The bargain synths thread

Electronic Music Production // Dark Arts
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msl
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The bargain synths thread

Post by msl »

So since lots of us on here are generally skint, I figured I'd share a few cool and cheap synth bargains that are out there, others can add more suggestions if they want. All of these can be had for under €100 or less many times. With some searching and luck you can get some great sounds for not too much money. Anyway cheap and dirty is good for techno imo. Hopefully this thread won't raise the prices on these too much!


Keyboards:

Yamaha PSR36 - 4op FM synth, full size keys and midi, no patch memories and only 16 presets, but it has 5 sliders to quick edit the sounds. Instant gratification, great for techno. I'm never selling mine! Great bass, pads, strings, and bell sounds. I got lucky and got mine for €25 on fleabay.

Yamaha PSS380/390 - is basically the same as above but with mini keys and no midi. But it has 99 presets and 7 sliders to edit the sound. Can be had for peanuts literally.

Yamaha PSS480 - Same as above, mini keys with midi, but you lose the sliders so editing is done with buttons. Can be had for peanuts also.

Yamaha PSR4600 - 2op FM + Wavetable, full size keys and midi, has patch memories, lots of presets. Editable by buttons, not as instant as the PSR36 but it sounds cool. Got mine for €55 on craigslist.

Casio HT700/3000 - DCO + VCF, 700 has mini keys the 3000 has full size, midi patch memories. Sounds really nice due to the VCF. Good for pads.

Kawai K1 - Rompler, full size keys and midi, cheesy 90's sounds, but sometimes thats exactly whats needed. Used on lots of rave classics back in the day. Can be had for €70-80 if your lucky.


FX:

The usual suspects can be had for cheap these days, but they add some grit and are well worth it.

Alesis Midiverb I/II/III - Cool reverbs for cheap, lots of classic records made with these, they say the I is the best sounding, I see them all time for €50 on ebay. I have a III bought it for €40 some years ago.

Zoom 1204 - Another cool FX unit, the reverb is rather dark, but has some very nice delays and distortion effects, very usable very suited to techno imo. Again got it for €50, they come up often for sale.

Yamaha SPX90 - Just found one locally for €45, they are usually a bit more than that but maybe you can get lucky. Again the sound of the late 80's, some cool multi fx.



Here are some videos of the keyboards mentioned above.

youtu.be/TO4j6J9kO8Q

youtu.be/7p2fp1GOEWw

youtu.be/WeZfW5a_0J8

youtu.be/ZC5-8aUi8T4

youtu.be/RoPKu99nTAA
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tsurani
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by tsurani »

Great thread, I think the Roland jv 2080 is worth mentioning and can be had for around €100

I don't know if it applies to any of the things you have posted but iPad controler apps for old digital synths are coming out all the time, turning something that might have sounded great but been a nightmare to program worth a serious look
Last edited by tsurani on Mon Nov 24, 2014 7:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by OHADOHAD »

I will join in with my studio stuff.. (because that's what i know) 8-)

Yamaha TX81Z - Rack FM golden synth, DX7 brother or whatever.. Great sound, Good editor for editing, Got it for 80 euro
Kawai K1 II - Like mentioned above, Rompler, full size keys and midi, cheesy 90's sounds, but sometimes thats exactly whats needed.. I am selling mine (In Berlin) if someone is interested.
Alesis Quadraverb+ - If your lucky you can get for 40-60 euro.. I think i only use it for the Taj Mahal reverb, Great sound!
Yamaha D1500 Delay - digital, rack, 1500ms, sounds awesome! secret tool in lots of studio in the 90's.. around 100 euro if you're lucky.
Ensoniq DP/2 - can't call it a super bargain... got mine for 180 euro, Famous DP/4 little brother, 2 parallel/serial effects sounds great, lots of variation and great stuff for experimental/weird effects.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by Mono-xID »

Michael, you should know that there is no specific barghain synth.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by Alume »

Cool thread!

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by Mslwte »

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by msl »

On the plugin front everyone should grab the free Zampler from Beat Magazine, its awesome and has loads of excellent free banks for it, Waldorf Pulse 2 and Rocket, BassStation 2, Minibrute and more.

http://www.zampler.de

.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by Mslwte »

OHADOHAD wrote:
Yamaha TX81Z - Rack FM golden synth, DX7 brother or whatever.. Great sound, Good editor for editing.
Which editor do you use? And what operating system are you using it with? I've got the tx81z but I don't have the editor. The last time that I looked I don't think I could find an editor that was available anymore and there was a question whether one would work on a modern operating system.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by blnn »

tsurani wrote:... the Roland jv 2080 is worth mentioning and can be had for around €100

Really? send 3 of them to me at that price, even I could pay a little more... ;)

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by OHADOHAD »

Mslwte wrote:
OHADOHAD wrote:
Yamaha TX81Z - Rack FM golden synth, DX7 brother or whatever.. Great sound, Good editor for editing.
Which editor do you use? And what operating system are you using it with? I've got the tx81z but I don't have the editor. The last time that I looked I don't think I could find an editor that was available anymore and there was a question whether one would work on a modern operating system.

CTRLR is working great with the TX81Z (took awhile till it actually worked, but it's cool)
and i also have sound quest to edit my synths and you have TX81Z for it.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by tsurani »

blnn wrote:
tsurani wrote:... the Roland jv 2080 is worth mentioning and can be had for around €100

Really? send 3 of them to me at that price, even I could pay a little more... ;)
A friend got one for 90 something pounds about 3 or 4 months back and I have personally seen a few go for well under £200 myself

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by msl »

blnn wrote:Really? send 3 of them to me at that price, even I could pay a little more... ;)

Yeah they go regularly for around €100, you just need to keep an eye on ebay, set up an alert.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by Barfunkel »

JV-2080's go for 200-300€ here in Finland. Never seen one for 100€, and I scan the local market daily.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by blnn »

Barfunkel wrote:JV-2080's go for 200-300€ here in Finland. Never seen one for 100€, and I scan the local market daily.
250-300€ in Spain, and I scan eBay too and i find the same.

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by Wiu »

The JV-1080 can be had for around £100. I got mine for around £100 a few years back. Not 100% sure what the differences between the 2 models are.
Thank you for the laughs, debate, new music found, production tips etc etc over the years. I wish Subsekt and everyone all the best for the future. Wiu.

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by msl »

Barfunkel wrote:JV-2080's go for 200-300€ here in Finland. Never seen one for 100€, and I scan the local market daily.
Yeah was confusing it with the JV1080.
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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by tsurani »

I had a look on ebay yesterday and watched a couple of jv2080's one just finished £144

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by willemb »

Nice one msl!

Bagged myself a PSS390 for a handful of dry roasted peanuts, I'm excited to get my hands on it!

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by willemb »

I was a bit drunk last night and also bought a Yamaha VSS-200, 8 bit sampler keyboard with FM and AM, for a few more peanuts. Probably terrible and useless?

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Re: The bargain synths thread

Post by msl »

willemb wrote:I was a bit drunk last night and also bought a Yamaha VSS-200, 8 bit sampler keyboard with FM and AM, for a few more peanuts. Probably terrible and useless?

Don't know it, eh you can't go wrong for that kinda money though. I think the VSS range are cool for vocal effects, I remember a poster on GS talking about using it for that.

I just saw that apparently Highly Liquid Midi kit works with the 380/390! The lack of midi kinda turns me off a lot of these older ones.

http://forum.highlyliquid.com/showthread.php?t=875
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