…aaaand just like that, June is gone! 😵💫
But not to fret - while June did seem to fly by, we still made a ton of progress on Gamma, and even launched pre-orders for an entirely new product (skip to “TIN News” for this) 👀
Let’s get into it!
Gamma’s Hardware in Queue ✨
Our last blog post was largely centered around the process of finishing Gamma’s hardware, and we’re happy to report that the final pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.
A Quick Recap 📝
Last we talked we were waiting on final prototypes for the PCB, bottom plate, and carrying case.
PCB ✅
The latest PCB prototype worked perfectly and needed no new revisions (woohoo! 🥳). After thorough testing we went ahead and submitted the files to our PCB manufacturer.
A small batch of final PCB’s are being built as we speak!
Bottom Plate ✅
The bottom plate more than met our expectations, both in appearance, fit, and feel (woohoo x2 🥳)
Carrying Case 👍👎
We got the samples of the carrying case back from our case manufacturer shortly after posting the last blog. Initial impressions were great! It was very similar to the cases we offer for our other products. Then we tried putting Gamma in the case…. it didn’t fit length wise 😭
We got in contact with our case people and they quickly got to work on fixing the mold. Luckily, the sizing was the only real issue we had, and expect the next samples to be perfect.
Hardware Mass Production 👷
All this begs the question, how close are we to mass production of the hardware?
Very.
We plan on ordering the following components in bulk this week:
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Batteries
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Enclosure (both siding and bottom plate)
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Acrylic faceplates
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Silicone feet
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Accessories (knob caps, thumbstick caps, key caps, screws, etc…)
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USB C cords
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Stickers
With the rest being ordered as soon as final versions arrive and are tested:
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PCBs
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Carrying Cases
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Displays
All in all we should have everything ordered by the middle of July, with most things taking a month to arrive (assuming no unforeseen delays).
That puts our full hardware receiving timeline around the middle of August. Once received, we expect the build process for existing orders to take about a week, with ship dates expected at the end of August.
Some Say “Soft”ware is Harder than “Hard”ware 🤔
Assuming hardware arrives mid-August, that gives us a one and a half month buffer to work on software - which is good, because software takes a longggg time 😪
June was mostly spent working on Gamma’s software. The major points of focus for the software have been centered around:
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Memory allocation (boring)
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New features (exciting!)
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Virtual pet integration (decisions…)
Memory Allocation 😴
Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way first. Gamma’s last prototype (seen in our instagram videos) was using software that was largely unfinished; yet it was taking up nearly 100% of the flash memory on the device's chip.
This was obviously a problem.
So we spent June porting over the existing code to a new environment, and reconfiguring it to free up some space (cutting unnecessary bloat, using QSPI memory whenever possible, redesigning the menu, etc…).
These tweaks helped save a lot of space, but memory allocation will still be something we need to consider throughout software development.
New Features 😳
The part you actually care about 😅
Here are a few of the new features we have either started, or are planning to start working on shortly:
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MIDI integration (at least MIDI Out, hopefully MIDI In too! 🤞)
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Presets and preset saving
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Effect buffering
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Strum setting (to control how fast a chord is played)
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Shortcuts (combinations of encoder click + thumbstick direction to trigger things like preset changing, octave changing, etc..).
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Arp mode (time/space permitting)
I think this topic deserves its own dedicated blog post once we have the manual finished and can get into the fine details. Hang tight!
Virtual Pet Integration 🕹️
This is something that has been on our minds for a while. Our prototype had the virtual pet aspect on a demo loop (looping through 4 pets sequentially), just to showcase the idea.
Now that we’re actually developing the virtual pet there are some questions we need to answer:
How will the user interact with the pet?
How will evolving be handled?
Should it die? Or endlessly evolve?
Ultimately, we don’t want to lose sight of the purpose of this feature - to incentivize the user to pick up the device and create. All decisions should be focused around this goal.
That said, I can see us going down a few different paths with how we handle the above. If you have your own thoughts/opinions on this please let us know!
Other TIN News
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We have launched pre-orders for the LC-1X+. It’s a super sick MIDI lighting controller from our friends at Boomlights. These are expected to ship this Fall (October/November).
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We have a couple shows coming up soon! Montreal Knobsession August 23-24, 2025 & Knobcon Chicagoland September 5-7, 2025. Hope to see you there 😁
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MIDI BLASTER isn’t discontinued (just been out of stock for a while 🥲). We’re looking into getting a small batch ordered before year end. Stay subscribed to our newsletter for updates!
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Amazon.com Prime day is coming up July 8 - 11, 2025! We’re prepping our NMSVE and NM2 listings with some pretty significant deals.
TIN fun fact (the more you know 🌈🌠)
Schuyler and I are third generation entrepreneurs - but the first in our family to invent and manufacture the products we sell 🚀
