Hi everybody,
as some are starting to sell their Eigenharps - perhaps as a "panic reaction".
Think about this: EigenD was very ambitious "just as firmware" for the Eigenharps, that's why it was so expensive - it is a platform for instruments that run against the limitations of today's protocols and plugin standards. Now that EigenD becomes broadly available and is not controlled by a single company anymore the likelyhood that other instrument makers and "do it yourself instrument builders" jump on the wagon is higher than ever.
In the worst case EigenD will "just" keep functioning on new computers (at least this is extremely likely - almost certain - given that the sources are available). But I think it's definitely not unlikely that it really "takes off" now - and Eigenharp players will directly benefit from that. Then Eigenharps being the instruments that were originally built for EigenD might suddently become much more attractive to a bigger audience (I could even imagine that e.g. Alphas that can not be bought new on stock might even rise in value - not that it matters if you just want to play :) ).
What can happen in the - highly unlikely - "worst worst case imaginable" scenario when all developers suddently loose interest, nobody jumps on the wagon and the foundation gives up? Then you might have to keep a current PC - these should be obtainable for the next 30 years as "classic legacy systems" - gazillions were built. And systems afterwards will emulate such legacy systems without problems - the biggest challenge might be to find a USB-to-future-hip-bus-adapter then - if USB2040 is not downwards compatible anyways...
Regarding repair service: Currently Eigenlabs still offers support - they or the Foundation will probably continue to do that for quite some time. And then as long as you don't break the main board in half many problems (e.g. missing rings) will still be fixable by amateurs or general repair shops - like with all valuable hardware that is not maintained anymore.
Fortunately Eigenharps are so sturdy that I think it's likely that my Eigenharps just continue to work as long as it matters to me.
So imho it boils down to - do you still like the concept? If yes - let's just keep on practicing, it's worth it - not "still" but "particularly now"! :)
Greetings,
NothanUmber
UK
