A suggestion for Sweetwater

[shaneperc]

Clay,
I'm a big fan of Sweetwater in general, but being a PC user, I sometimes wish that they would offer more high(er)-end PC recording products. I would love to see RME, Soundscape, Sonorus in the catalog! I know that the general vibe at Sweetwater is very pro-Mac*, but have you guys ever considered this?

Thanks Bunches,
Shane

*You guys have GigaSampler, one of the best ideas since sliced bread, in a 2 inch box, at the bottom of the page, at the very end of the Audio Productivity Software section of your catalog. Come on! :)

[Clay Stahlka]

While I do agree about Gigasampler, I do think that its positioning will be much better now that Nemesis is a part of Tascam. This is an example of why things end up as they do, despite our desires.

Some companies do a good job of supporting their dealers and customers. Many others do not. The PC field is the location of many of those that "do not." That is mainly because the PC market is unbelievably cut-throat, is-so-far-as pricing goes. As we all know and enjoy, if you shop around, PC items can be had a extremely low prices. But, with those low prices come low profits for manufacturers. Therefore they do not hire good tech support people or spend time to train and get behind their dealers. They just cannot afford to do so.

At a company like Sweetwater, we believe that we should only support the products and systems that we can promise the utmost is support for. When we can't do a good job taking care of our customers, we really shouldn't be selling the systems. We cannot even promise that our clients will be supported well by most PC product manufacturers. Therefore, we protect ourselves from embarassment in front of our clients by not "pushing" those products.

Some of the PC systems that provide wonderful support are: Aardvark, MOTU, Digidesign, M-Audio/Midiman, Frontier Design, Cakewalk, Tascam, Nuendo and Universal Audio. (I hope I'm not forgetting too many good partners.) We do "push" those products because we can and do stand behind their products. Emagic is trying hard to catch up and so I should add them to the list. Now that Tascam has Nemesis products, Gigasampler can become a "push" product for full service dealers like ourselves.

Understand that this is not a slight on other products or companies, but a reality check that we all have to grasp. I care so darned much to make my clients happy with their purchases that I am frightened of how selling poorly supported products will effect my integrity and my wonderful relationships with my clientele.

Does that help explain things for you? -cs

[shaneperc]

Clay,
Thanks for the reply. Your explanation is fair enough, even though there is one, and possibly two, companies listed that I have seen blasted to smithereens by user-groups because they don't have adequate user support. (But you guys are selling this stuff, so I'm sure you know better than most.)
I agree with you more than wholeheartedly about the PC audio market being so cut-throat. (But, then again, I consider a few manufacturers listed in your response to be the KINGS of cut-throat.)
That's basically the reason why I would like to see Sweetwater carry audio hardware for the PC that focuses on quality a little bit more than quantity. That sounds like I'm taking the offensive against your fine store, but I assure you it's aimed at low-cost digital audio (which doesn't leave many manufacturers out these days). I just get so miffed whenever I see one of these new cards that look great on paper(24/96, 16 channels of full-duplex, and every form of timecode since the dawn of man!), but when you check them out, it's the things they didn't print (for a good reason) that make up the sonic character. Then they sell it for $250, so the guys that were spending years of development on a really good card just throw their hands up in the air and become DBAs! I don't know who I'm more disappointed in, the people who make crappy hardware, or the people that go out and buy it without even giving it a listen!

(Deep breath, ... and we're back on track)

Your point is well taken on the issue of technical support, though. I know there are a few companies out there that make top-shelf hardware and software, but won't answer their phones!
Thanks again for replying.

Shane