yrg thread

[MarkE]

Something may be happening:

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=12864

It says 'available to buy from July'. Hopefully that's after the pre-orders have been sorted out. And the info maybe only UK related.[/url]

[mac wilson]

[quote="MarkE"]Something may be happening:

[url]http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=12864[/url]

It says 'available to buy from July'. Hopefully that's after the pre-orders have been sorted out. And the info maybe only UK related.[/url][/quote]


You are correct. That is for the UK, and not the USA. Also, the date may be off.

[JAMES L. HARRISON]

I'm watching my credit card for a debit for the YRG pre-order #187; no joy yet. Are you guys tracking yours?

James
.
.

Something may be happening:

http://www.soundonsound.com/news?NewsID=12864

It says 'available to buy from July'. Hopefully that's after the pre-orders have been sorted out. And the info maybe only UK related.[/url]

You are correct. That is for the UK, and not the USA. Also, the date may be off.

[mac wilson]

Just another company that LOVES to keep you hanging. Gives them the warm fuzzies me thinks.

In a week they will post the bad news; another few weeks.

And we will say "Oh well, just get it right and we will wait, cuz we really want to be U rockers.
And we are pretty stupid basically".

[polaris20]

Just another company that LOVES to keep you hanging. Gives them the warm fuzzies me thinks.

In a week they will post the bad news; another few weeks.

And we will say "Oh well, just get it right and we will wait, cuz we really want to be U rockers.
And we are pretty stupid basically".

I'm pretty close to canceling my order and just moving on. Harvey Starr is still working on the GamBridge project, under a new name though. The Baby-Z is a grand, and it may be worth just holding on and saving for that.

I don't know; I just want a damn midi controller, and was trying to avoid buying a keyboard I'm not as good at playing. But it's looking like that may be an option now.

[mac wilson]

I was just reading that sales have dropped precipitously for those music games. If that indeed is the case, this venture may have gone bust and we won't see anything.

But then again, these games were so red hot that a big drop in sales doesn't necessarily bode a death nell.

[MRKiammi]

I wouldn't cancel the order now, earliere
today I received a note from Kevin, saying
units are ready to ship, just waiting for a ok
from his partner

[polaris20]

I wouldn't cancel the order now, earliere
today I received a note from Kevin, saying
units are ready to ship, just waiting for a ok
from his partner

I will give it another week. After that I'm done.

[tapper mike]

I have a babyz
Save your money for a z5 or a z7. While I really like my babyz it takes more then a little getting used to. I wished I'd saved up a little more for a mini or a z7

[Maruuk]

This is a device aimed primarily at the toy market, yet there are no "pre-order now, expecting shipment by 6/15" type listings for the YRG in Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, etc etc etc. They're basically selling them off the back of a truck.

But there's a perfectly logical explanation for this: No toy chain or dept. store could possibly sell a toy plastic MIC Rock Band controller going for the price of an entire Wii system including Sports Resort and the new hi-res controller.

EA sells RB-2 guitar controllers that look way more like real Fenders for $39.99. Not to mention the whole RB craze has peaked and sales are down everywhere. Folks who wanted them already bought them.

And as much as we see the potentially awesome midi-controller utility for us, their business model absolutely depends on massive sales into the toy retail chains. Which by any application of logic is a hopeless case.

That's where the scenario breaks down, and I suspect this latest delay masks a desperate scramble for some bridge funding to allow for launch and cover their massive losses. Their business plan had to project (and rely on) reasonable minimum orders from toy retailers. With that up in smoke, one wonders what Plan B is.

But imagine if they ripped out all the silly internal tones and beats, all the Rock Band wireless controller hogwash and just made it a stripped-down awesome midi guitar controller for $149. With wireless for $199.

Then they get some name guys who actually use midi guitars (Pat Metheny, etc) to endorse them and do demos. It's a business.

But it's too late for any logical thinking like that. As an ex-employee of Hasbro, I can tell you you get one shot at it in the toy biz. It's either a home run, or 3 strikes yer outa there. Maybe the ultimate thrill here will be us buying these up from Big Lots and Building 19 in a couple of months for $29! Buy em in boxes of 10 apiece--when one breaks, grab the next one.

If my experience with "customer support" was any indication, the only YRG support will be to have backups on hand....lots of em.

[MRKiammi]

This is a device aimed primarily at the toy market, yet there are no "pre-order now, expecting shipment by 6/15" type listings for the YRG in Toys R Us, Walmart, Target, etc etc etc. They're basically selling them off the back of a truck.

