While second-hand instruments devalue much faster, certain vintage music gear continues to be in hot demand as many musicians are willing to pay more for specific old gear.
Vintage Music Gear in High Demand
Every musician wants to own a top-quality music instrument but the fact is that, in most countries, people are unable to afford the top quality music equipment.
As a result, affordable versions of these quality instruments are proliferating in the market. While some of these are good, the magic is missing and aficionados know that; they can spot the difference between an okay and an excellent product.
The 1980s were a golden age for the synthesizer, both in terms of equipment and the music made.
However, as computers started becoming cheaper, in relative terms, it was becoming easier to throw a computer out and buy a new one than actually pay someone to repair some of those synthesizers.
Having said that, although most music production happens using software nowadays, more and more composers are also opting for analog synthesizers and classic drum machines.
The vintage synths popularised in the 1980s are more popular than ever despite the short supply. They are bought and sold on sites like eBay and are highly sought after. “One could have picked up 30 or 40 grand worth of synths for probably less than a thousand at one time”.
One of the reasons for the appeal of vintage analogue synth over modern digital ones is that it is quite romantic. A musician doesn’t want inconvenience (in most cases), they want the sound, which is their prerogative.
They need nothing but the best; after all, they are into music for the love of it and wish to play music for the rest of their lives. For them performing on a top-quality instrument is even better than drugs.
Also, in general, the build quality is better; there’s a lot less plastic in them, they’re heavier but they’re also more expensive.
Besides, there is no substitute for the hands-on experience that you get by using the knobs/buttons on a vintage keyboard. Demand for niche gear like analog synthesizers, DIY Eurorack modules has resulted in a wealth of boutique electronic-minded music shops in the US.
Vintage gear produce sounds that cannot be easily emulated (using other equipment or using a computer), but that’s what some specialists really prefer.
There are lot music shops around the world that sell good quality second-hand gear including guitars, pianos, drums, amplifiers, microphones, and other second-hand gear, but it’s the vintage instrument that always sells for more.
Today, as the opportunity for performing at gigs has reduced (in most places), more than the working musician, its the guy (or the girl) with a guitar/piano and a computer making music at home who is looking for quality musical instruments.
So which vintage gear are more valuable?
Guitars from Fender, Gibson, and Gretsch sell for more. Drum kits from Gretsch, Rogers, Ludwig, and Slingerland sell for more. Electronic equipment, such as Moog and Oberheim synthesizers sell for more (usually the studios that buy these).
Having said that not all old gear is going to sound terrific.
Most of these vintage instruments were assembled by hand (decades back), so some are going to have imperfections and may sound terrible; that’s where you need to depend on your ear and also may require some expert advice.
- Retro, Vintage Style Microphones
- Korg SV-2 Stage Vintage keyboard
- How Much is a Vintage Piano Worth?
Read: Used Music Gear: Here’s How to be Smart With Your Purchase
Top Vintage Synthesizers of all time
Moog Minimoog
Minimoog is a classic vintage synthesizer and has influenced the design of several synthesizers that came out later on. The Minimoog was responsible for bringing synthesizers within the reach of the gigging musician (because of its portability), and for allowing electronic music to be accessible by the mass musicians. It was easy to use, yet offered lot of flexibility to create wide range of sounds. The sound was rich and had a special character to it. Read more here.
1980’s The Vintage Synth VHS (In Japanese)
Want to checkout the vintage synths from the 80s, get your hands on this VHS tape.
The Vintage Synth VHS (In Japanese) 1980’s. Vintage. Original. COOL!
MOOG, ARP, OBERHEIM, SEQUENTIAL CIRCUTS
Country/Region of Manufacture: Japan
Here’s the link.
Yamaha DX7 Synthesizer
Yamaha DX7 Synth: Here’s the story of its presets (that musicians love).
Yamaha DX7 is a popular synth, inexpensive but powerful. The DX7 was known for generating unique sounds still popular to this day. The DX7 was also a truly affordable programmable synth when it was first released. Almost every keyboardist bought one at the time making the DX7 one of the best selling synths of all time! It also came with MIDI which was brand new at the time.
The programming matrix with those buttons takes some time getting used to. Its also quite heavy but nothing can replace that sound.
Sound designers Bristow and Gary Leuenberger programmed the original DX7 factory patches. In this video, Dave Bristow shares the story of the creation of the original presets for the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer.
If you take a look at the history of digital synths, one of the names that features in the list of the most popular digital synths is the DX7 from Yamaha, which was released in 1983.
It featured a whole new type of synthesis called FM (Frequency Modulation). It is not analog, it is difficult to program, but it produced excellent sounds!
Difficult to program because it is non-analog and thus, a whole new set of parameters are available for tweaking, many of which seemed counter-intuitive and unfamiliar. And programming had to be accomplished via membrane buttons, one data slider and a small LCD screen.
Kawai SX-240 Synth
Not a lot of information is available on this vintage gem, but it deserves some attention. This synth is often compared to other legendary synths but it never got adequate attention due to poor marketing and a no-so-easy interface.
Unlike the other poly analogue synths available around that time, the Kawai SX-240 features both portamneto and glissando along with an inbuilt chorus and a ring modulator. The synth had eight voices and featured split and layer mode (which is common nowadays on keyboards)
STARSHIP ONE: Outlandish synthesizer of the 90’S
The Starship One synthesizer looks outlandish, but it works; you can actually composed new music on it.
Starship One, creation of [Marc Brasse], is one of the craziest music production stations produced over the years.
“Commander Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation might actually (have) like(d) it if he did not have such a conservative taste in music,” says Marc.
At the core of Starship One is the Technics WSA1, and a Gem S3 turbo (two underappreciated synths from the 90’s). Both were keyboards ahead of their time but never got popular with the users. The WSA1 is a modeling synth, a sound generation trend in the ’90s which sounded great, but never quite caught on. Technics had a reputation for building HiFi equipment and home keyboards, but Professionals never picked it up.
The Gem S3 had a similar story — built by a company called General Music, the keyboard was a great design with incredible piano action, but never quite made it. [Marc] wasn’t turned off by the lineage of these two synths. In fact, he embraced them. [Marc] explains more about his philosophy in creating the Starship One in this PDF document.
[Marc] combined these two instruments with Fatar MP1 bass pedals, a ribbon controller, and more additional components than we could ever hope to name here. The frame of the synth is built from a discarded retail CD sales rack. Extruded aluminum pieces came from a sun slat curtain. Just about every part was reused to build one beast of a workstation.
Not seen that strange keyboard layout before? Its a Janko keyboard adapter [Marc] custom made. Instead of 88 notes, there are 264 keys, arranged in such a way that every chord has the same fingering, regardless of what scale is being played.
Roland SH-101
The original SH-101, a monophonic bass synth, had some cool features including a hite noise generator, step sequencer, arpeggiator and CV/Gate inputs to name a few.
Vintage synthesizer demo by RetroSound (all synthesizer sounds by Roland SH-101 analog synthesizer, drums: Roland TR-707, fx: EHX Memory Man Deluxe)
Roland SH-101 Boutique Synth?
Spotted on Instagram Story, a Roland Boutique instrument that is not available on the market yet. So is this something Roland planning to release soon?
The synth (in blue) is laden with sliders, knobs and buttons. Although the images are blurry, synth enthusiasts will know that it looks like an altered SH-101. Apparently this image is from a video, but we’re unable to locate it online. Sequencer.de just has this screen grab – no link. If anyone comes across the video, please let us know!
Links
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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