Product Timeline #5 + best guess timeline!
over 4 years ago – Fri, Feb 14, 2020 at 01:12:29 AM

When the hell am I getting this thing?

I wanted to send an update when I had the Rev 5 Bitties in my hand, but they're taking some more time to get produced than expected. The delivery date for those prototypes is now smack dab at the end of February, at which point we will know if we can hit go on the big run.

Even though the factory is in Texas, and the components are from all over the word, *some* of the components are only available from China and those were delayed because of the Chinese New Year end of Jan, and then the Wuhan coronavirus (oof). 

Once we have those units, and they're working properly, we'll take a week or so to try and wear them out. 

So I think *optimally* we are looking at ordering the big run in the first half of March, waiting two months for 800 to get made, and starting to send them out end of May. We're going to be doing the final assembly by hand (speaker, button caps/knob caps) and uploading the software in my studio in Cambridge so we can be sure that every single unit shipped is up to spec. 

That's my best estimate, and I will post IMMEDIATELY when the latest prototypes come in. 

It's not an awesome feeling to have people waiting. If I had to describe it - it's like the feeling of being late for a meeting, except it's 800 separate meetings. 

If the wait is too frustrating for anyone, and you want your money back, I would totally understand and issue a refund. Literally no questions asked.

Adventures at NAMM 

Meanwhile, because the dream is to turn Curious Sound Objects into a small company that makes Bitties (and the awesome things that will follow) the show must go on! So we took them to NAMM in January (which is like CES for music gear, massive massive four day expo of music gear). Someone described it as "being in heaven and hell at the same time" LOL, not untrue. If you're into music gear it's the most fabulous expo of music stuff ranging from traditional instruments to totally out there sci fi stuff. And it's LOUD! 

At the very end of setup day, the projector we were using for the visuals behind us literally blew up. Small plumes of fire and smoke and nasty smell. RIP. So suddenly I'm sitting in the parking lot looking at Best Buy and Target websites for a short throw projector that can project a large image from three feet away.  They were either unavailable in the local stores or stupid expensive (like five thousand dollars). So I started calling rental places. One place had a $500 three day rate (need four), or a $900 week rate... So I kept going down the list on Yelp, a few down, a man answers the phone and I ask "do you guys have a short throw projector I can rent for the next four days" and he says, "uh yeah... who are you?" 

Turns out he's a DJ, not a "rental place," and we ended up talking for like 45 minutes until we became friends and he felt like I wasn't a random weirdo that would run off with his expensive projector. The next morning before the start of the show, we met in a Denny's parking lot, and he trusted me with it. 

Dave, if you're reading this, thank you. 

And if anyone in Los Angeles needs a wedding DJ, check him out.

Bitty Keeps Getting Better

One excellent side effect of taking Bitties to shows like this where hundreds of people play with them ALL day (besides getting to see the joy on people's faces) is they're also excellent ways of testing the reliability. This time *hundreds* of people played with them *constantly.* 

And some of the buttons broke. This happened with one button at Knobcon, but I stashed it in my head as a fluke, but it happened twice at NAMM. As a result, Brian and I ended up making the choice to upgrade them to buttons from a German company called Würth. They're rated for half a million presses, and it feels worth the expense. 

Maybe this wouldn't happen to a casual or mild mannered user, but four days of constant heavy abuse could mean some months of an enthusiastic Bitty owner, and that would be a bummer. So the V5 prototypes we're waiting for incorporate those, which feels right. They're also a hair less "clicky" which might be nice (I think some click is good, don't want it to be mushy either).

Also looking down the list of components now feels really good: Panasonic, Samsung, Texas Instruments, Murata, Wurth. At this point, the parts are as good as can be!

That's all I got for now! As always, thank you for your support, none of this would be possible without the Kickstarter, and I can't wait to get a fun thing in your hands. If anyone has any questions, I'm happy to answer them! [email protected]

-Nick

Product Update #4 We have quiet!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Jan 07, 2020 at 01:36:24 AM

BITTIES

OMG Brian came over yesterday with two Bitties he surgered, acting as one, using the new components he chose. And when it's not making sounds, I second his words, it's "dead. silent." It's such a victory.

