Again, you've definitely gotten the gist of my original point.
Personally, I think Sequential is finally doing an excellent job in the area of maintenance, especially for a small company. Yes, there was trouble in the earlier years, but they've heard our voices and responded. I thought the recent updates to the Pro 2 came right out of the blue. I presumed that instrument was a thing of the past and was so pleased to see the company give it further attention. But of course, the Pro 2 is bound to go its way sooner or later, and that's what bothers me. And this is where everyone can shout, "But that's the music business!" I know, I know. But it stinks for the musician.
You make a good point, Razmo, in that following the thinking of this thread might result in less business for Sequential, but I'm not sure about that.
I'm not suggesting in any way that the ideas expressed here would work; I'm just dreaming out loud, so take it for what it's worth. But if synthesizers remained in production for much longer periods of time, if companies put a little less time into research and development directed at churning out new products on a frequent regular basis, but more into maintenance, then wouldn't the huge amount of time, resources, and frustration spent on dealing with the problems with recently released instruments be substantially reduced? At least, people would know for certain they'd eventually be resolved.
Just consider what happens around here in the first year of a new instrument. Look at the anger of users and the difficult situations the company finds itself in. One new instrument is released, and long before its bugs and flaws have been worked out, another new instrument is released, to the exasperation of those who just bought the previous instrument and feel it's not being given sufficient attention. Remember the Tempest, or even the Tetr4? Remember John the Savage and others? I used to read the Tempest posts purely for entertainment.
"Pow! Wham! And Tracy's out cold! Now Carson's standing again But wait, Tracy's back up and John is staggering. Holy moley, John's down for the count!"
Sad to say, it was great fun reading those posts, but it certainly wasn't fun for those directly involved. And is it at all necessary, or is it due to the mad rush for new stuff, to the neglect of the old?
It just seems to me that, if the new instruments appeared less frequently, and the existing instruments remained in production for many more years and with constant attention, those of us who love and play these instruments would be happier and the companies who produced them would have to deal with less grief. And of equal interest, we might also see the appearance of instrument masters, of individuals who, because it continued in production for many years, felt comfortable remaining with a particular instrument - say, a Prophet '08. And as a result, they could become incredibly proficient with it. A Marc Melia is the perfect demonstration of my point; but he is the exception, not the norm. And how many times do you think he's been asked when he's going to get a Rev2, or even a Moog One?