HOT LIXX Guitar voted top boys' toy -- Toy Association of Australia
	ADL figured out how to do it with $5 worth of parts to make the market possible.

The ADL guys had an idea: combine interesting variations of music in an instrument such as a guitar for listening and performing pleasure by people without musical training.

As toy and game experts, we worked to broaden its appeal even more and make it a sophisticated quality toy.

Once Richard Levy sold the initial concept to Tyco Toys, we needed to overcome their strict criterion of low cost and efficient production with minimal sacrifice to the end product.

Their development schedule was deliberate: yesterday.

ADL and Richard Levy worked with Tyco's marketing and development people to define the parameters and began in earnest by producing schematics, parts lists and all aspects necessary to get into production. The music and prototypes were revised until broadest appeal was attained.

We went through quite a few changes before we came up with the ultimate instrument complete with ROM-based music programs in which the user could control the tempo, echo, distortion and even bend the notes with the tremolo bar.

After our initial design, Tyco announced to us that the product was dead. The $9 cost we had used as our target wouldn't let them make their target price. A hectic week of clever design and careful and methodical "pruning" ensued to reduce the parts cost of the electronics from $9 for our initial design to an acceptable $5 level to bring the product back from the dead. This involved letting go of some features we liked, such as built in drums, but the main concern was to help turn our dream into the customer's reality.

On the way to production, ADL provided electronics and assembly for half a dozen prototypes for early marketing and advertising use and for the product's debut at the Consumer Electronics Show.

Like the other major companies we've assisted, Tyco benefited from our ability to provide a complete turn-key development, servicing a long list of technical requirements.

The Hot Lixx computerized electronic guitar for "wanna be" musicians!

We were a smash at the Toy Fair in New York, attended by the entire toy industry.

The Today Show and Good Morning America relayed the news that kids had voted Hot Lixx a winner followed by great press in The Washington Post, New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Australia crowned Hot Lixx as the Number One Boys' Toy.

A contract manufacturer in Korea has been able to produce thousands of units a week from our design with no technical crises along the way.

Tyco was satisfied with ADL's work and came back to us for their next generation designs.

Click here to return to our main page.

: Hot Lixx is a trademark of Tyco Industries.