But there's a perfectly logical explanation for this: No toy chain or dept. store could possibly sell a toy plastic MIC Rock Band controller going for the price of an entire Wii system including Sports Resort and the new hi-res controller.

EA sells RB-2 guitar controllers that look way more like real Fenders for $39.99. Not to mention the whole RB craze has peaked and sales are down everywhere. Folks who wanted them already bought them.

And as much as we see the potentially awesome midi-controller utility for us, their business model absolutely depends on massive sales into the toy retail chains. Which by any application of logic is a hopeless case.

That's where the scenario breaks down, and I suspect this latest delay masks a desperate scramble for some bridge funding to allow for launch and cover their massive losses. Their business plan had to project (and rely on) reasonable minimum orders from toy retailers. With that up in smoke, one wonders what Plan B is.

But imagine if they ripped out all the silly internal tones and beats, all the Rock Band wireless controller hogwash and just made it a stripped-down awesome midi guitar controller for $149. With wireless for $199.

Then they get some name guys who actually use midi guitars (Pat Metheny, etc) to endorse them and do demos. It's a business.

But it's too late for any logical thinking like that. As an ex-employee of Hasbro, I can tell you you get one shot at it in the toy biz. It's either a home run, or 3 strikes yer outa there. Maybe the ultimate thrill here will be us buying these up from Big Lots and Building 19 in a couple of months for $29! Buy em in boxes of 10 apiece--when one breaks, grab the next one.

If my experience with "customer support" was any indication, the only YRG support will be to have backups on hand....lots of em.

well i think, if they ripped it, to be a 100% straight midi controller, it simply would disapear in the big midi guitar world. it would be just another midiguitar on the shelves in the music stores.IMO This looks promising because it have someting unique, great mobility, bridge for musician to come and play musicgames.
and vice versa gamers to take the next step to start playing on real instruments. The future trend in musicgames will be giving THE REALISTIC
experience. (and companies are starting to produce things for this marked e.g. new game Powergig and their Rise of the six strings,Gamebridge,Yourockguitar,madcats(harmonix),redoctane) its the right time to marketing this.
in the interview with the the guitarist "Fish", there are lots
of great arguments for a pro-musician to buy this. whether it will fail or be a huge win, time will tell. GOD i really hope it will!!!.

[tapper mike]

You will search long an hard for a midi - guitar at a guitar store.
You may find 13 pin instruments where the guitar features are experessed as primary and midi aspects take a back seat. No reputable guitar store I know of sold EZ-EG's and ztars rarely go on to ebay or into a store. Usually buyers can't justify the used price.

YRG's would be laughed out of there in a heartbeat. Firstly there isn't enough markup. Music stores have to price things so they can keep the roof over thier heads pay for the staff feed thier children and all the other things that it takes to operate a store. In order to do so so they need to make money on the product. The store needs to make money, the distributer needs to make money and the manufactuer needs to make money. If III tried to sell to ma and pa music stores or even guitar center they would lose thier arse because they couldn't unload enough product to make it worth thier wild.

As pointed out earlier they (III) would need to unload hundreds at a time per store.

[Maruuk]

Well, the midi guitar/controller market barely exists because there's been no affordable no-lag product. And the YRG is being marketed as a toy. So I would have to agree, unless you have the funds to tout this thing into a whole new musician market--and it's not clear they have the funds to even launch it as a toy--you can't break through.

So it'll end up being a failed bifurcated two-headed duck oddity, but one which may be a revered collector's item due to its midi utility. I'm waiting until there's some credible reviews (if ever) and then if it actually works as advertised, I'll snatch one up.

[polaris20]

What I find strange is that M-Audio alone makes 12(!) different USB keyboard controllers with no internal sounds, starting at $100, give or take. Edirol makes 3 or 4. Novation, Akai, and Fatar all make them as well.

So why isn't there one that's guitar-shaped? What am I missing? Why not a $249 "M-Audio Oxygen Guitar" with a 16-20 "fret" neck with buttons like the Yammy EZ, string triggers, USB and MIDI output, and perhaps drum pads on a higher model?

I would think that if they're doing that well with the keyboard controllers, they'd at least be moderately successful with one guitar shaped controller.

I mean for cryin' out loud, there are even drum pad midi controllers for a decent price.

It's really aggravating that guitarists are left out of it all, with the sentiment appearing to be "you guys have the Roland GK stuff".

[polaris20]

I have a babyz
Save your money for a z5 or a z7. While I really like my babyz it takes more then a little getting used to. I wished I'd saved up a little more for a mini or a z7

The Z5 looks really promising, especially for the price.