yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA
ForaBrokenEarth wrote:
Arricat wrote:

Next week marks 2 years since I placed my order....
I guess I just have to let it go sad

P.S. please check out Aly James'  FMDrive and SPSG plugins.
They sound great and are a great alternative to waiting years for a GenMDM

2 years? Jesus. It's a shame that in the end this all went the way of the Midines.

Yea and the really sh*tty part is I miss having Littlescale around here. Oh I'd love to have the interface in hand but seems like we lost a cool member too cause of all this. Miss seeing his posts with cool ideas and projects, and yea can follow his blog but it's just not the same as here.
Yogi

TylerBarnes
Offline
Dallas, Texas
ForaBrokenEarth wrote:

2 years? Jesus. It's a shame that in the end this all went the way of the Midines.

Not quite. The main difference being that he didn't leave the ability to purchase an imaginary cartridge open and continue to accept money, like wafar did. He closed pre orders once he felt he couldn't keep up.

Arricat
Offline
Glasgow

I'd like the rom and teensy firmware so I can at least.  Would be better than nothing.

TDK
Offline
Warwickshire, UK

Has anyone asked for a refund?

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA
Arricat wrote:

I'd like the rom and teensy firmware so I can at least.  Would be better than nothing.

  Yea, I would settle for just the firmwares and write off the hardware costs, but Littlescale hasn't replied to any of my requests so far.  I've offered to source my own parts with just the firmwares or do my own assembly if he'd ship a bag of parts. Never got a direct response to these quires.
  The Teensy firmware was updated and posted to his blog (hex only, no source), but the Saga ROM hasn't been released. I believe the interface hardware isn't too different then the SMSM and Saga repo cart boards are out there.
   Last summer was the last response I got from him on Facebook; basically 'will be shipping in about a week' (just like a few others around here). So that didn't happen.
  Sadly TDK, I fear that this mess is a money issue. Not knowing the worldwide shipping costs, but guessing at $10 x 50 orders, he's looking at $500. After 2 years (ordered mine Dec 1, 2012) I'm willing to bet that the monies payed are long gone. So even if he has all the parts on hand, if he hasn't tucked away the shipping costs, we are low priority.
  At this point if Littlescale would just come forward I'm sure something could be worked out. For myself, not happy but I understand how things get out of hand and would rather have a working interface then false hope.
Yogi

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA

Sorry, double post

Last edited by yogi (Dec 30, 2014 6:30 pm)

Ether
Offline

Been trying to get hold of little scale regularly for months now. Tried facebook messages, wall posts, comments, twitter and his email to no reply. I'm not harassing him but sending him a message about once or twice a month. He is active on his facebook page as well as his twitter but he's not replied to me once.

Considering that I gave him 80AUD way back in 2012 in advance for something that he never delivered, he could at least reply and explain himself. Instead he's been stonewalling me for months; nay years. At this stage I feel that I've given him more patience than is reasonable, and he has not done the right thing.

I have been cheated, I see him as a fraudster, thief or whatever you want to call it. If he would get in touch and explain himself, offer a refund or at least apologise I would have some respect. We've all been more than patient and endlessly understanding and optimistic waiting for this thing but there's a point where you have to stop giving the benefit of the doubt and realise you've been mistreated.

For a well respected member of a music community to cheat a whole load of fellow musicians seems brazen to me. It doesn't matter if he's talented. If he offers a service, takes my money and doesn't deliver, doesn't even reply to my messages for years, he has lost all my respect. He would likely lose the respect of many other members of the chip music community if they knew about this.

