Yeah, and beyond perhaps there’s a resurgence of appreciation that happens when there’s a lack of supply and opportunity to acquire.
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the harder it is to get…the more people want it.
the thrill of the hunt.
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Like oil prices, car and lumber shortages right? I wish that I had bought more oil stocks a few years ago back when they were cheap!
I would assume the price is just going to keep rising. There’s literally nothing else out there like it. I see the MD as sort of the 808 of modern times (and maybe that makes the AR the 909). It’s one of those instruments that’s timeless. The sequencer may be starting to get comparably ‘outdated’ as in lacking some of the features of the newer machines (I’d kill for a Machinedrum with the analog rytm sequencer features) but ultimately it doesn’t matter much IMO because the MD is so packed with features and has such a unique sound it just makes it a modern classic.
Only way I could see prices dropping is if Elektron miraculously does a re-release or makes an updated version.
Good drum synths are in relatively sort supply besides the MD, AR. Dave smith Tempest and the new Erica synths drum synth I can’t think of any more that are any good unless you get into the world of modular and build a nice eurorack drum synth rig. It’s too bad because drum synths are the heart of so much of what we listen to you’d think the market would be flooded with them instead of flooded with samplers.
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There’s always the megacommand if you have one.
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Plumbutter and pulsar 23 aren’t traditional modular but are also not totally drum machines either lol
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I think anyone lamenting the crazy prices for the mk2 UW+ version should just get the regular mk2. I mean, sampling with the UW is cool and all but I feel the heart and soul of the MD is the sound. Regular mk2s pop up for sale for ~1k and even below that pretty regularly. Maybe not on eBay or Reverb but elsewhere. Like on this very forum. 
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Agreed. I am glad I have the UW but to be honest I rarely sample with it, I just use the OT. 85% of the time I’m focusing on the drum synthesis. I haven’t even loaded new samples into the MD in maybe 4 years.
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I hear ya, I’m not super crazy about sampling into the MD but the idea of using drum samples from 707, DX, Linn-drum, and other vintage drum machines seem like something worth having.
Do you think this is over rated? I’ve never had an MD with sampling so my thinking was that I figured the second time around I would give the UW+ a go.
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It’s really all I use the sampler for. Load percussion hits the device itself isn’t capable of making (well).
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If you can pick up a UW at a reasonable price (compared to a non-UW) then hell yea. It’s only not worth it if the price difference is like $500+ more imo.
As much as I don’t use the sample features of my Machinedrum I am glad I have it, sample playback is very nice and crunchy, it has a character that I really like (what it is 12-bit?) and the ability to use it to resample itself and as a looper is definitely fun and can lead to some nice ideas.
Having the OT makes me use the sampling parts of the MD a lot less but it’s definitely a nice feature to have next to all the synth engines but I wouldn’t pay too much more for it. I picked my MDUW up around 2011 for around $900 and at the time the non-UW were going for something like $700 so the price difference was not that big of deal but I don’t know much about prices now either way I personally wouldn’t pay too much more for it
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Out of curiosity, what would be an “honest” price for a Machinedrum SPS1 MKII in mint condition ?
Around 1000€ is fair, in my opinion. That’s for a unit without the UW. Personally I wouldn’t pay a whole lot for a UW model either. Definitely not more than 1500€. I’m glad I have the UW model, which I bought for 900€ about two years ago, but the Machinedrum is awesome even without it. Just love the signature sound of the thing and the synth engines can certainly be pushed pretty far even without the UW.
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Ok, thanks for your answer. I’ve found a SPS1 MKII non-UW for 650 euros, so it might be a good deal.
Seriously, 650? Can be a scam. If not, it was sold in minutes.
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Last year it was possible to find an MK2 for like 650-700 but nowadays I can’t see anymore. Later I wanted to buy a Pulsar-23, so I’ve sold it for about 750 and thought that I made a great profit. Well, I’m not a businessman though, so no problem.
Agree I have an OT, Morphagene and squid Salmple for sampling duties. I’d pay less for base MD and sample the hell out of it. I did sample the one I borrowed some time ago. But with modular drums, I get just as tasty beats and infinite options.
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I was able to snag a late 2015 (November) MD UW+ for under the asking price. This machine is literally brand new with not a single scratch on it. Seriously excited to finally have the UW+ version and be back on the MD again, I can already tell the sound design with the UW+ is essentially endless.
Not trying to knock the RYTM, Tempest, DRM1, or any of the other analog machines I’ve owned but the sonic possibilities of these boxes always felt pretty limited and all the sounds ended up just sounding pretty similar. Which they all ended up becoming a box that I sampled with some added analog character layered in. The MD UW+ on the other hand is a whole other ballgame of sound design. (cant wait to install x.05)
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Imagine how much MD, and especially MD UW+ will be worth when that specific 2000s minimal sound returns briefly like a flashback in vogue, in coming years. Think (almost) Akai MPC60 type money. I mean, on the synth side, just look at the price of Waldorf XTKs or DSI Poly Evolvers. I wonder if Novation Super Novas and especially Waldorf Micro Qs might be still undervalued too. Because, I seem to remember that in the 2000s, a MD UW+, Waldorf Pulse, Evolver/MEK/PEK and a flexible poly like Micro Q / Supernova / XTK could take you a very long way for less than 1500-2000.
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