Emotional Release...

I have to admit I’m a bit amused by the reaction to Roger Linn’s announcement that the LinnDrum II has become more vaporous than it was before (as if that was possible.) One commenter on Create Digital Music said the following:

i am so mad at these guys now i have been waithing for this for so long and cant wait no more.I am now thinking this machine will never see the light of day maybe I should just buy a 5000 roger is letting alot of people down

(I’m just gonna throw a single big fat [sic.] after all of that.)

That is one of the worst examples, and I chuckle to think of what would happen if he had posted that statement here. If you guys had got him before I saw it, lord have mercy. But there are comments like that all over the Intardwebs this weekend.

Aside from the fact that he considers the the re-vaporizing of the product a personal affront, I find the whole thing comedic. As Stretta pointed out in a good post last week, there is immense pressure on hardware manufacturers to announce things whether or not they’re done. Remember (two years ago, natch) when the BoomChik was initially announced? Every music blog posted all kinds of breathless speculation. Except, I’ll note, this one. Because I don’t make a habit of posting about imaginary things.

But there’s a long history of imaginary products announced at NAMM that never saw the light of day, so there’s nothing amazing about that. “Here’s this thing I thought up! I haven’t made any yet, but I have a very nice rendering!” Shit, if that’s all it took… But more to the point, Roger didn’t let anyone down, except perhaps emotionally, and who really gives a fuck about that? If he took coin for pre-orders, it’d be a different matter, but all he did was release a 3D rendering of a product that might be worth making at some point down the road. Then the economy tanked.

Better luck next time, I say.