One more update regarding shipping (Canada post strike)
2 days ago
– Sun, Dec 01, 2024 at 12:59:47 PM
Hi everyone, just a follow-up update for those of you who have offered to make additional payments to help cover the cost of shipping (there's a surprisingly large number of you!)
As some of you may know, Canada Post is on strike - this is not a major issue for shipping items in Canada or to the USA since we have many other delivery options (most of which are much cheaper)
It does however complicate things for backers who live over seas. Canada Post typically offers the cheapest option for shipping over seas by a wide margin. There are other options like DHL, UPS and FedEx but they can be significantly more expensive.
If you do live overseas, and want priority shipping - reach out to me using the midigoblin.com contact form. I can get quotes for shipping and let you decide what route you want to go. If you want to avoid the DHL/UPS rates, I can always email you when the strike ends and we'll work out shipping via Canada Post.
Shipping, website,code, plans for the future
3 days ago
– Sat, Nov 30, 2024 at 02:30:17 PM
Hi everyone, sorry about the delay!
I wanted to take a couple days to allow for people to comment/message me about how they would prefer the midi goblins be shipped out (trickled out starting December or wait until I can afford to ship them all at once)
Then I got really busy with work...then quite sick!
Anyways - Sorry for the delay - I was intending on making a video response but its crunch time so text will have to do.
First off, I'd like to give a big "Thank you!" to everyone who has left a comment here, Instagram, YouTube or through midigoblin.com's new contact form.
I'm relived so many backers understand the predicament and was surprised so many people offered to pay extra or even donate to cover the shipping costs.
Based on the responses I've received I have decided to trickle the goblins out starting December 10th!
If you are one of the backers who offered to pay extra for faster shipping (or are one of the nice people who offered to make a donation) - Please get in touch through midigoblin.com 's contact form (write "shipping" as the subject) Ill be able to respond to you directly via email.
But to be clear - no additional payments are required from any backers or pre-orderers. Your pledged amount was intended to cover shipping and your goblin will be shipped - but it may take a while for all 230 goblins to be shipped.
As for the midigoblin.com website and documentation - I will be updating the website through December (slowly due to my current workload) so documentation may be a bit sparse during the first few weeks.
I'm working on some short instructional videos on how to use each of the midi goblins "apps" which should answer most questions. A written manual (pdf) is expected to be hosted on midigoblin.com before the new year - until then, if the video tutorial shorts do not answer your questions, feel free to contact me directly through the midigoblin.com contact form or comment in the tutorial's YouTube comment section (I try very hard to respond to every comment and getting feedback will help a lot)
As for the source code - it'll be quite messy early on. I was planning on working on organizing and commenting functions throughout November but gathering funds to cover shipping and getting sick really threw things WAY off course.
All of the midi goblin's code was re-written after the hardware was re-designed (in august) and I had to choose between making things work or making them approachable for the tinkerers.
If you're a tinkerer whos excited about jumping into the source code - just a fair warning, its messy. Everything works, but it is without question a "work in progress" - please excuse this for the time being if you can, I'm a self taught, entry level programmer.
There will however be a pinout diagram/schematic made available online on December 10th and the entirety of the source code will also be hosted online as well as a rather large, Arduino sketch. I'm opting not to make the Gerber for the PCB available online at this point in time...but with the info provided, its entirely possible to create a custom goblin with alternate layout if that's something you're interested in trying!
Smaller, easier to understand sketches are planned for next year and some entry level programming tutorials videos are planned as well but right now the main priority is just getting goblins out to everyone, getting the website up to date and making everyone happy.
On that note - tinkerers/programmers who backed the project/pre-ordered: How many of you are actually out there?
Progress report! Goblin Wizard, website construction, features, debugging, the future! Profit?
about 2 months ago
– Tue, Oct 15, 2024 at 10:45:50 AM
Hi everyone, just a quick update on the progress of state of the project right now - Things are looking pretty good!
- I recently did a little demonstration of MIDI Goblin in Toronto at the Tranzac. It was a fun night of weird instruments and although I didn't get to show most of MIDI Goblins features (and accidentally loaded a buggy sequence file) it was a great night!
Regarding Production of the Goblins:
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A small program for PC, MAC and LINUX called "Goblin Wizard" is also in the works.
Goblin Wizard is a very simple program that can be used to add synthesizers to the MIDI Goblin. I'll have a video on it in the future but right now its in the development phase. Quite useful though.
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The vast majority of MIDI Goblin components have arrived including the PCB, OLED screens, MIDI Din connectors, Microcontrollers (esp32) and replacement optocouplers. Buttons are also currently being 3d printed as I write this update...thousands of em! This current stock of components will allow me to create approximately 300 Goblins before having to re-order components.
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The company manufacturing the enclosures (Polycase) has informed me that they have completed production and that they're currently in transit. Other components are still in transit - sd card reader modules, micro sd cards and encoders. Thankfully these are easy to find and easy to install components, so their delay isn't a major issue.
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A quality control Arduino sketch has also been created that can automatically test the MIDI Goblin's after they've been assembled to ensure that they're functioning properly. I'll host this on midigoblin.com in the future as well - Could be useful for troubleshooting and learning about how the Goblin's hardware works.
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MIDIGOBLIN.com is also under construction as well(though you can still visit it in its old form)
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I'm working on a lot of content for MIDIGOBLIN.COM, mostly written tutorials, video tutorials and documentation - its a lot of work but kind of fun. I hate video editing but video tutorials are quite helpful.
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When it comes to the Midi Goblin features - bad news! I wont be personally adding any new apps....for the time being. There will certainly be new firmware down the road after shipping that may include bug fixes(hopefully not many) and possibly new features created by me, but for the time being I'll personally only be focusing on debugging and optimizing MIDI Goblins current features..I want the MIDI Goblin you receive to be rock solid and bug free - this will require a lot of time and effort, my hands are quite full at the moment so adding new apps is unfortunately not an option.
As for the future of MIDI Goblin (rough start, bright future)
A pretty big system is now in place that allows for MIDI Goblins to be created, but in order to continue this as an ongoing work effort rather than a simple project I'll have to work harder on trying to actually....profit from selling MIDI Goblins.
Despite raising over $20,000 on Kickstarter - I definitely priced the Kickstarter units too low ....In fact, I will end up losing a pretty good chunk of change on the initial 193 units sold through Kickstarter - DARNIT!
Not to say the Kickstarter run was a total loss, or that I'll be in financial peril as a result of the Kickstarter campaign - quite the opposite - that initial amount raised covered vast majority of the start-up costs. There were a lot of unexpected costs though that are un-avoidable and I will personally lose a bit of money to get those first units out the door - it'll be worth it though.
Thankfully the Backerkit sales are quickly evening things out. The Backerkit prices are a bit higher than the Kickstarter prices were and selling a couple dozen more units through Backerkit should actually put the project as a whole into profit territory so a huge thank you to both the Kickstarter and Backerkit backers - also please spread the word if you can. Even a simple share on social media can go a long way. I'm doing my best to keep the prices of MIDI Goblin down so everyone can afford them and the best way to do that, is to sell a whole lot of em'
As for shipping - I am still estimating late November - early December for when shipping will begin. There's a ton of work to be done still and Its hard to anticipate delays with a project like this. I will try to keep everyone updated a bit more consistently here and on my instagram - especially if I can foresee some sort of delay - but rest assured I'm working hard to create the Goblins, the ball is rolling and they're going to be pretty dang cool!
-Andrew
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