+1. I’ve been experimenting with using it in a live setup. It’s very flexible and lets you set up macros that can be triggered with midi. It’s kind of nuts what it can do. Highly underrated.
Dirtywave have shipped plenty of M8's in the last year. They just produce them in batches, there have also been shortages of the Teensy 4.1 microcontroller used IIRC and they are highly sought after. You can also "build your own" from supplied firmware https://github.com/Dirtywave/M8HeadlessFirmware
This is not the fly-by-night kickstarter you are implying.
“This is a preorder. Estimated starting ship date is July 2023. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”