Vintage Synthesizers – my thoughts
Yes, when I was about 16 years old in the early eighties, I flattened my nose at the window display of the local music shop, where a Jupiter-8, a Jupiter-6 and a Juno-60 was displayed. The Juno represented the newer generation of more affordable synths, nevertheless it was still out of reach for me at the time and my parents didn’t think a synth was a “real” musical instrument anyway.
Eventually a year or so later I saved enough to get me a Yamaha DX-7, which was hyped at the time. Honestly I think I should have bought a different one, as the first synth in my opinion should be a “bread-and-butter” synth. In the rehearsal room of my band back then I was allowed to use a JX-3P from a colleague, provided he could use my DX-7 in return.
Later in my career I owned a number of rack synths because I was always a fan of good 88-key keyboards. I did not like the playing feel of most synths back then. As the keyboardist of the band “Carol” I played a Yamaha PF-80 (not using its sounds) as it was a good compromise between a weighted piano keyboard and the synth keyboards with less resistance. As a “master brain” I used a Yamaha MEP-4, which I still have somewhere in a rack. The MEP was able to control 4 MIDI outs in parallel, either sending the MIDI command right through or messing around with it. For example the volume could be controlled through a MIDI command or a note off coming in could be changed to a program change going out. This triggered my rack synths that at the beginning were a Korg EX-8000 and a Crumar Bit-01. At some point the Bit-01 was exchanged for Roland a D-550 and a Prophet VS and an Emax were added. At some point I traded the Emax for a Korg M1R. Later I also owned an M1 keyboard as well as a JX-3P and a JX-8P.
Why do I tell you all of this? Well, I could have kept those, but I did not. I sold them all, once I did not really need them anymore. In the meantime, I played Korg Trinity, I had the proX version with 88 keys and the 61-key version to start with. I still have the Trinities, 3 of them actually, as I added a 76.key version to the lot. They are sitting in a flight case in my garage. Today, the above mentioned synths that I sold for little money back then could be sold for a small fortune and that is the reason for this story.
Today, there seems to be a huge hype regarding these old instruments and enormous amounts of money are asked and also paid for them. I am completely free of emotions when it comes to that. For me a synth is an instrument that I want to play and record with, I need to like its sound and especially its keyboard feel and I do not want to bother about anything that doesn’t work or might give up anytime. In that light for me a Juno-60 is by no means anything I would ever pay some 4000 or more USD for. For me it is an instrument that is over 40 years old, has only 1 DCO per voice and to create detune effects I need to use the onboard chorus. So for me it is maybe worth 200-300 USD, that is it. Of course. if one wants to collect old synths that is a hobby of its own, like oldtimer cars. But just to make music, I do not understand the hype. There is nothing that an average vintage synth can do, that a modern one can’t. Agreed, if you own a PPG Wave 2.2 or a Memorymoog in mint condition that is great. But all those middle of the road synths like the Junos or the Jupiter-8, the OB-8 etc. I can definitely replace with a modern piece of equipment or I can use the software versions of them, which then also have the built in intelligent effects section. So instead of buying a “cult” vintage synth like an original Prophet-5 for a lot of money, I would rather spend the money on a new Prophet 10. My five cents. I recently saw an add for a Yamaha DX-1 for 135’000 Euro. Admittedly a rare piece of equipment and a nice instrument back in the time when it came out. It was already very expensive back then, if I remember correctly it was around 13’500 USD. Only about 150 pieces were built, so yes, a collector’s item. But paying 135 grand for a musical instrument? No, I don’t think so. I can pay for about 3 album productions with that money hiring top of the world musicians.
I still have some older synths, not sure they qualify as vintage. A Waldorf Q, a microQ, a Novation Supernova and the aforementioned Trinities. I don’t actually use them at the moment. With all the soft synths I have (Fairlight, Synclavier, CS-80, Prophet 5, Prophet 10, Memorymoog, Rhodes Chroma, Juno-60, Jupiter-8, Emulator II, ARP 2600, Moog Modular, Minimoog, Prophet VS, OB-Xa, Matrix-12 to only name the most popular ones plus the onboard instruments in Apple Mainstage and Logic) I never came to a point in a production where I had to say “I cannot find what I am looking for in those 50000 sounds, let me bring a Trinity in from the garage” or “I wish I never sold my D-550, I desperately need its sound here and now”.