The main thing with S|C is that their business is niche, not even the owner makes his living full-time with Scope and our community. I'm sure we can all relate to what it's like to have multiple commitments you try to maintain in an adult working life. For many or even most people, this often means simplifying things to be more manageable, and dropping what doesn't given the most efficient path to financial returns.
I don't of course know anything about S|C's financial structure or business, aside from what any of us can observe here. But given the number of years I've been here, I would still like to share some observations with you:
- Keep in mind that S|C still pays other staff members a salary and continues to manufacture Xite hardware, but the pace of development can be limited by people's bandwidth due to many concerns.
- While I would agree that as customers we certainly have immediate support needs and rights under the law, as long-term users perhaps we can be thankful that S|C has chosen to continue to be a commitment for the people who bring it to us, even though they might also need to focus on other concerns in parallel to earn a living.
- Thinking of S|C as a company in the correct and current context might help many when understanding this product and how and when to use it.
I think the expectation often expressed by some over the years that S|C be equated to other commercial companies that make hardware audio products or DSP solutions belies the fact that starting in the middle of the 00's most of these companies had to come under other ownership(s) to continue to survive on that sort of business model. Think of how well this worked out for M-Audio for instance, or Emu/Ensoniq, or many wonderful hardware & software offerings in the past that were purchased and then abandoned (thinking of a specific guitar company here...)
In any case, Once S|C emerged from the ashes of Creamware, the landscape for audio was much different than when Creamware started in the late 90's. In less than a decade we went from machines that clearly needed the assistance of DSP platforms to even begin to approach workflows needed for professional users to laptops that students could use to produce somewhat comparable results (In terms of computing oomph) in a very short time period. And from then to now we have mobile phones that vastly exceed the power of the first machines that many of us put our Scope cards in.
Point being that it's clear the software ecosystem alone evolved to where DSP solutions were no longer a necessity, something braincell once was prone to pointing out (perhaps excessively). And I recall many of us at the time expressing that we thought Scope might always have a utility for those who don't just want to stick their head into the computer (or ipad etc). And it's on the last point I think Scope still has, and always has had its niche:
I think it's much better perhaps to think of this product and the community around it as something more akin to boutique hardware, than as something that should be compared to companies that have a broad product offering and larger corporate structure.
Given the number of people who are moving away from computers entirely in electronic music workflows, and who would probably accept using Scope much in the manner that Jimmy and others here have used it (as outboard & host PC alike), I think this niche will continue to exist.
Of course I would love to see further success and even more growth for Holger & Gary etc, but the idea that this is abandoned or somehow not marketable because it isn't in line with companies that drove themselves into the arms of investment bankers and tiered ownership & financial management structures seems bizarre to me. Look at the thriving ecosystem around ARM based devices now, tabletop boutique makers and the eurorack community (love or hate some of the budget oriented nature of that)...and think of Scope as being firmly relevant within a similar niche..though still tethered to a host PC so perhaps more akin to something like the TC 6000, a fairlight or etc. A device that has great strengths & uses for those who appreciate what it does, while not catering to the prosumer masses as many of the more commercial comparisons do.
Thoughts?