while we are waiting for further information from @gianfranco and @friedsilence about the status of the reboot, I have one question:
If I were to buy a Dwarf from Thomann today, what (in terms of software) would it contain out of the box? Would it have all free plugins bundled and is just missing the commercial ones? Would it have a (somewhat) recent firmware or have some really old version?
So would it really be useful without being able to connect to the plugin store and/or firmware download site?
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Hi @jetztgradnet
The Dwarf would be usable out of the box with quite a lot of plugins already installed, but not all.
If it comes with an old firmware you could update it easily with the files shared in this forum, and soon enough it seams we’ll get back access to the store or (thanks to Open Source of the ModOS) we’ll share the plugins we all have already in our ModDevices.
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@gianfranco
i cannot reach you via e-mail, is there still a chance to make an investment offer? If so, how?
greetings!
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Not really old firmware for sure. Most likely the 1.10 at least - we are in the 1.11 officially and 1.12 release candidate.
Regarding the free plugins, no, it will not have all free plugins. Yet it would have a fairly good part of them and the “go-to” ones. Anyway, not ideal for sure, but hopefully soon enough there will be a solution to put the cloud back in the air (maybe with a zeppelin or so…allow me the smooth joke 
) soon enough.
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One question that I have (and I feel should remain here in this topic, so not to pollute the other one) is: what exactly are the assets the insolvency agency is in charge of selling? Both material and immaterial.
Just so the community has some idea of what to, potentially, expect when these end up being auctioned off to third parties.
(I assume these vary between office equipment, the cloud infrastructure code, product designs, HMI device firmwares, already purchased product components, electronics, cases etc. but there are likely things that we don’t even think of as “assets” that still end up in this sale)
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Everything already mentioned plus production tools like the die cast aluminum moulds. The immaterial assets also include a patent, the trademarks and webdomains.
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Thnx for the addition!
Any information on the timelines involved for the insolvency? Just to have some perspective on this process and what the “stakeholders” need to look out for.
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Tbh I would love to know that as well after these weeks of extreme uncertainty. But it is not in our hands. The key point of this stage is that the shareholders are expropriated and the court appointed admin fully takes over with the mission to minimize damage to creditors.
Due to dependencies with the various stakeholders plus the court involvement, there is no clear answer at this point in time also for the admin. I guess it’s some weeks, but it could be a slow death in slices if no buyer for the whole asset package is found.
Will keep you updated. I’m in close contact with the administration since we filed and learn details about it every day - after all it’s my 1st insolvency.
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Yes, understand. This thing is anything but trivial and there are many moving parts.
Hope to hear more details as they become available!
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@friedsilence, due this situation, is there the moment to us thinking about backup of forum messages and Wiki pages?
(My impression is that in any moment, someone can decide to close these portals.)
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The forum will be hosted by @gianfranco privately soon. For the wiki that’s possible also. Both don’t contain undisclosed tech or content, so this is not infringing any insolvency regulation. Backups are also not needed, I think the data is pretty safe while the current hosting is not.
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Hello Fellow Travellers,
First thing to say is:
If you only do
what you always do
You’ll only get
What you always got
so it’s time to do something different.
I bought into this Project and was furious when it became obvious that the Project was out of control, even more so when the “Commercial people” started playing games like shipping units promised to the original stakeholders to Distributors instead. In business integrity is everything, sadly you fell at the first hurdle.
So whats the real problem here?
Pretty simple
-
an Open Source project can move mountains as there are many talented and bored programmers out there willing to donate their time, and perhaps some of their employer’s time, to the cause of polishing the software - a never ending process.
-
But the Hardware site of the project immediately requires hard business skills. It’s about budgets, cash flows, planning, reworking, logistics, sourcing etc. i.e. a specialist business requiring dedicated tangible assets focused entirely on a series of achievable deliverables. That’s why hardware is ‘hard’ and software is ‘soft’
-
the problem was made worse by trying to please all the people all the time.
The following quote is attributed to the poet John Lydgate
and later adapted by President Lincoln :
“You can please some of the people all of the time,
you can please all of the people some of the time,
but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”.
So what happened is typical of an under-resourced project run by real enthusiasts - nothing wrong with that in principal unless promises that can’t he upheld are made at the beginning.
And then the goal posts are moved by Covid, economics, reality …
What’s your best hope of rescuing the current situation?
I would recommend you seek a hardware partner, even a Product Development Partner.
The one that comes to mind is Steinberger / Yamaha in Germany. Steinberger have the right mindset to do things properly and get things right. Yamaha are always looking for innovation and quick ways to ‘stay modern’ and ‘engage with their community’. Another possibility might be Line6 which looks a bit dated these days.
If that seems to be a sell out “too big” to bear then go to a well funded boutique pedal company. The deal would need to keep the Open Source alive because thats where the sounds are created and the innovation is. What you have to sell here is Product that has been researched and developed to the point of knowing it would be a credible Product. Thats exactly what Companies are looking for. So don’t sell the sausage, sell the sizzle!!!
Its better that this great product survives rather than pride gets in the way and it becomes just another crowd funded damp squib.
Be bold, be brave, think a lot bigger!!!
All the best
BlueJazz42
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There is one more thing that concerns me quite a lot (besides the plugin store is not working) - who will repair my modx unit when it gets broken? Hopefully it works well at this moment but shit happens.
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Line 6 is owned by yamaha these days I think
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Any chance to at least keep the Plugin Store online for us to download all the plugins for a few more days? 
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