ebay does have it's PROs however, i see this with New gear however.
Like someone gets the latest greatest and find it doesn't suit him and he wants to dump it asap!!!
i missed out on NI Maschine for 199 for example or a nearly new DSI evolver for under 300
so while the old stuff is RIDICULOUSLY priced on ebay, I'll agree, don't count it out entirely
Here I look on Craigslist. Recently saw a Prophet 600 for $200 and a Moog Realistic MG-1 for $200, Arp Avatar for $250
The name of the game is being RIGHT TIME RIGHT PLACE
ebay makes me angry
Oblio & Steevio, cheers for the info, I must admit, I have kinda looked at modular set-ups the wrong way before coming on here. For some reason, I have always thought they were purely for analog purists and obsessed sound designers who have more time than God. I imagined them to be slow, tedious and difficult to predict with any degree of certainty. I'd never have imagined that they would have actually been useful for making music in the modern era.
Shows how not knowing about something gives a wrong impression. I'm definitely going to read up on stuff and understand it all a bit more.
Shows how not knowing about something gives a wrong impression. I'm definitely going to read up on stuff and understand it all a bit more.
A friend of mine here has a serge modular. I must admit, it's the most inspiring instrument i've ever laid my hands on. If you know a bit about synthesis in general, i believe you can get your head around it pretty fast for basic stuff, and you can basically build almost infinitely from there from what i have grasped. The one downside is that there's no undo or recall function so you've got to record, record record 
Since i played with his, i must say i can't wait to have enough cash to start building a modular of my own. We're supposed to record a small EP with me on the MachineDrum + him on the Serge. This should be very fun, i'll post up whatever gets recorded, so you'll get an idea (that is if you're interested...)
It does seem like the future to me somehow...
Since i played with his, i must say i can't wait to have enough cash to start building a modular of my own. We're supposed to record a small EP with me on the MachineDrum + him on the Serge. This should be very fun, i'll post up whatever gets recorded, so you'll get an idea (that is if you're interested...)
It does seem like the future to me somehow...
Opuswerk is now Hendrik van Boetzelaer
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( moving house so everythings in storage )I remember when I had my first (but very superficial) synth-crush.steevio wrote:i totally agree when it comes to some bits of overated, or not even vintage kit, but the thing is if you look at it from a different perspective, like £400 for a really nice sounding pure analogue synth, which will never be built again to those specifications, with all those discrete components, then its not so expensive.
...
i totally agree that ebay has hiked the prices up, but this stuff is now over 25 years old, it is actually vintage gear, and if thats what you're into.......
but also ebay has made stuff actually available, when i bought mine, it took me two years to track them down, i only had the local Loot mag to trawl through every week, i used to get up at the crack of dawn so that i'd be first to respond to anything in there, it was a pain in the arse.
that was about 17 years ago, and all I could find used (so affordable for a 15 year old) in my area was a roland workstation with only GM sounds on it. (that I bought from a hairdresser's son who was disappointed he couldn't make Front 242 songs on this, the kid looked like he'd never be able to do this, but definitely NOT with GM sounds
)There was no ebay, and there was almost nothing to be found on the used market over here, so the only way to expand was to buy new gear.
So I've paid like 750 euro's just to get a roland "sound module" which only let me change volume and panning of the presets.
There was no internet around, so no ebay or other sites with used stuff so I could find someone more local to buy from.
Plus there was no internet to ask for help or advice on anything I didn't get (which is a lot for anyone when you start out with sound synthesis).
You can imagine I lost interest real soon.
All I had was a louzy non-tweakable sound module and a hard to program sequencer with GM sounds. Both very digital.
No instant tweak-fun knobness at all.
So I went back to playing more and more piano again.
So imagine how happy I was when I was looking to buy a real piano and ended up with an 88 keys hammerweighted synth. (now about 10 years ago), and I discovered this whole world of information on the web, plus a whole sea of synths that were sold everywhere for such cheap prices.