Next step is to change the board design to include the new parts, and put in an order for a few units next week to see how they perform. Will keep you posted! (takes a couple weeks)

NAMM

And next week, I'm taking a few Bitties to LA for a mega music gear expo called NAMM, got a booth, world stage! If anyone lives in Los Angeles, I can get you a guest pass for $50 bucks. 

Also, anyone a photographer?

There's no noise even with the big speaker turned all the way up! Like distorted loud, and still clean!

Talk to you soon!

-Nick

Product Update #4 - Hardware Optimism + Software Progress!
over 4 years ago – Wed, Jan 01, 2020 at 09:58:48 PM

What a year! 

I'm sorry this update took longer we hoped. We now have progress to report! Between wrapping up the year in our other jobs (graphic designer and engineer) and the holiday shuffle, Brian and I did manage to tear apart, poke, put back together many of the Bitties looking for the trouble, and it looks like we found it. 

We're going to put a faster power supply on the board and a voltage regulator to smooth it down. This should alleviate our problems. Brian tested his theory by separating the different functions of the board by Frankensteining two Bitties - to isolate the power from one and the audio from the other and it improved things A LOT - images below.

Right now we're waiting on smaller versions components to arrive (scheduled two days ago) that got delayed in the holiday madness. It's funny because they're coming from the US via UPS, unexpected.

Btw I haven't forgotten about the few people who reached out about hacker versions, waiting to see if we have any prototypes left over after all our experiments (very likely). 

Software! Looping!

I kept myself busy, often in the quiet of night (my favorite), by pushing ahead on the code. And I hit one of the milestones I thought might take much longer - looping!

Here's a video of a boom-bap drum Bitty that can now record four bars and play them back, while you drum on top! Set the tempo, hit record, and it'll play it back. And can also change the tempo and pitch live with the knobs.

Feel free to poke around the instagram too, some other sound demos in there. 

On a personal mission to make more videos of the Bitty I now have a video/real time graphics setup that is much faster. (Without an advertising budget, I think videos on Instagram are the best way to get eyeballs on the project and take advantage of my design/video skills at the same time, so making it easier than spending a whole day in After Effects making visuals was a real win).

While playing with the visuals to project on the wall, I ran some of my friend's music through it and made some pretty graphics that generate themselves!

That's it for now! Talk to you very soon. And as always, a huge thank you for your support, none of this could've happened without it. 

❤️

-Nick 

Oof!
over 4 years ago – Tue, Dec 03, 2019 at 12:57:38 AM

Alright, the Bitties will be late. 

I tried thinking of some preamble to soften it, but that's just padding. How late? Maybe not that much, but I don't have a way of knowing this minute, and instead of waiting to update people later, might as well make it two separate updates and get past the nagging feeling.

TLDR: Tons of improvements, but it's not perfect (or "quite damn good," more like "hm i could maybe overlook these issues because I like it, but might get annoying over time").

It's still fun. Fun isn't the issue here though. It came down to: what are the things one is willing to overlook in the hopes of getting it to backers on time, while crossing fingers. And that's just a shitty place to be.

Longer version

The thirty V4 Bitties we got last week are the finest feeling yet* we'd improved some details with the manufacturing (and built good rapport), modified the board to hug the speaker better, added a dedicated headphone/speaker switch, and there's a neat tiny logo under the speaker that adds a touch of class (thanks to Brian for suggesting we put one on there!)

*my musician brother in LA saw them two weeks ago, and he's seen all of them periodically since the beginning. And said "man it feels like an expensive toy" and it was not even awkward (because "toy" is a complicated word) and super awesome to hear that. You can read more about my thoughts on "play" and "toy" in the Why section of the homepage: https://www.curioussoundobjects.com/

Which btw, if anyone is a hardware hacker out there and wants to mess around with a prerelease unit, show me over email (it takes some work and experience), and I'll send you one (regardless of Kickstarter).

The whole thing works better, more properly. Brian made improvements to the code too. It's just that tiny little fucking squeal (it's like mosquito size, and sometimes gone, but still annoying, you get the idea). Sometimes it's masked by a kind of hiss (which is actually kind of neat, lofi).

