Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by Lobsterdeth » Fri Apr 05, 2019 3:16 pm

Grey wrote:
Tue Apr 02, 2019 2:26 am
Eventually she sold the company (Devi Ever) and refunded about half of the Kickstarter backers, so whatever capital there was to produce it is obviously long gone. She goes by a different name now and all of the "Devi Ever" social media stuff is operated by the people who currently own the company.
IIRC the last money they had left was donated to Feminist Frequency on YouTube, needless to say not a lot of people were happy about it. And it's not like they can sue them since they claim to be completely bankrupt.
Their website is up and there's a big ad that says you can make pedals for them as a franchise and they get a cut of the profit, which makes them ripping you off like they did Dwarfcraft much easier I suppose.
mackerelmint wrote:
Wed Apr 03, 2019 2:06 am
God, that's so funny, I was just thinking about this last week.

Shit happens and if she had to eat she had to eat, but she still gots to take her licks for the money people lost on what ended up being vaporware.
It was funnier when they started ranting about how it was gamer gate, transphobes and white men's fault in the gear industry that their company folded, only to be met by hundreds of people telling them they still hadn't refunded their money and a ton of Dwarfcraft supporters just piling on 'em.
It's a sad end, but you reap what you sow. I remember when Devi was THE cool name in the pedal world and I still like my Soda Meiser, as someone else around here said. And that Russian company that's making the "new and improved" Console now seems to be doing OK, more power to 'em.
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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by cestlamort » Fri Apr 05, 2019 8:03 pm

fuzzjunkie wrote:
Wed Apr 03, 2019 7:30 am
The whole concept just sounded like a rehash of the Korg PME-40 to me.

Image

You plugged those modules into a pedalboard that held and powered 4 effects. You could swap them out and order them any way you liked.
I immediately thought of this, too. Combine the Korg with one of the Seymour Duncan convertible amps and you can do ANYTHING.

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by mackerelmint » Sat Apr 06, 2019 12:54 am

God damn, the duncan convertible is one of the most incredible amps I've ever played through. Whatever it had installed on "clean" (I took note, but this is years ago and I now forget) is the only thing that took the EXACT sound of the guitar I was playing and just made it louder. That thing was TRANSPARENT. I wanted to buy it but was broke.
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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by mackerelmint » Sat Apr 06, 2019 12:57 am

Lobsterdeth wrote:
Fri Apr 05, 2019 3:16 pm

It was funnier when they started ranting about how it was gamer gate, transphobes and white men's fault in the gear industry that their company folded, only to be met by hundreds of people telling them they still hadn't refunded their money and a ton of Dwarfcraft supporters just piling on 'em.
It's a sad end, but you reap what you sow. I remember when Devi was THE cool name in the pedal world and I still like my Soda Meiser, as someone else around here said. And that Russian company that's making the "new and improved" Console now seems to be doing OK, more power to 'em.
My personal opinion is that it probably folded because every pedal seemed to be a variation on "splatty gated mess". Combine that with bad financial management and that's a wrap.

Nice Mitsuru Adachi avatar, BTW.
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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by Lobsterdeth » Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:49 am

mackerelmint wrote:
Sat Apr 06, 2019 12:57 am
My personal opinion is that it probably folded because every pedal seemed to be a variation on "splatty gated mess". Combine that with bad financial management and that's a wrap.

Nice Mitsuru Adachi avatar, BTW.
A lot of their pedals were becoming super ubiquitous though, if you played shoegaze you had to have a E13/DE Shoe Gazer or a Rocket, if you played noise the best thing you could get was a Beautiful Disaster/Truly Beautiful Disaster. Even if a ton of their pedals were just two pedals in one or just slight variations, they always sold. It's not paying the IRS $10k what brought them down, it even brought the Console down. Pay your taxes folks.

