Hartmann current status - summary from official forum

[neuronaut]

Since we expect that the old "official" Hartmann forum will be shut down shortly and there is no way to access that information from this time forward I will recap the current status of the company and its products from the information contained in the official Hartmann-Music Forum.

Nothing new here, just a place to collect all the available information for convenient access.

In October 2005, Hartmann Music announced in a news message on their web site that they are filing for insolvency since their manufacturer Schlafhorst Electronics had interpreted their distribution agreement in a way that would allow them to distribute both the Neuron and the NeuronVS at their own discretion, and without sharing their sales with Hartmann. Whether or not this is a valid claim is currently being determined by the responsible authorities so there is no way for us to determine at this point who is right or wrong. Since Hartmann also decided not to make an official statement before the matter is settled the news message was removed from the web site shortly thereafter. There is currently no official word on this matter from Hartmann and no indication of any problems on their web site.

Now, this situation has caused the company to be in distress since no sales mean no revenues which is clearly a huge problem for any company. A liquidator was appointed who is currently researching on the case to determine the future course of action for the company. Until this is complete, it is unlikely that there will be any news from Hartmann or any response to emails or letters sent to them.

In the meantime the Neuron and NeuronVS are continued to be sold through their manufacturer and at a much lower price than through the official channels, since they are now sold by someone who is further up in the food chain and who no longer shares the revenues with Hartmann Music. It is currently unclear wheather Hartmann is responsible for providing tech support for these units (as they didn't sell them) or if there is any chance of ever seeing an update for any of their products (as their manufacturer has no access to the software source code that runs on these units).

If you have recently purchased a Neuron or NeuronVS you can either choose to join us in our quest to help one another to work around the existing glitches or review the return policy of the shop where you have purchased the product in order to see if a return is possible. In any event, be prepared to live with the product "as is", as there is currently no way to determine what the future of these products will be or who will be responsible for their support. If it works for you (as it does for many others) - great. If it doesn't - think about a return while you can.

Now, if the liquidator accepts the Hartmann case it is expected that a legal battle will be fought and there is hope that Hartmann will continue to live in some form or another. If the case gets denied Hartmann and all of their products will die - if there's noone to buy out the company or invest some $$$.

Since there is a nice forum of avid Neuron and NeuronVS users that may be doomed when this happens, Denis (a.k.a mobilegazer) has decided to host a new forum on his own web space in case the Hartmann-Music web server becomes unavailable. This is an independent forum from users to help other users and not an official Hartmann forum. None of us has any authority to speak on behalf of the company and all of us are contributing here in our free time, so please try to be patient and polite.

Best regards,
--smb

[mobilegazer]

Update:

The former CEO of Hartmann Music, Stefan Rapp, purchased the trademarks/copyrights to the Hartmann Music product range.
While there are no definite plans in place his intention is definitely NOT to let the stuff disappear into some drawer....so no promises and no ETAs, but there may be a future for the Neuron range of instruments