Last edited by Ether (Jan 24, 2015 5:09 pm)

TDK
Offline
Warwickshire, UK
yogi wrote:

  Sadly TDK, I fear that this mess is a money issue. Not knowing the worldwide shipping costs, but guessing at $10 x 50 orders, he's looking at $500. After 2 years (ordered mine Dec 1, 2012) I'm willing to bet that the monies payed are long gone. So even if he has all the parts on hand, if he hasn't tucked away the shipping costs, we are low priority.
  At this point if Littlescale would just come forward I'm sure something could be worked out. For myself, not happy but I understand how things get out of hand and would rather have a working interface then false hope.
Yogi

It would be interesting if any of his 'customers' were going to Square Sounds then as he is obviously able to use online communication to book himself gigs... Just some communication would be great, as at the moment can simply be classed as fraud.

m

BennVenn
Offline
Australia
yogi wrote:

Not knowing the worldwide shipping costs, but guessing at $10 x 50 orders, he's looking at $500.

Under 50g, AU$2.75 Worldwide

50-250g, AU$7.40 Worldwide

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA
BennVenn wrote:
yogi wrote:

Not knowing the worldwide shipping costs, but guessing at $10 x 50 orders, he's looking at $500.

Under 50g, AU$2.75 Worldwide

50-250g, AU$7.40 Worldwide

  OK I was just speculating, with no knowledge of the real reasons why he just seemed to turn his back on us. But judging from my own limited experience of shipping with the US Postal system to over seas, costs were high.
  The whole mess stinks, I mean REALLY STINKS!  And we may never get an answer to what happened. He's had lots of time to offer remedies over the last two years but at this point, I'm not holding too much hope.
  I've tried to offer him help to clean up things, doing my own assembly as well as batch assembly but with no response. Release/sell the Gen ROM bin as shareware so people can build their own HW, lots of software/VSTs are sold this way. Hell, chiptune albums are all about downloads. But No comment from him. If he had wanted to find a solution I'm sure there are compromises that could have been found.  So what else can be done? It's not like his internet is down, it's a choice.
Littlescale made some really bad choices, oh yea!, but I'd be  lying to say 'I never have'. I don't think he went into this with an intent to screw people. I FEEL that it just got out of hand. As everyone knows,'Sh1t happens'. It's NOT fair.
   But What can I or We, do to compel him to at least respond, let alone fulfill/refund the orders? If he doesn't already have the courage to deal with the mess he made, I-stocking him will just make Me feel worse. I know this sounds lame but really all we can do is take it as a life lesson and do our best not to treat others like this.
 
  For my own peace of mind, I have to find a way to let it go. I spent too much time feeling bad/angry/hateful  when I got burned with the MidiNES (way out of scale to the amount of $$$ I lost); and in the end I still don't have one.
  The really weird thing with this mess is the fact that if Littlescale had put his design(s) into 'production' as others in the retro computing/music community have, it could of been a descent garage business. Considering how active the GBoy and NES communities are, with online shops for parts and mods,  there's interest. Just look at some of the related projects on Kick Starter, 200, 300, 500% of their funding goals. 

  The Best/Worst thing about the Web are the 'friends' we have never met. In the end, for the few people that have really let me down, there are 100s that make the world a better place. It's all choices.
  And IF littlescale IS reading this: you can still make thing right. Just reach out, if not here then there has got to be people closer to you that will help with this.
Yogi

ForaBrokenEarth
Offline
Nottingham, UK

What I would think has happened is this:
-Seb recieved the preorders.
-Real life happened and he had to put them off.
-Putting it off repeatedly turns into anxiety avoiding procrastination.
-The money is used on something else.
-Thinking about the project becomes a serious source of anxiety.
-Stops thinking about the project.
-Stops Answering emails.
-Spiral continues.


It's disappointing because he was such a respected figure in chipmusic I don't believe its malicious, it's just totally shitty. Seb if you read this just reach out and people can come to some sort of arrangement. Even if it's only an apology.

