Model Railroading > Reportedly Matt Herman has departed ESU

This was posted on Atlas Rescue and is said to be a quote from Jurgen Lindner head of ESU:

"Hi! This is the first time I comment in this group. I am not an experienced Facebook user, as most of the time I am busy running both ESU companies.

It is true that both Matthew and Alec Herman left ESU earlier this week. As I can not go into much details why this happened, please rest assured that it was not an easy decision I had to take. Being responsible for the teams in Germany, USA and even China, I have to make sure that processes running smoothly and our customers - both consumers and OEM partners - will get the service and products they deserve.

Operations in the US will continue as before, we do have new stuff doing tech support and will have a new General Manager soon also. So there is nothing to worry about. We try to overcome the chip crisis to make sure more products can be made to meet the demand. I am aware that many customers have been waiting for products for many months, but the global chip crisis is the worst I have ever experienced in my 22 years of running ESU.

I want to thank you for your trust in our products and your strong support. I will be personally available at the Amherst show in Springfield, MA this weekend and are ready to answer all questions you may have..."

Sounds like a firing to me.  In the last several months, reaching customer service there has been a real challenge.  It seemed like Matt just quit caring, responding or otherwise wasn't taking care of business.  This is a lot different than how he used to be.  This makes me wonder if he was treated so poorly in pay or otherwise that he simply gave up while remaining employed there.  There are two sides to every story.  I wouldn't be surprised if he shows up at another company soon.  His talents are needed in many places.

CO1309 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> There are two sides to every story.  .

I'd say there are AT LEAST two sides to every srory

For sure to two sides.  It does look from the posting by Jurgen that they were let go or fired or laid off.  

 

Don't know about these Career issues, just found a story about adding a sound equalizer to LokSound V6.

That may be great for some folks, this allows boosting or adjusting the audio frequencies that you can hear from the decoder and speaker combination. But that throws a new monkey wrench into those high priced locomotives manufactured afar. Also boosts the ESU vs TSU tastes great vs less filling argument and a half dozen other issues.

Maybe more info from Amherst Train Show is next.

+ this moves towards that Techo-crap edge where you can't just buy something and let it free on the Layout. To take advantage of the EQ the model has to have an upgrade speaker, then adjusting the EQ needs progamming equipment and the ability to comprehend the new upgrades, and so on. Some folks are dealing with progrmaming for Proto-throttle, well now the EQ decoders will want specific things and then Proto-throttle needs specific things and there's folks happy not to deal with either. But what decoder to buy, V4, V5, V6 and what about the keep alive and the in-rush and all those not-so-technical things but things that have less to do with running train on the roundy-round layout.

I'm good with upgrades but there's a lot of folks out there.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/23 12:39 by TCnR.

Matt had been the face of ESU here in North America. To me, Loksound is getting to the edge of technicality overwhelming. You can see it on their Facebook page. As the rep it would be quite a load to manage I would think.

Perhaps like Digitrax with too many bells and whistles to the point of needing a geek friend to understand it all?

Victor Baird

ChrisCampi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Matt had been the face of ESU here in North
> America. To me, Loksound is getting to the edge of
> technicality overwhelming. You can see it on their
> Facebook page. As the rep it would be quite a load
> to manage I would think.

wabash2800 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Perhaps like Digitrax with too many bells and
> whistles to the point of needing a geek friend to
> understand it all?
>
> Victor Baird
>
> ChrisCampi Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Matt had been the face of ESU here in North
> > America. To me, Loksound is getting to the edge
> of
> > technicality overwhelming. You can see it on
> their
> > Facebook page. As the rep it would be quite a
> load
> > to manage I would think.

I really don't know Victor, it's a personal thing. A lot of modelers like ESU, and it's a fine product, but there do seem to be complications. Lots of ESU fans are going to enjoy the equalizer if it materializes.

TCnR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't know about these Career issues, just found a
> story about adding a sound equalizer to LokSound
> V6.
>
> That may be great for some folks, this allows
> boosting or adjusting the audio frequencies that
> you can hear from the decoder and speaker
> combination. But that throws a new monkey wrench
> into those high priced locomotives manufactured
> afar. Also boosts the ESU vs TSU tastes great vs
> less filling argument and a half dozen other
> issues.
>
> Maybe more info from Amherst Train Show is next.
>
> + this moves towards that Techo-crap edge where
> you can't just buy something and let it free on
> the Layout. To take advantage of the EQ the model
> has to have an upgrade speaker, then adjusting the
> EQ needs progamming equipment and the ability to
> comprehend the new upgrades, and so on. Some folks
> are dealing with progrmaming for Proto-throttle,
> well now the EQ decoders will want specific things
> and then Proto-throttle needs specific things and
> there's folks happy not to deal with either. But
> what decoder to buy, V4, V5, V6 and what about the
> keep alive and the in-rush and all those
> not-so-technical things but things that have less
> to do with running train on the roundy-round
> layout.
>
> I'm good with upgrades but there's a lot of folks
> out there.

For what it's worth, Soundtraxx has had a 7-band graphic equalizer in its sound decoders for quite a while now, so if this feature comes to fruition for ESU, then it's just competitive parity.  A welcome feature, IMHO.  I do agree that I'd like to spend less time in front of the computer screen, and be running trains instead, but creating an accurate rendition of the prototype now also can mean incorporating new methods to achieve the level of realism we seek.    All said, I'm sad to see the sudden change at ESU and how it seemed to have come about.  I wish the best for all parties involved.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/27/23 21:48 by tracktime.

Read several years back that overseas since layouts are quite a bit smaler than here in the US they like all sounds an engine would make. The engine sounds from start up to shut down and all inbetween is a big deal there. Dont know about how true but its nice to select what one wants, I agree about digirax have NCE much easier along with all sound traxx in my engines.