The XV-88 is the only synth I ever bought new (except for the stuff I bought a few years earlier in my first neglectable synth phase).
I bought and sold about 20 synths in the mean time, and I've still got about 10 of them here.
jeez, I got my whole fucking studio of ebay.
Even my monitors and mixer I bought used.
I did have to drive to Amsterdam for the mixer, and a good 4 hours into Germany for my monitors, but that gave me a chance to test them and do some sight-seeing while there
The only stuff I didn't buy used are my soundcards and laptops.
All the other stuff was used.
Although looking back I wouldn't buy a mixer or monitors used anymore.
I was just extremely lucky, I guess.
anyways, my point is :
before internet there was no info, and only sh!t new gear for me to get.
now there's tons of info, and tons of used gear to find.
I'll agree that ebay ain't what it used to be in earlier days, but all I gotta do is think back at the old days when all I could find was a GM machine and then I'm still not bothered by all of that
part 2 to follow
I definitely agree that the prices go up ridiculously the last 2 years or so,
but this has been going on for a while, no ?
plus you could start using this to your advantage as well.
I tried to do this over the years at least.
I remember I wanted a Fizmo real bad about 7 years ago.
I looked around for one for about a year, but they were always around 500 back then, and I never wanted to pay that much for one.
Untill I found one for sale on ebay in Belgium, priced at 400 for "buy it now" option.
I should have gone all mental and gone for the "buy it now", since it was already 100 below the normal price, plus in Belgium so I could actually go and test it when picking it up.
I bought almost all my gear on ebay Germany, cause there was lots more to find, and prices where way lower than ebay Belgium back then.
Plus I figured "heck, it's a Fizmo, Belgium's too small for many people to even look for this synth, he won't get it sold"
so I sent him a mail saying if he couldn't get it sold, I'd take it from him for 250.
I eventually got it from him for 300 after it never got sold on ebay (as I suspected)
You should have seen the look on his face when I told him he would have easily gotten 500 if he'd had put it up on ebay Germany.
(I didn't tell this to him because I wanted to laugh with the poor guy, but as a tip for him in the future, he looked like a guy with too much gear and not enough money, so he probably was gonna sell other gear later on)
This European ebay thing was something I did a lot.
Germany used to have great prices for used analog synths, while Belgium was always asking too much.
But if what you had was not that much known or sought after, then nobody would buy it here in Belgium. (like the Fizmo)
A good working Fizmo can now fetch up to 800 or even 900 euro's, sometimes.
A price I find crazy, but understandable.
Not many around, a lot of them broke down (voltage regulator chip problem), and many users deciding to keep theirs.
It always puts a smile on my face thinking I paid only 300 for mine.
It's in storage in a spare room now, and pure sound design-wise I'd never sell it, but even if I would want to sell, why bother if I didn't need the money ?
What bank would offer me such a safe investment that would turn my 300 into 800 or even more ?
I can name many other examples.
Got a JX10 for 215 euro's.
Only thing visible was a broken key.
Got it fixed plus completely checked by Roland. This costed me another 100, but got me a synth I could've immediately resell at 450 or more back then (especially with the roland bill proving the check-up), and probably for 600 or so nowadays.
I got a Juno60 for 320 euro's.
It didn't sell for more cause there was an orange sticker on it that apparantly scared off other buyers.
the sticker says "Roland", for christ sake, but I guess some people simply don't like that kind of non-original crap.
Stupid people I guess
Anyways, a lot of the advantages of looking around and comparing different ebay's to one another is now gone I think.
There's still a few differences, but I don't think I'd ever find something like a Fizmo not getting sold anymore.
But I haven't bought anything from ebay for about 3 years now,
only from other sites with used gear.
sure, the golden ebay days are over.
But as far as I see it, we're still spoiled rotten compared to the old days.
We got so much gear to choose from.
