Why should anybody want an OG 909/808 nowadays?

AFAIK, all Casios are indestructible.

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yeh, I was talking about people who already owned the gear from the time it was produced.

Speaking from my experience: Alpha Juno display failures, key triggering issues, left channel volume and noise issues, right channel volume and noise issues, dead buttons…

I’d take a Toyota MR2 over either of them. :crazy_face:

I think it’s perfectly cool to get one as a collector or because they do happen to be pretty danged cool.

I will roll my eyes at people who get them because no other drum machine has that mojo and no good dance music can be made without one

Sheeesh! Get a Les Paul and a life!

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Sw20 in alpine white bro ?

Looking at Reverb data, it seems like the 909 has gone down around 50% in value since March. Do you know why that is? Does it follow the global economy?

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I see them listed for 6500€. Were they like 9000-10000€ or something ridiculous??

Well, there aren’t a lot of those for sale anyway.
No wonder the price is fluctuating.

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Don’t these old devices also have a special groove that is not so easy to replicate? I think a lot of artists use this with other devices connected to it. For example, you could also pair the SH-101 with other newer devices, but then create a cool groove.

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I own and use an OG 909 - I guess you could say that I’m one of those techno producers that OP is asking about.

The simple and main reason is that I already have it. I bought it almost 20 years ago for 800 bucks and had to eat instant noodles for a month to be able to afford it at that point in my life. Even back then, they were already considered classics and appreciating in value, though not to the stratospheric degree we see now. I’m certain that there are a lot of long-time users that are in the situation as I am - they bought the machines back in the day when they were still affordable.

Another contributing factor for me is that I have a personal connection to my particular instrument - 2 decades’ worth of using it means that I have a lot of memories and experiences attached to it. Call it sentimentality, but my 909 serves as a reminder of countless gigs and hours of sweat equity in various studios, and I love it for that.

And of course, there is that the 909 is “That” sound and “That” functionality. For me personally, nothing compares to it, aside from the legit replicas like DinSync’s RE-909. Roland’s own TR-09/TR-8S is mostly there, Jomox has it’s own thing going on, the RD-9 sounds and looks like a wish.com idea of a 909 and sample libraries, while great, are like looking at photographs - snapshots, if you will.

But yeah, this is all really my personal take on it, speaking as an owner of the OG.

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The TR-909 is a special little thing (its actually quite big). If you’ve used it and experienced techno as if it were oxygen, it’s hard to take the alternative. The alternatives are just … different.
Current prices are insane though, and to 99,99% of music makers not worth this price probably.

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Greater availability of the RD-9?

Maybe… Let me build the first one and then you can ask me again :wink:

Steda Electronics asked me to be a preferred builder for the SR-909 (after my successful troubleshooting efforts with a faulty PCB from manufacturing). I was considering it for a little side income so I may end up doing it on a case by case basis.

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I’ll be waiting patiently. :popcorn:

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That sounds like a well spent $800.

Plus, I kind of like cheap instant ramen so I’m thinking it was all win for you!

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:grin:

100% agreed. And cheap instant ramen is childhood nostalgia for me, but a month of it is a little much, lol.

The “magical groove” theory, debunked by Roger Linn himself:

Get any Elektron and you have enough swing and microtiming to achieve any “groove” you want.

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Spring for some real pork stock or boil in some fatty pork scraps and your ramen experience will improve 100-fold.

Also, if you have an Asian grocer nearby you can get vastly better ramen for cheap than what you typically find in “western” groceries.