Me and a friend have some spare cash and we’re considering starting a small project which could turn out to be a good business idea. However before we start we’d like to get your opinions on the topic to see if it would be worth doing. So here goes.
We were thinking of putting together a small company selling modular midi controllers at a relatively cheap price, but maintaining a highly polished image.
Is there a market for this? Would you lot buy something like this? Do you think this is a viable business idea?
I think that modular controllers are a good idea, and that a highly polished image is a great idea.
Maybe it’s appropriate to look at what other manufacturers are doing and judge whether there’s space in the market for relatively cheap modular controllers.
I love the look of NI products - My Maschine looks and feels higher-quality and more expensive than my other gear and controllers. I think it’s important to make something classy-looking and expensive-looking for the price to be competitive.
Another consideration is the difficulty of selling a controller without bundled software. It’s hard to compete with something like the S4 (NI again), which is a great controller all its own and comes with Traktor. Even if your entire line cost less, it would be hard for a new digital DJ to choose your products over something like the S4.
If i were you i would send an email to member: nem0nic and tell him how much money you have and he will be able to tell you if you stand a snow-ball-in-hells chance of getting off the ground.
This kind of thing takes MONEY unless you already have an amazing idea (really amazing) that just needs a little capital.
I was teasing this out between myself and another guy a few months back. I think a modular line of controllers where small modules clip together like lego blocks to suit your DAW/DJ soft etc would be awesome … Something along the lines of the old Mawser would be the dogs nuts, and I also think they went about 30 steps too far in doing it which resulted in it being horribly overpriced, Sure it was built like a tank, had the some of the best components and build but overkill much.
as far I know, that modular ‘lego’ style of controllers never made it to market? you’re going to need a lot of money and the right contacts to get your idea off the ground. It would help if you have some serious knowledge in at least one of the fields required as well (electronics, programming, manufacturing, etc).
my advice would be to start small and try and come up with something that’s very simple to produce. I’m betting that even something as simple as the midifighter took insane amounts of man hours to get off the ground.
I personally think modular is a great idea but it has to be done extremely well. Like people have said capital would be a serious issue unless you and your partner can do the ground work yourself I.e hardware and software design. For example what platform are ye going to base it around? I assume yer not going to use midibox or arduino for obvious reasons. For modular to be effective the cost per module has to be relatively cheap if you understand what I mean.
