With used DT’s, DN’s and MPC1’s going as low as $400, how is this going to affect the budget line of groovesynths such as Volca’s, Boutiques, Aria Compacts and the Behringer semi modular boxes? I know I have stopped using my Volca’s. Sold most of my Boutiques. Use a couple Behringers connected to my modular, sometimes. The line that I still find use for is the Aira Compact. They make good food for my DT and MPC sampling, and the voice tweaker is pretty unique. The T-8 has found a place connected to my modular, supplying drums and bass lines. But to be honest, every time I look at one of these in a store my thought is "I can buy two of these, or get a used DT/DN/MPC1. Then the GAS is gone.
nice thread right up my gear addicted street - my new years resolution or was it last year anyway is to only buy quality and wait for bargain prices for said quality no more budget crap no thanks no way not even for a donner b1
I’m not really buying new ones, but I try to use the stuff that I have. Sometimes hardware with less distractions can yield different results, and if we’re only talking volcas then I’m probably not buying any more of them, but I still use my volca beats sometimes and I use a boss sp-202 all the time and it’s probably technically far less capable than a volca, but it has a certain character.
I still buy shit from like tindie and other lowkey sites sometimes which might actually fall into this category, but those things are niche products and I’m not sure they represent the same kind of kitsch, mass produced gear that you’re referring to.
I think I’m past a point where I’m appealed to by pocket operators and it’s not that they don’t have their place or a charm or a use, it’s just that my logic is more like “if I don’t buy 5 volcas then I can buy myself something better when the opportunity arises”.
Used DN1/DT1 prices absolutely squeeze the bottom end. Even if Stylophone hadn’t pissed me off with their lack of transparency, I’d still be questioning whether it was worth getting their upcoming DS-2. The one small box I think is still impressive is the Roland S-1. Would I buy it if it were released today? I suspect not.
With the exception of the Roland S-1, every “budget” synth I’ve owned has been sold. I mildly regret getting rid of model cycles, but otherwise don’t miss any of them. Volcas, the Roland T-8, the TE KO2. Similar to others, I realized that by the time I’d have bought enough of them to do everything I wanted, I could’ve just bought one groovebox that does all those things and does most of them better.
Great topic! I bought budget gear when my budget only allowed that. As I’ve leveled up on quality gear the pieces that are redundant continue to be sold off. I loved my SH-01A for few years, but the S-1 made more sense in my setup. I’d probably have kept all my boutiques if they had USB C or non USB power supplies, and didn’t have the ribbons. I still have a few that are dear to me, but we’ll see how long they last.
I kept mine to use with the Ableton Move, which doesn’t include effects for the audio input. It’s the only 303 with built in delay and reverb. I never use it on it’s own or for the drums though.
Sure. Almost by definition, the underground is people without clout, without money, making sound with what they can afford. But it’s a question of quality/price ratio. It’s probably not a good idea to get the cheapest acoustic guitar available, underground notwithstanding. You need to go a little up the scale, and distinguish between instruments that are just as crappy but only cost more, and instruments that sound that much better than their price increment. So the question is: what is the current quality/price computation for synths?
and maybe a lot of the guys, not wanting to be contentious here, who started making excellent music on cheap gear now make shit music on overpriced gear
I picked up a Roland P-6 on impulse and ended up barely using it at all.
I’m too into my DT/DN/ST trio. I like the IDEA of completely rinsing a single piece of budget gear, but there always seem to be some corners cut somewhere that I don’t vibe with.
Just spoiled by the Elektrons I guess.
That being said, long ago I bought a Circuit Mono Station on sale for $249 and a MicroMonsta2 for around $200, both of which I still love and use.
So maybe it isn’t the “budget” aspect so much as design and features. Elektrons and the aforementioned CMS and MM2 all resonate with me sonically and through their UIs.
I would suggest that it is not the price of the gear that is the issue here, but the difficulty of maintaining an initial impact, the famed “sophomore jinx” and other such issues of growing as an artist. Plus if one succeeds enough to buy “overpriced gear”, one probably has a whole host of other distractions. Reams have been written on “should artists stay hungry?”, I’m not going to do it justice here.
I got rid of all the odds and ends.
All the Volcas, but also Hydrasyth, Wavestate, Modular…
There were some great sound generators among them that I theoretically miss today.
But I need a good sequencer glued to the device. Without a computer.
And only Elektron actually has that.
(Even my Midibox V4+ sequencer is not enough…)
In fact, I would only need an A4 and an AR to be happy, but I mainly use DT, DN & ST.
Edit:
But you can also have a lot of fun with inexpensive gear!
if someone can make excellent usic on cheap gear, then they likely can make it on any gear.
(however, not necessarily – there are quite a few examples when artists moved to higher end gear and their music lost its bite.)
When I listen to a track I’m not rating it on the cost of the gear I think is used on it
Basically - use whatever gear you want … keep / sell whatever you want. Why does it matter
Pus the value of the gear changes over time.
I like lots of early 90’s dance , when 303’s were cheap, 808/909/106’s were cheap…. Now they’re expensive. Should I change how I rate them now that the gear is expensive when the music made on them is identical.
Should I rate old hip hop tracks based on the current cost of an mpc ? … don’t think it matters.
Also this is kind of a tangent. I’m sure Prince could have gotten a great track out of a dollar-store novelty item. Doesn’t mean that I could. The real question is: what works for you, within your budgetary restrictions (which, for me, are less than what I can actually afford, because I grew up without much money).
I was thinking the same thing about the cost turntables, 808s, Marshall and Hiwatt heads, etc. Look at offset Fender guitars prices post shoegaze and Nirvana.