And thanks, I wanted to use a Touch avvy but the 16kb limit did not allow it. How appropriate that you have an Eguchi avatar as I'm watching both Miyuki and Stop Hibari-kun right now. Good to know there's folks with good taste in guitars and anime.
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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by mackerelmint » Sat Apr 06, 2019 3:46 pm

Lobsterdeth wrote:
Sat Apr 06, 2019 11:49 am
mackerelmint wrote:
Sat Apr 06, 2019 12:57 am
My personal opinion is that it probably folded because every pedal seemed to be a variation on "splatty gated mess". Combine that with bad financial management and that's a wrap.

Nice Mitsuru Adachi avatar, BTW.
A lot of their pedals were becoming super ubiquitous though, if you played shoegaze you had to have a E13/DE Shoe Gazer or a Rocket, if you played noise the best thing you could get was a Beautiful Disaster/Truly Beautiful Disaster. Even if a ton of their pedals were just two pedals in one or just slight variations, they always sold. It's not paying the IRS $10k what brought them down, it even brought the Console down. Pay your taxes folks.

And thanks, I wanted to use a Touch avvy but the 16kb limit did not allow it. How appropriate that you have an Eguchi avatar as I'm watching both Miyuki and Stop Hibari-kun right now. Good to know there's folks with good taste in guitars and anime.
Oh! She wasn't paying taxes. Well, that probably goes back to needing to eat, but maybe it doesn't.

I'm honestly not much for anime but I grew up japan adjacent during the 80s and have always devoured comics like a locust. So Adachi and Eguchi are both "old friends". :)
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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by Jaguar018 » Mon Apr 08, 2019 7:41 am

If this whole idea came out ten or twenty years ago it might have had a chance, but the fancy pedal builder world is pretty saturated at this point, and Devi has had too much drama-- deserved or not, to be considered to be a reliable partner.

With Zoom Pedals, Eventide, Line6 and others you can get all-in-one pedals that don't require a novelty cartridge switcheroo system.

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by HazBen » Tue Dec 15, 2020 1:39 pm

it's basically a backplane system like others have said sort of reminds me of the korg unit but I suppose in implementation it was more similar to the electra MPC "atari cartridge guitars" in the the controls are on the main unit which can have some limitations esp in the analog domain (where you may want to use different tapers and values)
the MC had that limitation and would have trimmer pots on some of the units.


utlimately, these never seem to do very well in the market the korg, the TC, etc
and I do have to wonder how big of an ecosystem would have actually emerged. Devi always was one for hype (she used to call herself a hype man) and I suspect that "interested" in the list might have been very very very optimistic (like writing back "interesting idea" would classify as "interested in making" for the marketing)

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by jorri » Tue Dec 15, 2020 7:03 pm

As mentioned devi pedals are very similar. I wonder what the problem with using a switch is...well because then you dont have to buy each pedal. Or cartridges.
I had the DIY kits she sold. Two PCBs and instructions for about 11 of the pedals from minor changes like transistor type, swapping pins or a couple resistors.

There have been cartridge pedals. Line6 did some, but thats not quite the same. This was entirely kitsch and i think that was the point.

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by Singlebladepickup » Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:09 pm

Cooper FX has "Arcades" which is almost exactly what it sounds like "Consoles" was supposed to be, except the "cartridges" are basically just little chips you stick in the top. It's ok, I got one for the generation loss chip and it comes with two so I got the synth chip too. They've got a bunch and they're relatively inexpensive once you shell out for the pedal.

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by CorporateDisguise » Wed Dec 16, 2020 5:51 am

Yeah, I was so stoked when I saw the Arcades release. Such a great platform. I always had trouble shelling out money for lofi or noise pedals that had a limited scope of use. But because the Arcades can do that and so much more made it an easier pill to swallow.