Even if they are asking a bit too much, let them.
Smart people won't pay these prices, and if there are really no other options and we gotta pay too much, at least we'll think twice as long before buying yet another piece of gear
Plus, if what you are buying gets harder and harder to find, it really proves to be a good investment.
With the above 3 examples, I invested about 935 euro's in total.
let's say I'd get 700 for my fizmo, plus 550 for my JX10 and 500 for my Juno60, and that's still being pretty fair, that would make 1700 in total, meaning almost 800 euro's profit.
I repeat, what bank can offer me that ?
but this has been going on for a while, no ?
plus you could start using this to your advantage as well.
I tried to do this over the years at least.
I remember I wanted a Fizmo real bad about 7 years ago.
I looked around for one for about a year, but they were always around 500 back then, and I never wanted to pay that much for one.
Untill I found one for sale on ebay in Belgium, priced at 400 for "buy it now" option.
I should have gone all mental and gone for the "buy it now", since it was already 100 below the normal price, plus in Belgium so I could actually go and test it when picking it up.
I bought almost all my gear on ebay Germany, cause there was lots more to find, and prices where way lower than ebay Belgium back then.
Plus I figured "heck, it's a Fizmo, Belgium's too small for many people to even look for this synth, he won't get it sold"
so I sent him a mail saying if he couldn't get it sold, I'd take it from him for 250.
I eventually got it from him for 300 after it never got sold on ebay (as I suspected)
You should have seen the look on his face when I told him he would have easily gotten 500 if he'd had put it up on ebay Germany.
(I didn't tell this to him because I wanted to laugh with the poor guy, but as a tip for him in the future, he looked like a guy with too much gear and not enough money, so he probably was gonna sell other gear later on)
This European ebay thing was something I did a lot.
Germany used to have great prices for used analog synths, while Belgium was always asking too much.
But if what you had was not that much known or sought after, then nobody would buy it here in Belgium. (like the Fizmo)
A good working Fizmo can now fetch up to 800 or even 900 euro's, sometimes.
A price I find crazy, but understandable.
Not many around, a lot of them broke down (voltage regulator chip problem), and many users deciding to keep theirs.
It always puts a smile on my face thinking I paid only 300 for mine.
It's in storage in a spare room now, and pure sound design-wise I'd never sell it, but even if I would want to sell, why bother if I didn't need the money ?
What bank would offer me such a safe investment that would turn my 300 into 800 or even more ?
I can name many other examples.
Got a JX10 for 215 euro's.
Only thing visible was a broken key.
Got it fixed plus completely checked by Roland. This costed me another 100, but got me a synth I could've immediately resell at 450 or more back then (especially with the roland bill proving the check-up), and probably for 600 or so nowadays.
I got a Juno60 for 320 euro's.
It didn't sell for more cause there was an orange sticker on it that apparantly scared off other buyers.
the sticker says "Roland", for christ sake, but I guess some people simply don't like that kind of non-original crap.
Stupid people I guess
Anyways, a lot of the advantages of looking around and comparing different ebay's to one another is now gone I think.
There's still a few differences, but I don't think I'd ever find something like a Fizmo not getting sold anymore.
But I haven't bought anything from ebay for about 3 years now,
only from other sites with used gear.
sure, the golden ebay days are over.
But as far as I see it, we're still spoiled rotten compared to the old days.
We got so much gear to choose from.
Even if they are asking a bit too much, let them.
Smart people won't pay these prices, and if there are really no other options and we gotta pay too much, at least we'll think twice as long before buying yet another piece of gear
Plus, if what you are buying gets harder and harder to find, it really proves to be a good investment.
With the above 3 examples, I invested about 935 euro's in total.
let's say I'd get 700 for my fizmo, plus 550 for my JX10 and 500 for my Juno60, and that's still being pretty fair, that would make 1700 in total, meaning almost 800 euro's profit.
I repeat, what bank can offer me that ?