With a little delay I want to give you the (now almost traditional) update around ACD and my personal situation. 

The changes I've been able to implement over the last year have proven to be the right way.
Constant peak-stress-levels and corresponding health issues are luckily a thing of the past. 
On that note I want to thank all of you for the kind words, your overall support and especially your patience! I can not tell you how much that means to me!

The new schedules and routines allow me to have more time for all the little things around ACD, been able (not only want to) replying to requests a little more detailed and simply taking the time it takes to get things done. 
I really enjoy assembling every single upgrade, pedal or side project and I'm always thrilled and exited to hear from someone enjoying my work!

Having a little more freetime now allows me to spent more time outside, being active and simply regaining energy for the daily tasks. - Thank you very much for making this possible!

On the other hand, my output has been a little more limited since than and it can happen that some products are not available for a few days. I do my best to communicate that openly within the shop system and do my best to keep an inventory and have parts available as quickly as possible. 
The Darwin has now a rather significant waiting time and I really appreciate that so many of you are willing to patiently wait for your Darwin. 

For those who are looking for a simpler and "less expensive" option that is usually available within a short period, please have a look at the Phantom series as well.

Please let me know if have any questions or if there's anything I can do for you. The best way to reach me is still via email.

Thanks again for all your support!
All the best from Austria
Dennis

Thanks for the kind and supportive words regarding my last update/email. 
It looks like some questions regarding the situation have been left unanswered and I want to apologize for that. 

So here's a little update that hopefully allows some more insights.

In order to pay more attention to my health and well-being, I’m forced to reduce the production output, especially pedal production, to gradually “get my life back” (videos with more details will follow within the next days).

Sadly, one side effect of the rising popularity of my work is the amount of questionable people who become aware of my business and offerings - it looks like this is an "internet & social media" thing. Often the lack of most fundamental knowledge makes communicating hard and very strange. This is not only difficult but also takes up 60% of my working hours atm (clearly exceeding 40h/week) and is "stealing" time for "those" who at least partially know what they are looking for and I'd love to spend time with them. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate communicating and interacting with you guys in general. Still, I can not spend hours replying to very basic and fundamental, mostly irrelevant things since unfortunately this doesn't pay any bills and somehow I'm still running a business. 

Unfortunately, agreements based on goodwill and eye level are recently also getting more and more exploited and have often resulted in a lot of stress and costs that could have been easily avoided if I had said no from the beginning. As an example of the actual order I offered to make some small additional customized parts (extra tall heel risers for example) and modifications to an ordered Darwin free of charge since I used to be curious in experiments as well.

Such things were usually requested at a later point and if they didn't work out (which was a clearly communicated possible outcome) as expected, further ideas on my end for an alternative way and 2nd attempt got rejected and I faced some "I'm the customer and I'm always right since I have paid for everything (no, you clearly have not) and therefore I can make you my slave for customized options" people.
(Example: alternative 3D-printed solution for an extra tall heel riser got rejected and custom machined and anodized parts were demanded - free of charge of course - this is something I obviously won't do of course but there were already hours wasted on the way of getting there)

Other things, such as questionable attacks on a public level from certain Polish and American manufacturers with the intention to forcefully and publically drag my reputation to the ground might be "entertaining and charming" but are mostly unnecessary and quite stupid.

A few years ago this was very different (I had a lot of fun working and starting new projects, and everyone had a good time) and I really appreciate the amount of cool people I get to know because of my job. Typically, “my customers” were, and still are, as nerdy as I am, find joy in fascinating stuff and are interested in everything having to do with drums. Naturally, I feel very sorry that these 95% of people have to “suffer” because of 5% of questionable people who unfortunately only waste my time and energy. Everyone who is able to communicate and behave respectfully on a very basic level is always more than welcome to write me a message. But for everything and everyone else I don’t have the time and energy anymore to be absolutely honest.

For example, I unfortunately cannot offer any advice concerning questions like “What pedal brand to buy at shop xyz” or “Which upgrade should I buy – I don’t really know what I want in general".

