I work in a retail environment during the day and with the economy in the shape it’s in, we’ve had to have bigger discounts on a more regular basis. Sadly, none of the manufacturers of instruments and music software seem to pay any heed to current economic conditions. I wonder if their profits are being affected and if they will ever consider lowering the prices of their products. It seems like every new product is more expensive than the last.
I’d like to get the new 88 key akai mpk controller next year, or a full synth with 88 keys. However, such instruments are extremely expensive and even in the used market they don’t come cheap.
Anybody think there’s something strange about an industry which seems to pay little attention to economics?
By the way, thanks Renoise developers for making your product available at such a reasonable price.
Renoise is looking to be bundled with hardware/digital instruments and if anyone has any leads (like you work for a manufacturer, and would personally approve the deal) we’re interested.
economy is already affecting instrument prices. check Fender guitars for example. they’ve raised for about 40% already, and some models even more! talk about smart moves…
Forgive me for this being my first post but while I know little to nothing about renoise and am looking forward to learning, I do know a fair amount about markets and the economy.
Instrument prices will go up, but not because the producers want to make more money.
This recession is going to devalue our unit of exchange, the dollar.
So what may have been 100 Dollars may now be 120 depending on how sever the hyper-inflation is.
It’s the same value as when it was 100, our government just happens to enjoy printing large quantities of money thinking that wealth is being generated.
This is why houses used to cost around 600 dollars(inflation of our currency) and why the american dollar is worth 100s of other currencies(inflation of theirs).
if this post seems a little obvious, I was trying not to sound too condescending or douchy.
It’s okay, the only thing I could afford at the moment. Had to buy it because my Tascam US-122 died
three days before a gig. Stress was a massive factor here. Still, it’s a good deal I guess, though I’d
rather have a more solid interface… plastic aint my cup of tea…
To be fair, wealth is being generated, just not from the printing but from the everyday enriching activities like making stuff, providing services, etc. The hope is generally that the printing of money matches the wealth created, which would keep the value of the currency the same, but that’s not always the case.
Also, instruments are (mostly) not a commodity, but rather specialty items, so they don’t necessarily follow the prices of other electronics, housing, or food and the like.
Exchange rates are a bitch though. For some reason they tend to disfavour me when I want to buy something, but favour me when I want to travel somewhere. Must be some culturally-minded version of Murphy’s law stuck on my back.
actually i was browsing a couple of uk music sites today and i noticed some items were markedly more expensive, for example the Korg nanoKontrol, padKontrol etc… these were around £40 in december 2008, they are now £55. and the edirol ua-101 is now £370 compared with £280 which it cost when i got mine early 2008…
the korgs surprised me because the nanokey was around £30, which seemed sort of worth it for 12 pints of beer, i was debating adding it to my setup so i have all three of the nanos, but now it costs 19 pints of beer. perhaps i better get drunk instead before someone comes along and drinks 35% of the beer and leaves saliva around the glass that contains swine flu.
The usual problem of the place of economic products in society when shit happens…: whatever is vital will get cheaper, whatever is not vital will get more expensive, usually this is a cause of lack of competition:other producers get bankrupt so the remaining manufacturers can raise their prices back again. The larger companies usually take over their financially bleeding competitor if they can and then usually steal all the techniques and then sell them out quickly. Only the engineers with good knowledge will stay and get more education, the rest gets fired.
