Starting a synthesizer company

andrew_rubicon · Post by **andrew_rubicon** » Sun May 20, 2007 7:29 pm

Hey guys. This is a pretty random question cause I don't know much about building synthesizers but I love playing them, have quite a few and I have some ideas I want in them that currently don't exist. I am wondering how much roughly it would cost to pay a group of engineers to work with me on building a custom synthesizer. I'm very interested in a project like this but have no experience in this field. I am a music producer, and thats what I get paid for.

OggeOJ · Post by **OggeOJ** » Sun May 20, 2007 7:57 pm

andrew_rubicon wrote:Hey guys. This is a pretty random question cause I don't know much about building synthesizers but I love playing them, have quite a few and I have some ideas I want in them that currently don't exist. I am wondering how much roughly it would cost to pay a group of engineers to work with me on building a custom synthesizer. I'm very interested in a project like this but have no experience in this field. I am a music producer, and thats what I get paid for.

Id guess just designing the thing would cost like 30-40k. But anyways, i would be happy if you could make Native Instruments FM8 in a hardware version

Post by **nathanscribe** » Sun May 20, 2007 8:49 pm

It will also depend on whether you want a 1-off custom job, as your post indicates, or are actually starting manufacture of a unit on some scale, as your title indicates.

Analog Freak · Post by **Analog Freak** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:24 pm

It's hard to even venture a guess when you leave out so many of the details of what you want to do.

Thefumigator · Post by **Thefumigator** » Sun May 20, 2007 9:26 pm

If I have success on my FM midibox synth, I'm actually going to build them in amounts only limited by the amount of FM chips I find. I live in a country where electronic components costs *hopefully* half or 1 third what they cost in other regions.

This synth is taken from the midibox website, here: http://www.ucapps.de/

Supposing I'm building a basic FM synth in a metallic case with just midi in/out and EEPROM memory for 128 presets and buttons for switching from preset to preset, no LCD, no knobs, everything can cost me around 15 to 20$, and the pic programmer (I'm also building it myself) will cost me around of 5$.

I will have to draw the board myself with a permanent marker, since I don't think they sell transfer paper around here, meaning this is completely "homemade", since you submerge the board into iron perclorure and you are done, after a while, lets say half an hour to 1 hour, only the tracks you draw in the board will remain.

WellingtonCrab · Post by **WellingtonCrab** » Sun May 20, 2007 10:11 pm

Thefumigator wrote:If I have success on my FM midibox synth, I'm actually going to build them in amounts only limited by the amount of FM chips I find. I live in a country where electronic components costs *hopefully* half or 1 third what they cost in other regions.

This synth is taken from the midibox website, here: http://www.ucapps.de/

Not to hijack the thread, but since you're not legally allowed to sell synth's using the midibox code without permission from Thorsten, what are you going to do with all of them once you build them?

minime123 · Post by **minime123** » Mon May 21, 2007 1:27 am

if its something you think others would want you may be better off approaching one of the major manufacturers and trying to work with them, if theyre interested. cause beyond the design stage theres the manufacture stage, and thats going to cost a lot as well. just be careful because some people / companies may steal your ideas.
good luck.
mini

portland · Post by **portland** » Mon May 21, 2007 1:41 am

WellingtonCrab wrote:
Thefumigator wrote:If I have success on my FM midibox synth, I'm actually going to build them in amounts only limited by the amount of FM chips I find. I live in a country where electronic components costs *hopefully* half or 1 third what they cost in other regions.

This synth is taken from the midibox website, here: http://www.ucapps.de/
Not to hijack the thread, but since you're not legally allowed to sell synth's using the midibox code without permission from Thorsten, what are you going to do with all of them once you build them?

Give them away!

andrew_rubicon · Post by **andrew_rubicon** » Mon May 21, 2007 2:18 am

I know my opening post must of seemed pretty vague lol. I do have drawings and things done that are done professionally but I just don't feel like posting it on the net. I had this guy in california steal music from me once :S haha. but anyways, the info is really good. gives me a good idea of how to go about things in this field. does anyone here circuit bend or have ever made a synth themselves? be interesting to hear some stories. i have some of my stuff on www.myspace.com/lackofaith ive done. but i have a great website coming out soon with all the current music from rubicon studios.

memo · Post by **memo** » Mon May 21, 2007 2:33 am

I think the best way to go about it is to get together with some students who are specifically studying electronics and offer to pay for all materials. They'll get free supplies, while you'll get free development. Hit up the colleges around your area and network - you might find some like-minded people to help you out.

Building an actual synthesizer company from the ground up with professionally paid engineers and programmers is probably out of the question. You're looking at six figures minimum just for the first few months, and that's with only a couple people working with you. I also think that getting one of the "big names" to help you out is also unrealistic.

Post by **Zonkout** » Mon May 21, 2007 6:46 pm

You should ask your question over at Electro-Music's Synth DIY forum:
http://electro-music.com/forum/forum-112.html

There are many synth designers there who might be interested and could give you a better idea of costs.

synapsecollapse · Post by **synapsecollapse** » Mon May 21, 2007 8:42 pm

andrew: is the work you are looking for involving custom IC design? or do you just have general functions that need to be provided (do you have an arcitecture in place that you need someone to implement) ?

the scope of this project could be very simple or really difficult depending on how you approch it. good luck.

Starting a synthesizer company

Starting a synthesizer company

Re: Starting a synthesizer company