The biggest challenge with it: it's inconsistent. That makes it hard to track down. And really we need another battery on this thing, so it wouldn't have to work as hard, but then it wouldn't be so small and so cute. There is a lot of analog stuff on the board squeezing and diverting juice around, and it becomes kind of like cooking in addition to architecture.  

An aside

One fun thing about this project is regardless of how stressed or crunched for time we are, some spontaneous 30 second jam happens anyway. 

Another aside - people

I have to get gushy over here. This whole project has run largely on debt and gratitude, and there have been a bunch of homies along the way who have helped push it forward. Brian Martins is the latest engineer and friend (and musician) who's taken it on to take it over the finish line. 

There's a Russian saying that's roughly "better to get stuck with a competent accomplice, than to win with an incompetent one" (really the original words were "smart man" and "idiot" but I changed them for clarity :)

And what I mean by that is – there's no one I'd rather be stuck in the weeds with than Brian. He's smart,  and agile, and flexible, and just a cool guy (no wonder his day job is at a company that's blowing up). I'm really glad we met.

Three days ago, we worked together on a really cold Saturday and threw out one idea after another as we took a walk. I wish I video taped it. 

We're going to make it "damn good."

How?

We're going to see if we can minimize the noise on the existing design by manually prototyping on the existing boards (which is not easy because everything is tiny). 

Then, if necessary, we'll try out some replacement components (like power supply / audio amp) because maybe the two fluttering together is what's amplifying the noise. 

And then, we'll order a small round of boards (to have quickly). Because Christmas is coming up, whether we get them before or after (which is more likely) affects the timeline. I'll keep everyone updated as always. 

Side hustle

I've otherwise been a "graphic design" type of designer, and last year I designed a calendar for myself because I knew this year was going to be intense, kickstarted it, and used the proceeds to fund the v2 prototype round last January (of five boards!) Those are mostly the boards that appear in the videos (with an occasional V1 by Owen, still goin strong two years later!)

So I'm doing the same this year - launched another mini Kickstarter for the 2020 version here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nickolaspeter/a-hyper-minimal-calendar-for-2020

The show goes on

We're taking the Bitties to NAMM in Anaheim, CA (Jan 16-19th). Which is like the Disneyland of music gear expos. Seriously, you have to take a shuttle from the parking areas. My old friend Gerard Patawaran from the art show (see last post) is coming. We make great experiences together.

If anyone is in Los Angeles and wants to help, email me! It's going to be really fun. 

(And keep in mind, that means the Bitties are well past the "good enough to show" mark, we're working on the "good enough to own.") A profound thank you to everyone who backed this project. You're helping build a movement, not just buying a toy.

Local tangent 

I'm also going to be talking about the Bitties at an electronic music / business class at MIT at 10-12 tomorrow. If you want to come, text me before 9:30am at 310-279-3040.

Finally

If you have any questions, or want a refund, or anything. Feel free to message me here, or email me at [email protected]

🌟

Product Update #3 + Art Show
over 4 years ago – Thu, Oct 31, 2019 at 10:55:00 PM

Art show with Bitties this Saturday (*if you're in Cambridge, info here and more below).

Product Update

Brian and I ordered the last set of prototypes last week, delivery two weeks from now! We're optimistic they'll be good to go. Power/audio optimizations galore. Most noticeable addition is a separate physical switch for the speaker. So you can chose to turn the speaker on/off separately from the headphones. 

(And you can also run the Bitty into a loud amp while simultaneously hearing the onboard speaker, which lets you feel the instrument in your hand).

Also, got a giant 40 pound box of mini speakers a couple days ago, that was exciting. There's sooo many.

Stay Tuned!

Art Show Saturday - Through the Clouds

If you happen to find yourself in the Boston area this weekend, my friend Gerard (aka koolteem) and I are having an art show. He makes these beautiful wave paintings, and I'll be setting up a floor lounge where you can play with Bitties on floor cushions. 

That's what the gif at the top is all about.

New guitar Bitty too!

More here: https://www.facebook.com/events/399529870976809/