I’m afraid I also lack the time to philosophise for hours and filling pages about “irrelevant subjects” (such as “my teacher thinks this and that”, “what do you think of xyz musician/product/technique”, “you know, my divorce was very tough…” or some weird conspiracy theories and/or very personal issues, etc.). This works when sitting over a cup of coffee with a few guys, but not with hundreds of people.

Of course, questions or suggestions or orders via mail are always welcome, and I’m glad to help wherever I'm able to.

This shop will be changed and simplified within the next weeks.

Darwin:

For the Darwin pedal there will be pre-configured setups to select, alternatively it will be possible to fill out an order form to download for more unconventional setup combinations. Over the year the quantity of pedals will be reduced to one pedal per week, which will then be available for pre-order.

Unfortunately, the individual colour combinations will be discontinued. For this, I only asked for and passed on the (steep) price charged by the anodizing facility, simultaneously I had to put up with “chasing after people” to find out their preferred colour design more than often. Exception: If, based on an already existing combination, you know exactly which colour combination you want and how it should look, I’m glad to take care of it (additional costs are currently about €300 per setup).

Phantom pedal, upgrades & general accessories:

To date, all upgrades and accessories were listed as “in stock” and “available”, so long as the parts (ready to be assembled) were in stock – and parts were assembled according to incoming orders. As of 2023, these products will only be listed as “in stock” and “available” when they have been assembled and are ready to ship. The same applies to the Phantom pedal, which should be released in spring and will be a simplified and “low-cost” alternative to the Darwin pedal.

- By then, I will not be able to take any pre-orders for upgrades anymore, since this would be tied to a lot of stress and limitations for myself I'd like to try to avoid. When a product is in stock again after a little waiting period, a newsletter will be sent. - The newsletter will also be my main source of communication and sharing new information.

Initially, I wanted to write such a "plan & updates" post every year but it looks like life gets in the way ;-)

Most of you have noticed that there was not much new information added to the website, no videos uploaded and no newsletter written. Unlike a typical business, I try to keep everything on a very personal and transparent level. So here I am trying to explain what's currently going on, what happened over the last years, and what's going to happen next. Hold on, it's going to be a long one.

A lot of things had happened over the last two years. Alissa and I got married, there was some pandemic going on, and we found our new home and moved away from the city into the countryside. 

Unfortunately, my personal health in regard to the business, constant stress, and hustle hasn't improved much. It is a pain to read over conversations and situations written two years ago and realize that not much has changed.. considering there were plans to do so.

The main "problem" I'm still facing is the growing interest and popularity in my work. Not mainly that point, but the side "benefits" that come with increased public awareness of my products and services and dealing with "the people of the internet". For a long time, not many knew about me and my stuff and those who did were usually as nerdy about drums & pedals as I am and exactly knew what they are looking for. - It was always like helping a friend out and everyone had a good time. 

I still have not interest in growing and expanding the business and keeping everything small and personal on purpose. Simply because this is the way I (and people who I care about) believe to be best for an honest and passionate business to be. Also it looks like you appreciate dealing with me directly and not any amazon like customer service person.

The thing at the moment (or for the past 2-3 years) is that I spent 60-70% of my time with stuff that doesn't contribute to actually getting stuff done. Besides the usual, I additionally get about 200+ emails per week which actually take time to reply to and requests more than one line written. (and I also can not simply hire someone for that job since no one else could simply reply to it without having the information and insights needed). The problem I'm facing is that on the way I have to find out that those who really wasting my time and energy are also those who don't contribute to the business in any way while literally stealing all the time and energy I'd like to share with those cool people who know their stuff on a basic level and actually contributing to the business in one form or another. These people have to "suffer" in slow response time and also have to wait longer than necessary for their stuff to get done and shipped and that's simply sad.

Certain upgrades or stuff like the colorful pedals usually have their origin in a simple and nice conversation and everything was great. Now I have to spend hours trying to explain to clueless people their stuff since they ordered or requested something they either don't need or have no idea how to use and I really have to ask myself why. 

