardware (and developed more), and released a major point release (along with many updates). M-Audio was purchased by InMusic, and it's currently unknown if the Torq software will be actively developed.

Stanton did abandon FS in many ways. NI did part ways, but Stanton then simply stopped bothering to even develop or seek out new ways to allow DJs to use the gear they bought. That's abandoning in my book.

M-Audio spent loads of time in a few bursts to make Torq into a cool product...but then went silent on updates and improvements when the suits saw it wasn't selling as well as Traktor. AVID came in with the 2.0 and did the same thing...then InMusic bought M-Audio, but announced they're discontinuing Torq.

Again, I'm not trying to shoot you, the messenger, and I am still going to consider the CMD series as a replacement for my now obsolete Xponent. I just am airing what a lack of real communications does to the market. I just think tech companies need to do more right by their customers. Maybe I'm being unfair in putting Behringer in the "not sure to trust" pile based on bad competitors.

In the end, if I buy a full setup and a year later Behringer decides to kill the line...then so be it. I took my chances like I did with the other products I mentioned. My hope is that Behringer is possibly trying to make the DC-1 work like an F1 with Traktor Remix Decks. I also hope I'm right and come CES and NAMM they'll have the controllers there with a firm release date.

[MrPopinjay]

I don't really think it's the same thing with hardware like this.

The CMD controllers are class compliant midi controllers- they don't need constant bug fixes and updates like software does. Even if Behringer vanished off the face of the earth the day after you bought it your experience using it wouldn't be any different.

[nem0nic]

Stanton did abandon FS in many ways. NI did part ways, but Stanton then simply stopped bothering to even develop or seek out new ways to allow DJs to use the gear they bought. That's abandoning in my book.

Stanton was first to market, kept it in the market for years, and established a new product category (one which is now considered an industry standard). They developed Final Scratch until the point where it was not possible to continue. I don't think Stanton abandoned FS any more than a mother "abandons" a child when that child grows up and leaves the house. When FS was finally discontinued, DVS was already being used by a majority of DJs.

...then InMusic bought M-Audio, but announced they're discontinuing Torq.

This is from the link you provided...

While inMusic will continue to provide support and updates for customers who have purchased TORQ software, we will no longer promote or sell TORQ software globally. inMusic is, however, exploring TORQ's features and design, and we are actively seeking new ways to support our DJ customers across all brands, both currently and with future products.

I'm not sure I read that as product death. They're providing support and updates, and inferred that Torq may morph into something else. This makes sense since the Air team was part of the InMusic acquisition.

I just am airing what a lack of real communications does to the market.

I'm not trying to sell you on Behringer at all. I'm not a sales guy, and my salary doesn't change if we sell a million CMD controllers. These are important products for Behringer even if they only manage to sell well enough to pay for production. But I'm responding to your post because you're talking about a lack of communication, and I'm communicating to you and everyone else in this thread.

My hope is that Behringer is possibly trying to make the DC-1 work like an F1 with Traktor Remix Decks.

This is only going to happen if Native opens up the functionality to other controllers. And being a product guy, I totally understand their point of view. I have an F1 and I can see why they've locked the remix deck functionality to their controller. OF COURSE I would be happy if NI opened the remix decks up to other controllers, but NO ONE at Behringer can make this happen. So if the reason you want a DC-1 is so you can use it with the remix decks, I'm telling you right now that's a mistake.

That said, the DC-1 is shaping up to be the most interesting of the CMD modules.