80/90's synthesizers for around £100?

[jewishtomato]

Anyone picked a synth from around that time for anytime recently? If so, was it worth it?

[soronery]

This article might be of interest - http://www.attackmagazine.com/features/ ... ge-synths/

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

DX 100
Cz100
There's a Juno that goes cheap I think its the alpha 2

[nowaysj]

Like $300+ though ^ in the US. The Juno that is, and there are issues with that synth.

Op, forget about it. Honestly. Your budget is just not there. This isn't the early 90's. IF you could multiply your budget by 10 you'd just start to get into legit 80's synths.


Just in the past 5 years, prices have doubled, tripled, and beyond. There used to be deals out there, but these are now collectors items.

I'd get far more specific with what sound you want, and then seek out a virtualized form of it.

I'll suggest two synths to you that will roll your socks down, back up, and back down again.

http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products/tal-u-no-lx - a poly synth, emulating the Juno 60, a seminal 80's synth. Incredible arp. Very simple synth to learn, can make incredible chords with it. This synth is freaking $60. VERY affordable and sounds amazing.

http://kunz.corrupt.ch/products/tal-bassline-101 - a mono synth (though in software can be used as a poly), this replicates the Roland Sh-101. This thing sounds amazing, it is THE monosynth sound from that time. Easy to learn. Was also heavily used in early IDM. Amazing synth. It also is $60.

With these two synths you can make a serious amount of music. You can go with something like Diva, it is much more expensive, takes way more computer resources, and I'm not sure if it sounds better.

I'm a hardware dude, I recently picked up an 80's vco poly synth, but it was $550. I believe in hardware. But if you have no budget, I'd go for the synths I mentioned. I think they are unparalleled in terms of sound, and are very very reasonably priced.

There are a grip more 80's synths. If you have more specific questions, ask. You can't just say 80's synth. All synths have a character and a set of capabilities. 80's tunes used a wide variety of synths.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

Yea the ones I mentioned are all o different its unreal as well. You would probs only use them once or twice too

[fragments]

I can't imagine a synth from the 80's or 90's that is going for 200 that would be worth much of a damn. Maybe. MAYBE if you are already rocking a hardware setup you might pick up a Casio for that price that you use for a weird vibe occasionally...

The CZ100 maybe...

My guess is most people used to working all ITB would get frustrated with something like that pretty quickly. I get it. I sell most hardware that keep options at arms length.

Just go with samples and hardware emulations. Just because it is vintage doesnt make it good.

[soronery]

Just because it is vintage doesnt make it good.

[Sharmaji]

jv 1080s, tx81z's can't be that expensive these days.

[mks]

I predict 1080/2080's are going to get a lot more expensive in the near future. Right now the expansion cards are almost as much as the synth itself.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

I have seen the synth expansion ande the vintage 60s one for the JV 2080 go for like 80 quid each. I think they sound great too

[mks]

That sounds about right. 80 pounds is $123.28 according to today's currency exchange which is what some of those cards go for. The Vintage Synthesizer and the Keyboards From the '60's and 70's are the most expensive ones. You can get one a 1080 for about $150 over the past few years. Those things were about $2000 back in the '90's.

I think the days of cheap '80's synths are over, and now it's going to be the '90's digital synths.

[nowaysj]

I know the AN1X is on the rise. M'fer was stolen. Pisses me off. Bad enough having an instrument stolen, but then to watch it appreciate...

[mks]

Damn,

Juno-106's are going for around $900 and up on ebay right now.

$500 for an MKS-50 which is a rackmount Juno Alpha2 with some more tricks up it's sleeve. Original Mentasm sound came from this.

Programmers for it are about $400.

Casio CZ-101's are clocking in at about $200.

These days you are better off buying a modern synth for those prices unless you find a good deal.

[nowaysj]

It is true. This really pisses me off. Old used instruments used to be the bread and butter of starving musicians. Now with collectors/commodification these simple instruments are out of reach.

Unless you're seriously going to go out of the box, including sequencing and or recording I'd recommend just using vst's for the time being.

Save up your money... You can get a brand new Parva 8 voice poly vco desktop for a grand. That is a shmoking hot deal.

And for much less money, a bass station 2, incredible sound, IMO. The prophet 6 for much more money sounds very very promising.

Prophet 8 used module is not that much if you save for a year or two...

And I'm talking about synths that likely way surpass those low end 80's Roland synths...

From my resent, and highly relevant research, the ax-60 and the sequential six trak are the most affordable legit analog synths out there. They're both based around the same chip but sound very very different... And amaze balls.

Oh, a synth not mentioned, and I hate to mention it cause it is about to quadruple in value...

Sq-80 or esq-1. Those are digi osc analog filter (really quality filter). And not bad to program. When I moved here I had a cherry esq-1 offered to me for $200. That is about local market. I'd always always buy local, better prices and can try before you buy. I got a bum voice chip in my six trak.... Sent it back to eBay seller after subhuman conversations ensued.

[fragments]

I'll sell you my E-mu Proteus for 100.

[Sharmaji]

there's been proteus's floating around NYC for years-- maybe even a decade-for literally $80.

definitely not worthless, but they are as short in the "fun to play with" dept. as they are long in good sound.

similar w/ the JV stuff-- they sound great right out of the box, but i gave up trying to sync the LFO via midi on mine about 8 years ago.

though w/ that said-- if you're are after a good-sounding, polyphonic synth for lush pads that you'll record into a DAW and mess with later... the microkorg has served me well for the better part of a decade. I know tons of folks with them and no one's sold 'em-- un-sexy, non-analog workhorse, for sure, but extremely useful.

[nowaysj]

Not gonna lie, bro, I find it rather sexy. The color pallet, the wood cheeks. Big knobs. Square light up buttons. It is all gravy. I literally take it to bed sometimes.

But I think you can find more distinctively 80's sounds in vst's.

[Samuel_L_Damnson]

I'm deffo going to buy me some synth biz when I get a decent interface. My plan is to buy and sell on for a slight profit or the same price, and the time in between I'll record the fuck out of em

Edit::
I'll end up keeping them all and the house will be a mess

[nowaysj]

at least you know.

[fragments]

I'm deffo going to buy me some synth biz when I get a decent interface. My plan is to buy and sell on for a slight profit or the same price, and the time in between I'll record the fuck out of em

Edit::
I'll end up keeping them all and the house will be a mess

Dipping your toe in is the same as diving head first into the deep end




Also--yes--the Proteus is actually useful, but yea...its like the exact opposite of fun. If one just insisted on using only hardware...racking up 4-5 of those would be an economic way to get started...