I'm pleased to announce the formation of a new pedal company, Function F(x), with myself and MBP regulars and DIY aficionados culturejam (Forrest) and pickdropper (Dave). We've been working behind the scenes for a few months to get this going...developing a business plan, doing product development, filing paperwork, etc. Things are coming together quickly and we plan to launch our first three products by Q4, or Q1 2014 at the latest.
Function F(x) also has two other developers/investors that are not members of the DIY pedal community. One is a software engineer and the other is a production manager with loads of tech experience. We've got a great group of minds and I believe we will be able to establish a lasting brand that has impact on the commercial pedal scene. We have big things planned, and I'm excited to see how this particular group of people works as a team over the next few months (and years)!
In the next few weeks, Function F(x) is going to start a small Kickstarter style fundraiser. We have put together a very decent amount of start-up capital on our own for the initial production runs, and we are looking to expand that for a targeted equipment purchase/lease: a laser engraver. The engraver will be the basis for a lot of the pedal artwork (if you've seen any of pickdropper's work then you already know just how awesome it will look!) The fundraiser will offer three brand new PCB projects, one each from Forrest, Dave and myself for a donation amount of about $30 (a pretty great deal, I think). It will run for a couple of weeks, and we will also be giving thanks to each contributor on the FFX website (www.function-fx.com). More details on that to follow soon.
As far as the impact on madbeanpedals...it will have some since I will be splitting my attention between two companies now. However, a lot of the project development for the remainder of this year is nearly complete. So, I do not expect it to have too much effect in terms of PCB releases in the immediate future. I'm still just as committed to MBP as ever, so this doesn't mean this place is going away or languishing by any measure.
Anyway, I'm really stoked about this new adventure, and I want to take the opportunity to thank all the members here for their continued involvement in MBP. Without that, I would never have reached this point...so thank you!
Yaaayyy!!! Fantastic news man! Can't wait to see where this takes you guys. What a great group!
Dang. Absolutely great. Congratulations. I will take part in the fundraiser.
KILLER!! Congratulations fellas!
Congratulations! Hope everything goes well for it!
I'll definately donate to the kickstarter, not only to help the new business venture but also as a way of saying thank you for a great site, forum, and pedal projects!
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Quote from: pryde on August 01, 2013, 10:43:47 PM
Dang. Absolutely great. Congratulations. I will take part in the fundraiser.
+1
..whoooaa..great guys :D
I don't know why I wasn't expecting something like this - congratulations, you guys! Can't wait to see what you'll come up with.
Awesome!
Fantastic news and the best of luck to you all, All the best, Matt.
Very cool! And all the best of luck!
Exciting news! I wish you the best!
Cheers, fellas. We're all chuffed (to bits) about the whole operation. Thank god all the paperwork stuff is almost over! :D
Awesome, best of luck and all the success you and your fab team deserve!!! Watch this space I reckon'...
Looking forward to seeing the fundraising pcb package!
I'm more than happy to donate to the cause. You guys deserve to make a decent living off of the great work you do.
When's the IPO? ;)
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Good luck with your new business!
I'm quite curious about the fundraiser pcbs.
Great news guys and awesome brand name! I wish you guys all the success in the world and can't wait to see what you're hiding up your sleeve. Bring on the fundraiser!
This is really cool! Cheers to you guys, and all the best on this new adventure! Kickstarter, let me introduce you to my Paypal account......
Paul
Good luck, I am thinking that Function F(x) pedals are going to look and sound epic !
Cool... count me in for the fundraiser!
Really cool news guys.
Can't wait to see what you have in store!
There are many wallets that will drain in the face of your kick starter, I suspect. (Likely including mine.)
Great logo..All the best with this fantastic sounding business, wishing you every success:)
Mike
Fantastic effective and fully functional news! [get it get it]
I wish you the best of luck, and since I got a raise at work I gotta contribute to the cause hehe.
Very cool:)
I'm definately up for that fundräising thïng! I'm just happy to payback so to say.
Cheers
I wish you all the best to get this going and hope it will be a successful endeavour for all of you ;D
Wicked!
Great news, i wanna see the actual pedal market be shaken, it's full of myths and misconceptions, apart from a handfull of brands that are actually creating something new and investing in development, the majority of them are still milking the same old cows...
Hope you guys can make it, and with that team, and the work you've been putting out (always amazing!) I don't have any doubts that you can pull it!
Best of luck for you, and if i can ($), i will support it. Thanks for "feeding" this awesome community!
Nuno
Yes!
+1 to everything!
Absolutely great news!! Wish you all best :)
Brane
This is pretty exciting. I've seen what you guys can do and it's in another league from what's already out there.
Great news! Looking forward to seeing what you guys can do!
Talk about the culmination of a lot of great work! All the best, and I can't wait to see what the fundraiser includes!
Thanks guys, we're pretty excited about the possibilities. We have a long way to go and a lot of work to put in, but I believe in the talents of the group we have, so I am very optimistic.
BOUT TIME!!! ;D ;D ;D
Super stoked about this!
Also super stoked, I am wishing the best for you all!
Sounds like this will be a pretty awesome combination! Pretty excited to see what comes out of it.
Not surprised. It just seemed like a matter of time. Congrats! Can't wait to see the finished products! ...and of course the new projects! ;D
I am very excited for you guys. You all certainly have the talent and knowledge to make this work. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
Hey, when will you be taking job applications for off-site PCB populators? ;D
Quote from: timbo_93631 on August 03, 2013, 04:56:23 PM
Hey, when will you be taking job applications for off-site PCB populators? ;D
We aren't planning on doing that initially, but we haven't ruled anything out for the future.
