Virus TI Darkstar edition product quality

  • Hello,


    I recently purchased a brand new Virus TI2 Darkstar edition. I just caught my attention about product quality. buttons are on my virus are not lining up properly, some buttons are pressed down and not straight up. I paid big$$ but seems to be product quality is kinda poor. or just me.. Does any one have this similar issue?

  • I have noticed the very same issues as you have djbreezee, with a brand new Darkstar unit. In fact, the bottom C# key is hitting wood, and some buttons have a wobbly feel to them. I already contacted Access and they said to have it shipped for repairs.

  • Hello,


    I recently purchased a brand new Virus TI2 Darkstar edition. I just caught my attention about product quality. buttons are on my virus are not lining up properly, some buttons are pressed down and not straight up. I paid big$$ but seems to be product quality is kinda poor. or just me.. Does any one have this similar issue?


    hi,


    the button always had the tendency to look not 100% lined up - it is just a matter of looking close enough. i know this from helping take all the photos you can see on the access website. to a degree, this is a mechanical problem because the button caps do allow for a certain movement in every direction, including rotating a very little bit. this is intentional and necessary. but obviously, there is also a chance that a button is not soldered in 100% correctly. even an angle of much less than one degree can be spotted, especially when you look at three buttons in a row (which makes comparison extra easy)
    as for the hight of the buttons: it should be always the same. if one sticks out, maybe the cap is loose (you can press it down firmly to check that) but other than that, there is no excuse why those should not have the same hight.
    if you feel unhappy about your purchase, please contact your dealer and arrange for exchange. as long as you keep in mind, that the virus is mostly hand made you can judge yourself if something is tolerable for you.


    hth, marc

  • as long as you keep in mind, that the virus is mostly hand made

    Nice little tidbit there. :) Can you also share how many Darkstars were made? I haven't found anywhere that states how limited the production run is, while this info was made available for the other "WhiteOut" models.


    Thanks

  • Nice little tidbit there. :) Can you also share how many Darkstars were made? I haven't found anywhere that states how limited the production run is, while this info was made available for the other "WhiteOut" models.


    Thanks


    we do not disclose sales figures, sorry. the "dark star" is not limited in quantity as for instance the desktop whiteout limited was. the "dark star" will be discontinued somewhen in the future though.


    best, marc

  • we do not disclose sales figures, sorry. the "dark star" is not limited in quantity as for instance the desktop whiteout limited was. the "dark star" will be discontinued somewhen in the future though.


    best, marc

    I wasn't looking for actual sales numbers. I was under the impression the DarkStar was a limited production run with a set number made like the other WhiteOut editions were. Hence the confusion. Sorry about that.

  • I have to say, I love Access, but I'm a little ticked off that Darkstar isn't limited edition. You guys did a lot of promotion of it that presented it as the third part of the known-to-be limited edition runs, and it was sold to me by one of your dealers who was clearly under the same impression as I was. I'm happy with it and love that I have one, but that information was pretty much invisible, as far as I can tell. Which seems a bit deliberate, since both prior limited edition runs sold out quickly.

  • Right, but I think Access was happy letting everyone believe it was limited edition because they knew that would boost sales. And I think calling it "the third in the special edition series" of which the previous two happened to be limited runs is a bit of a strong implication that it is also a limited run. Which is a kind of underhanded marketing trick which I generally believe Access to be better than.


    I'm not looking for any sort of remedy, but I would love it if whoever was responsible for the way this was marketed took this reaction into consideration the next time they're faced with something like this. The sound and quality and support and updates sell the product alone, you don't need to mislead people by omission.


    And now I'd like to get back to thinking exclusively loving thoughts towards my Darkstar. :)

  • Sadly the TI got more expensive throughout its lifespan rather than cheaper (or just the same), otherwise I may well have bought another one, I could actually make very good use of it - not even the 20% off deal Access did brought it back to how much it was when I bought it. I guess they were selling it cheaper during the OS1/2 days as it wasn't completely working yet.

  • I got my TI Desktop for £1125 down from £1200, the TI Desktop now goes for just less than £1500 (which is actually down from what it was a few months ago, surprisingly). I'm certain at one point the desktop became as expensive as the polar/keyboard was originally (ie £1600ish).

  • I probably already said that in my country the price has always stayed the same.


    There's a reason the buttons are not exceptionally "straight" and in line (they are at the same height and aligned, though) - they need to be that way so you can avoid a mis-pression every time you don't push them dead center and completely vertically, i.e. every time you press one :)
    They would be annoying as hell and probably noisier than one could stand, too

  • I got my TI Desktop for £1125 down from £1200, the TI Desktop now goes for just less than £1500 (which is actually down from what it was a few months ago, surprisingly). I'm certain at one point the desktop became as expensive as the polar/keyboard was originally (ie £1600ish).


    look at the pound in '05 and see what it is at now. the reason why you see changes in price is the exchange rate.


    marc