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by HazBen » Wed Dec 16, 2020 8:49 pm

jorri wrote:
Tue Dec 15, 2020 7:03 pm
As mentioned devi pedals are very similar. I wonder what the problem with using a switch is...well because then you dont have to buy each pedal. Or cartridges.
I had the DIY kits she sold. Two PCBs and instructions for about 11 of the pedals from minor changes like transistor type, swapping pins or a couple resistors.
They were all basically circuit bends of cascaded emitter followers, so they were bound to be pretty similar. I think if you remember where they came from it stands to reason. Back in the Harmony Central days where [respecting deadnaming] Devi got her start , she was sort of following the ZVex fuzz factory approach.
There have been cartridge pedals. Line6 did some, but thats not quite the same. This was entirely kitsch and i think that was the point.
yeah, the writing was already on the wall. It was no coincidence that it was set up like a videogame console. I remember she was kind of enamored with the whole "blow in the nintendo cartrige" lore and even used that as a talking point.
Abt that time, I saw a video from a Portland maker group where devi was presenting and someone asked about how she felt about esoteric transistors and she said something like 'we just use regular old transistors like you'd find in a video game' -- it was a bit of a uh oh moment b/c it wasn't like a "transistor radio" or "a walkman" or "run of the mill buffer" or "consumer electronics" it was pretty specific -- it showed where her head was at. and she was always one to follow the moment in terms of her interests

Even though I'm skeptical that the market really goes there - I do just wish it had hit fruition before she checked completely out

did her videogame career ever take off? it's a big industry, so it's not like we'd see her name in lights
I found her linked in and it sounds like she's still in that space or maybe just hasn't updated.
https://www.linkedin.com/public-profile ... d851249029

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by HazBen » Thu Dec 17, 2020 8:52 am

On the other side of things. Did the kickstarter backers ever get made whole?
Last I heard she was using royalties from licensing the effects line out to issue refunds

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by natthu » Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:39 am

Singlebladepickup wrote:
Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:09 pm
Cooper FX has "Arcades" which is almost exactly what it sounds like "Consoles" was supposed to be, except the "cartridges" are basically just little chips you stick in the top. It's ok, I got one for the generation loss chip and it comes with two so I got the synth chip too. They've got a bunch and they're relatively inexpensive once you shell out for the pedal.
I have an Arcades too. I gotta say the concept is good, but the reality is lacking. I also bought it for the Generation Loss card, and it's a cut down less useful version. The novelty of having the cards wears off real quick. I am the sort of guy who really looks after his stuff, but I can still see myself managing to lose the cards rendering the unit useless. I think the Eventide H9 is ultimately a much better design where you load software to it to add more effects, and then those modules are permanently in the unit.

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Re: Was there ever any resolution to the Devi Console thing?

Post by Singlebladepickup » Thu Dec 17, 2020 11:19 am

natthu wrote:
Thu Dec 17, 2020 10:39 am
Singlebladepickup wrote:
Tue Dec 15, 2020 8:09 pm
Cooper FX has "Arcades" which is almost exactly what it sounds like "Consoles" was supposed to be, except the "cartridges" are basically just little chips you stick in the top. It's ok, I got one for the generation loss chip and it comes with two so I got the synth chip too. They've got a bunch and they're relatively inexpensive once you shell out for the pedal.
I have an Arcades too. I gotta say the concept is good, but the reality is lacking. I also bought it for the Generation Loss card, and it's a cut down less useful version. The novelty of having the cards wears off real quick. I am the sort of guy who really looks after his stuff, but I can still see myself managing to lose the cards rendering the unit useless. I think the Eventide H9 is ultimately a much better design where you load software to it to add more effects, and then those modules are permanently in the unit.
I think the Gen Loss is arguably better than the regular Cooper version (not CBA), because I like expression pedal control of stuff like filters. I agree that the cartridges are a gimmick and the H9 method of download and storage is way better. Likewise, I'd probably by another Arcades if I could load it with effects I already have and use them each for one effect at a time, like you can do with H9 Max/Core. It's still cool, but could've been way better. If Cooper releases a Gen Loss eurorack module I'll sell arcades

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