As for how to let go (if that's what you want to do) allow me to be a bit hippyish for a minute.:

Shichiri was reciting the sutras when a robber entered his room, put a knife to his back, and demanded his money. "Over there in the box," said Shichiri, going on with his recitation.
As the robber was leaving, Shichiri said, "Leave me some for my taxes; they are coming around tomorrow to collect." So the robber put back some of the money and started to leave.
"Don't you thank someone who makes you a gift?" asked Shichiri. So the robber thanked him, and went off.
A few days later the robber was caught; and among other confessions, he said he had robbed Shichiri. But Shichiri refused to testify against him. "I made him a gift of some money," he said. "And he thanked me for it. That was all."
The robber served a prison term. When he was freed, he went directly to Shichiri. "Will you be my teacher?" he said.

Last edited by ForaBrokenEarth (Jan 25, 2015 11:36 pm)

ForaBrokenEarth
Offline
Nottingham, UK

EDIT: Double post. This only happens on this site for some reason.

Last edited by ForaBrokenEarth (Jan 25, 2015 11:34 pm)

BennVenn
Offline
Australia

Once a hobby turns into a job it ruins all that makes it fun. The little profit he was making had less and less appeal as the workload increased until it reached a point where the money was not worth the time, and as others have pointed out, the stress/anxiety. That explains why he sold elsewhere at an inflated price and still maintains a social profile. And why he doesn't want to release the project to the public.
It's upsetting reading through the 80pages of the rise and fall of GenMDM. A very talented person and a loss to the community.
Just my interpretation of all this...

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA
BennVenn wrote:

Once a hobby turns into a job it ruins all that makes it fun. The little profit he was making had less and less appeal as the workload increased until it reached a point where the money was not worth the time, and as others have pointed out, the stress/anxiety. That explains why he sold elsewhere at an inflated price and still maintains a social profile. And why he doesn't want to release the project to the public.
It's upsetting reading through the 80pages of the rise and fall of GenMDM. A very talented person and a loss to the community.
Just my interpretation of all this...

  Good points, but to be fair, as far as I know Littlescale hasn't been selling the GenMDM  'out the back door'. Perhaps you are confusing this with the MidiNES which is being sold on EBay by a seller that seems to have a limitless supply.
  It's uncanny how these two endeavors are parallel in many ways. But on the one hand I don't believe that Littlescale knowingly defrauded the buyers; where as x|k collected thousands knowing full well he couldn't/wouldn't fulfill the orders. In the end I guess there isn't too much difference in the outcome though, just scale.
Yogi

yogi
Offline
Jelly Stone park, MD USA
ForaBrokenEarth wrote:

What I would think has happened is this:
-Seb recieved the preorders.
-Real life happened and he had to put them off.
-Putting it off repeatedly turns into anxiety avoiding procrastination.
-The money is used on something else.
-Thinking about the project becomes a serious source of anxiety.
-Stops thinking about the project.
-Stops Answering emails.
-Spiral continues.


It's disappointing because he was such a respected figure in chipmusic I don't believe its malicious, it's just totally shitty. Seb if you read this just reach out and people can come to some sort of arrangement. Even if it's only an apology.

As for how to let go (if that's what you want to do) allow me to be a bit hippyish for a minute.:

Shichiri was reciting the sutras when a robber entered his room, put a knife to his back, and demanded his money. "Over there in the box," said Shichiri, going on with his recitation.
As the robber was leaving, Shichiri said, "Leave me some for my taxes; they are coming around tomorrow to collect." So the robber put back some of the money and started to leave.
"Don't you thank someone who makes you a gift?" asked Shichiri. So the robber thanked him, and went off.
A few days later the robber was caught; and among other confessions, he said he had robbed Shichiri. But Shichiri refused to testify against him. "I made him a gift of some money," he said. "And he thanked me for it. That was all."
The robber served a prison term. When he was freed, he went directly to Shichiri. "Will you be my teacher?" he said.

Well said

TylerBarnes
Offline
Dallas, Texas
yogi wrote:

MidiNES which is being sold on EBay by a seller that seems to have a limitless supply.

I've noticed this as well. sykdeity is the user. Looking through his positive reviews and the completed listings there are dozons of Midines listings.