You could call it the “Schmidt” effect. Suddenly, all sorts of vintage instruments have risen from the dead, now available for sale. It’s very well possible that the collectors are sacrificing these beauties so they can afford a Schmidt. Or just a big, modern modular system. Or neither the one nor the other. Because trimming down is actually a good step to take somewhere in life.
The fact is: the 100,000 USD (99,000, to be exact) being asked for the Roland System-700 above should leave the seller with a little pocket money in reserve (which means we shouldn’t feel too sorry for him). By the way: the system in question is not an original. It features a (admittedly very useful) VCF-cabinet (upper left) and an extra (and not so beautiful) DIY VCF module à la Moog (upper right).
Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-System-700
Now, in comparison to the following ARP 2500, the Roland system is actually a bargain. A mere 249,000 USD is what the buyer of the ARP “electronic music SYNTHESIZER” below has to fork over. Plus shipping costs, of course.
Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/ARP-2500-Vintage-Modular-Synthesizer
The included records (ARP 2500 and ARP 2600 sound files) and the manuals would definitely be of interest to us. But glancing from the US over to Europe (to The Netherlands, to be exact), there is another rare synth to be had: the EMS VCS3 “The Putney”.
Link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/EMS-VCS3-PUTNEY
The asking price of 18.699 Euro seems pretty “fair”. Of course, the matching DK2 keyboard would have to be bought in a separate auction.
Despite all these exotic prices, such auctions actually have their advantage: they display the instruments along with their rare accessories and give us – in their own way – important information about the very special world of Vintage Synthesizers.
Hi Theo
It is pretty mad what dimensions are reached meanwhile, at the pricing of vintage synthesizer gear. No musician that does his art for living, is able to afford such inspiring instruments at these prices at all. So this confirms my own work and the work of all the colleagues out there, of cloning and doing great DIY projects, to make these legendary synths again available at a fair price.
Here here !