OK, a couple of teaser shots of an evaluation board we designed. Don't tell anybody. ;D
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/pickdropper/Function%20fx%20teasers/DigEVB2_zpsd31779d6.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/pickdropper/media/Function%20fx%20teasers/DigEVB2_zpsd31779d6.jpg.html)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v158/pickdropper/Function%20fx%20teasers/DigEVB3_zps8a11e03a.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/user/pickdropper/media/Function%20fx%20teasers/DigEVB3_zps8a11e03a.jpg.html)
Digital control of analog effects? Now that has me Velllly intrigued. DIY projects part of the business plan?
Quote from: jubal81 on August 03, 2013, 06:38:42 PM
Digital control of analog effects? Now that has me Velllly intrigued. DIY projects part of the business plan?
It's been discussed, but we're non-committal at this point. All of us like the idea and feel very tightly tied to the DIY community, but right now we have to focus on getting things running first.
Pretty. Pretty. Pretty. :-*
We are anxiously awaiting pedals that take over the world. ;)
Been waiting for the announcement and additional details.
Congrats guys.
Definitely down to donate :)
In keeping with tradition of some of our favorite people/companies that have come up through the DIY community, I think the first pedal you guys release should be a ts808 variant, with the ic numbers sanded and black goop over all of it.
Priced at around $300 , of course.;)
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Best of luck in your new endeavor. I definitely be in on the kickstarter.
(https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSGilLe4ipEYAz8Z0stDofY63CK74muGhjbtL4j6EZxiKeWs8Va)
I knew it would happen sooner or later! :)
I hope this means big things for you guys, it's about time you guys start making some serious waves/money based on your really cool work!
cool! Congratulations to you guys !
Where do we sign up ???
absolutely outstanding! i'm in!!
EPIC!
Congratulations and i wish you all the best and much success in your new business :)
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Wait! how did I miss this before?
This is awesome!
Congrats....and wish you all the best... :D
Congrats!! Exciting news, and a software developer- I assume we are talking programming for hella cool fx?
:)
Clifford
Congrats fellas! Good luck and keep us posted!
Great news, I'm eager to see what you'll come up with.
Congratulations! Wish you the best!
I JUST got the premise of the name, Function f(x)
Cleeeeaaaavvverrrrrrrr
Quote from: insomniac2295 on September 04, 2013, 06:33:05 PM
I JUST got the premise of the name, Function f(x)
Cleeeeaaaavvverrrrrrrr
Pedal designers do it with math.
Thanks again for the well wishes. The fundraiser will come in October. We should also be giving you some small product development teasers soon. I'd like to show folks around here a bit more of what goes into starting a pedal company. It could be a good teaching moment in a manner of speaking.
I definitely want in on the Kickstarter and I don't even know what you are selling! I know it will be good.
Here is an unsatisfying teaser for one of the product prototypes done by Pickdropper. Can't show the rest yet.
The names of the three fundraiser PCBs are the Grease Gun (overdrive by me), NoMojo (dual fuzz by Dave), and DuoVibe (vibe/phaser by Forrest). We've each built all three and they sound reeeeallly good.
awesome. can't wait to hear it.
Where's that 'Shut up and take my money!' pic when I need it? ;D
Quote from: slacker775 on September 15, 2013, 06:37:52 PM
Where's that 'Shut up and take my money!' pic when I need it? ;D
+1
Quote from: madbean on September 15, 2013, 06:23:08 PM
Here is an unsatisfying teaser for one of the product prototypes done by Pickdropper. Can't show the rest yet.
Wow, that is unsatisfying! I was kind of annoyed until I realized that I knew what the rest of it looked like. ;-)
Sweet! Good luck!
I want all of the projects. Gosh I feel like I just want all of the projects.... my wife is beginning to wonder what happened to me.
Quote from: pickdropper on September 15, 2013, 10:03:35 PM
Wow, that is unsatisfying!
It's not
that unsatisfying. You can get a lot of info from that picture even not being told it's an overdrive: It's a two-button overdrive with an order switcher for the boost to be before or after the OD. It's name is .... BLO .............
wudoeiuin? ;D
Quote from: midwayfair on September 18, 2013, 03:03:59 PM
It's a two-button overdrive with an order switcher for the boost to be before or after the OD.
Not so fast! That "Flip" switch might be for output phase. ;)
Flip is actually for the Gear Pagers so they can re-sell it faster.
Quote from: madbean on September 18, 2013, 05:24:51 PM
Flip is actually for the Gear Pagers so they can re-sell it faster.
And at a profit!
Did we mention the 2 year waiting list?
I'm already getting $700 bids on ebay for a GreaseGun ;)
I don't know who any of you people are, but CONGRATS! ;D
I'll donate. Maybe the first pedals I build will be one of those three?
Quote from: MrSimple on October 11, 2013, 02:07:15 PM
I don't know who any of you people are...
Search their posts in the Build Reports section, and then you'll be really excited about the company :)
So has the kick starter project been launched yet?
Congrats to you guys. Can't wait to see what great things you come up with.
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Such a tease!
The boards are in and look good. We are waiting on one other special package that will be part of it. I expect next week we will announce the date and release more info on the PCB bundle. It won't be an actual Kickstarter. Most likely it will be facilitated on our website.
rad, Rad, RAD!
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Quote from: madbean on October 25, 2013, 09:10:18 PM
The boards are in and look good. We are waiting on one other special package that will be part of it. I expect next week we will announce the date and release more info on the PCB bundle. It won't be an actual Kickstarter. Most likely it will be facilitated on our website.
You're killin' me, Smalls.
We have a date!!! yay!