I’ve been watching loads of demos of modern synths but very few seem to have a sound anywhere near the classics. I decided to really delve into some of the 70’s and 80’s synths and the sounds you hear are just amazing, just listen to a Roland sh5 or 7, or system 100, or Promars, Korg 770, OSC Oscar, Octave cat, Chroma Polaris , synthi AKS etc the list goes on, then look at the price of some of this stuff, I would love one of these synths but for example I saw an Oscar for sale recently and it was close on 5k, 12k for a synthi etc but some of these synths are just really special
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Don’t tell the gear industry, we’ll just end up with a load of reissues and replicas
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You don’t know what you got till its gone. A dance prducer friend of mine sold ALL his rare analogue synths off during the period they didn’t matter to him so much?! Go figure.
Replaced them with some digital jobs.
I wish i had a back to future sports results magazine…didn’t know till too late though.
Apart from unreliability though, there is indeed something about elderly instruments and how they sound.
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We live in an era in which we are spoilt for choice when it comes to new synths with massive flexibility and features. So many of the new synths sound brilliant and come with fantastic integration with MIDI CCs, USB audio, or modular rigs. Yet somehow, when I play my Korg 770, SCI Pro-One or my VP-330 they instantly stand out from the pack. I owned a Polaris too and can confirm it had something special as well.
You named a lot of great sounding synths @Adelock . The Roland SH synths from that era have a substantially different character than the SH-101 that followed. Same can be said for the earliest Korgs. A 770/Mini-Korg 700/et al is in another galaxy when compared to a Mono-Poly.
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I done loads of research these last couple of months, there are others too obviously, but listening to them just makes me lust after one, as an example yesterday I was listening to a demo of the octave cat vs the Behringer and the cat just had such a buzz about it like you could actually hear the electrical current, also a synthi next to Erica synths syntrx, no comparison although the syntrx is one of the better ones
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It likely won’t help your lust to play them in person. The older VCO based synths from the '70s and early '80s just cut through a mix and make your room throb. I swear I feel the electricity, as you said. You live once, set a goal and make it happen. It may be difficult to own everything you mentioned at once, but you should be able to have 2 or 3 in your setup.
I will say this, apart from modular, it seems like Dreadbox is doing the best job at trying to capture the feel from that era without trying to ape a historic design. I say this based solely on demos though, I’ve not played one yet.
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Vintage synths just sound… like vintage synths. Flippancy aside, I’m pleased for anyone when they find musical instruments that are inspiring and wonderful for them. But equally, I don’t understand the desire to attach objective evaluations to things that are fundamentally subjective.
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I feel the same way about the sound chip in the Sega Genesis.
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Yeah, they do all sound great, but I’m sure a lot of what I like about them is based as much in nostalgia as it is objective reality.
I imagine our kids will lust after things like 90’s Waldorfs and the like the same way we do stuff from the 70’s.
Also, as much as old stuff does sound great, my Lyra 8 summons demons and makes my willy tingle.
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Indeed there is some kind of magic about many of the old synths from the 70’s. Recently I bought a Roland SH-3a and its so musical and sure is dripping with mojo.
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I really don’t know how much of this is psychosomatic but I hear this in a lot of eurorack/modular. I’ll probably get flamed for that. But it jumped out to me. A Dixie VCO through the Jove filter has the old Roland weight and energy to my ear. As does the Malekko/Roland System-500 VCO and filter.
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Excellent, I’ll give my son my Waldorf Pulse+ and keep the other shit. 
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I’ve been reading a book on psychoacoustics, and the fact old synths sound better (they do to me too!) might just be because we associate the way they look and sound with old music we have fond memories of, and with the times we listened to those songs.
This is not a way of saying this is an invalid reason to like a certain synth, but it might explain why we often associate old with better sounding/good.
A funny example for me is my mpc 2000xl. While I objectively don’t think it sounds particularly warm, clear, or full compared to some other machines, I love it’s punchy, particular and somewhat boxy sound because it reminds me of the late 90’s/early 2000’s songs I grew up with, the early beats I made myself, and the good times of my teenage years. To me it has the sound of underground hiphop of that era, which makes me love the sound.
I think the same thing might apply to 80’s synths for some other people…
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that’s because it was designed by a guy who owned (and likely still owns most of) this:
has a massive appreciation for the vintage synth magic, obviously.
absolutely. and they often don’t sound the same as their modern day clones. despite how much the fanboys want you to think that they do. that said, we are spoiled for options these days and there are indeed some tremendous “modern” synths out there.
of the synths you mentioned, I’ve owned (or still do) many. I have a soft spot for the Roland SH’s though. I’ve tried to sell mine many times and just can’t bring myself to do it; there’s something magical and special about them, as you say. I’d suggest an SH2 or SH-09 if you’ve got $1k-ish to spend and are after something with that sort of mojo. if you’ve got more cash, the SH5.
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I understand where you’re going with this but I never grew up even knowing the sound of the 770. It’s kind of a cool oddball that didn’t make it into a ton of (or any?) landmark recordings. I can’t think of many tracks known for their SH3a either but it has something. The funny thing is seeing seasoned professionals play the things and go “damn, this is something else, can I borrow it for my next album?”. “Sure man, leave me your Rhodes 73 while you borrow it…”
I totally get what you’re saying about the MPC2000/60, they have a distinctive punchiness that sits right.
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Does this mean that, 20 years from now, people will be all nostalgic for “that Octatrack sound”?
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These remain great choices within the affordable vintage spectrum. Total bass monsters, the both of them.
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Nostalgia is real, but so is better music, better musicianship, and better instruments.
More convenience is real as well.
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Youre right, it’s probably not the only thing going on. But to me it seems an important aspect of the fact that old machines seem to sound better to most people.
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