 ________

A few vaguely edited examples of situations I am honored to deal with on a weekly/almost daily basis:

- person buys a blue car at a dealership and complains about receiving a blue car. - intentionally he would be better off with a red car - "do something about it". 

- person doesn’t read any instructions on my product or connected products (most commonly with the triggers and their setup. Requests spare parts to be shipped at my expense without any interest in understanding the situation (and to prevent the same shitshow from happening again). - it's like a person fills up his diesel car with petrol, complains about it, and requests a new car at the dealership. -The dealership is stupid enough to help and pretend to be the good guy and offers a new car with a huge sticker „diesel only“ across the windshield. - Customer gets the car, removes the sticker and starts filling up the car with petrol again. 

- person writes „I have might lost some part around product xyz, don’t know what but something with a screw. "Could you send me that part“ - without providing any more details or pictures. I have to request more information and pictures in order to help (which I just like to do if there's a way). Persons sends information (pictures with red circle and stuff) and I send the specific part in exchange for covering shipping only to get a reply that they are actually missing something completely different and don’t have any use for the part sent...

- person requested a custom part and I offered to do so but mentioned it would take a few days and that I would need some more information. Two days later I get another message asking if the part has already shipped since they are in a rush.. 

- a person is not willing to read any product or price information and requests such information via email including a link or screenshot to the product where all those information would be provided.

_____

I know that I could ignore a few of those instances. But it is very often not that "black & white" and I'm also usually someone interested in helping out if there's a way. For what it's worth, I've started to print out very "nice" instances and started a "folder of fame". Maybe one day I know the reason for it. 

Long story short, my "recent" lag of communication and showing new stuff and insights doesn't come from nowhere. I definitely won't stop what I'm doing but I'll do my best to get as least attention from the commercial scene as possible since Im definitely and honestly sick of it.

Maybe this way I'll find the time to finally realize some of those small and quirky projects again that used to make ACD what it is/was.

I'll continue offering my work to everyone who's interested and at least has some basic knowledge about what they are looking for while always being willing to help and answer questions. For every 7 cool people, there are 3 people who need "more attention". This is quite easy to handle if you are dealing with 100 people per year.. But if there are 1000+ you get the idea.. 

If you want to stay in touch, make sure to subscribe to the "ACD Community List" newsletter.

- you'll find a link to do so on the main page.

With the words of the last update I have to end this post and with everyone a nice time:

Thank you very much for all the outgoing support, ACD is probably the biggest part of my life and I consider myself very lucky to have such a supportive community around it. I'm looking forward to everything upcoming - You're awesome!

If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know. 

Yours sincerely,

Dennis, + Alissa, Lara & Bailey

Along with the growing interest in what I'm doing over the last years, I started working more and more long hours, not only that. Every single minute of every single day working felt like an inner hustle. There was and still often is more work waiting than there are hours in a day.

To make a long story short, it hasn't taken that long for early, and also quite serious burnout symptoms to show up. ... multiple times

I've learned two silly metaphorical lessens within the last years:

1. Bigger isn't always better, better is better.

2. It's not necessary to burn your face while attempting to reach for the stars when there's already a chance to glide above the clouds.

Now being married to a very wonderful person, to say the least (Yepp, you've guessed right ;-)), having "responsibilities" for 2 1/2 silly actings but super cute dogs I have also realized that I start liking olives which seems to make me an adult officially. 

Since I'll never really grow up I should at least start to consider a healthier lifestyle in general.

This has lead to the decision that I'm leaving social media to be able to disconnect and live in my own little world while offering a limited range of products and focusing on very few new & exciting projects. Sadly, this decision has also made it necessary to let certain upgrades go that have been hard to keep an overview of in order to focus all time and energy on the solutions remaining. 

If you have noticed any changes around ACD recently, I hope this mail explains the reason why. ;-)

Thank you very much for all the outgoing support, ACD is probably the biggest part of my life and I consider myself very lucky to have such a supportive community around it. I'm looking forward to everything upcoming - You're awesome!

If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know. 

Yours sincerely,

Dennis, + Alissa, Lara & Bailey