Vintage synths for sale.

Boeing 737-400 · Post by **Boeing 737-400** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 8:31 pm

There are no MP3's at the moment, but on my site there's a collection of short videos filmed of me playing at my worst!

Kevin,

I wouldn't mind coming, but I have absolutely no transport of my own to get myself there. The video hasn't been edited yet, I contacted Mal and he is sending me some software to edit it with, and has offered to host it for me. Then you can decide for yourselves whether the gig was good, ok, or appalling!

Cruel Hoax · Post by **Cruel Hoax** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 10:38 pm

So whatcha want for the Pro-One?

-Hoax

ticker · Post by **ticker** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:30 am

oh man i hate to hear about things like this. to hell with these punks ripping on you!!!!!!!!!!!

sundaeclubber · Post by **sundaeclubber** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 5:14 am

You'll regret selling all of these, so don't do it.

I sold TWO Mellotrons when they were worthless in the mid 80s and paid dearly for a replacement in 2001. These synths are a better investment than any shite personal pension plan.

Even if you personally are upset with your performance, put it behind you, practice some more and get out there again. If you really can't face doing that, buy a copy of Logic and record your own stuff on your PC. That way you can play it to mates who'll appreciate it.

Whatever, whatever, WHATEVER you do, don't listen to the opinion of one 'reviewer' who at worst was a twonk, and at best may have been having a bad day. The whole purpose of these machines is to have fun with them.

Chin up!!

SCx

PS I was going to drive the 45 miles or so to see your gig, but was knackered by the end of the week. Let us know when you're next playing, and I'll def give you some moral support!

PPS When I was a kid at college, the SH101 was a current model. At that time, not distorted by the rose-tinted spectacles of nostalgia which seem to revere anything old as wonderful, I recall that it had few fans. We were studying keyboard instrument technology at the time and working with a Fairlight, so I guess we were all a bit spoilt, but we assumed the prefix "SH" was an abbreviation of "Shitz". All of us went out and bought new Prodigies or Rogues.......

Boeing 737-400 · Post by **Boeing 737-400** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 10:10 am

All my musician friends here always go on about when the EDP Wasp came out, and how they all saved up for it. I was telling one of them that these things fetch ridiculous prices on eBay these days. His response was that "they were only £250 when they came out, but £250 was a lot of money in those days"

I'm not going to sell anything at the moment, even if I needed the money.

ebg31 · Post by **ebg31** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 11:49 am

Boeing 737-400 wrote:All my musician friends here always go on about when the EDP Wasp came out, and how they all saved up for it. I was telling one of them that these things fetch ridiculous prices on eBay these days. His response was that "they were only £250 when they came out, but £250 was a lot of money in those days"

I'm not going to sell anything at the moment, even if I needed the money.

That's the spirit, Boeing. Perhaps, you should go out and to a gig with nothing but mistakes.

)

250 pounds, huh? I thought the Wasp was for 199. Oh well, I'm sure that a working Wasp will still sound as good as it did in the late 70's.

One thing I've noticed is that the Wasps on the used market seem to have gone up in price, as Boeing said, yet others, such as the Roland Juno 106, the JX series (of which I own one) and the Sequential Prophet 600 have gotten so cheap that a deficit spender in debt could afford them. Isn't that a striking revalation, friends?

sundaeclubber · Post by **sundaeclubber** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:37 pm

The EDP Wasp is a perfect case in point. It was NEVER used by anyone of significance when it was new, it was the preserve of schoolchildren who wanted to buy a synthesizer. It should never therefore be regarded as a 'Classic', but as a quirky bit of kit to make a few noises with, it's a decent bit of fun. No more, no less.

Its membrane keyboard rendered it useless, and yet now it seems to have a following of 'retro' loving fans. Well let me tell you that they are PIONEERS with the things, nobody having bothered with them in the 80s...... Take a look at the users on Vintage Synth Explorer and notice that they're all from the 90s and later, and obviously bypassing the bollerks keyboard by MIDI interfaces. Beats me why they fetch decent bunce on eBay.

A Morris Ital is not in any way shape or form a 'classic' car, and the EDP Wasp is the Morris Ital of synthesizers......

As for them costing a lot of money in the 80s?.... My Prodigy was £229.00 in 1980. The list was £299.00 I'm looking at the receipt now. Anyone claiming to have paid £250 for a Wasp either paid too much or can't remember too clearly how much they really did pay. £149 was the TSP at the time, although list was £199. Maybe your mates bought the deluxe version which at least had keys.

Glad you're keeping your gear.

SCx

ebg31 · Post by **ebg31** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 2:47 pm

Then maybe you can tell me how I saw names like Jean Michel Jarre, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, Rick Wakeman, Patrick Moraz, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Thomas Dolby and others attached to the Wasp in reading sources, other than Vintage Synth Explorer. Could that have been a writing mistake on the part of Paul Wiffen and Mark Vail?

After all, many of those users were also proprietors of the Synthi VCS3.

P. S. I've often wondered what Dave Stewart used to create the sequenced arpeggio in "Here Comes the Rain Again." At one point, I wondered if it was a Wasp supplimented by a Spider sequencer.

sundaeclubber · Post by **sundaeclubber** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 3:28 pm

If you read my entry carefully, you'll notice that I said that nobody of significance used the Wasp whilst it was current. Some used it later.

I think you're incorrect about most of the artists you list, as most of them used Huggett's rather GOOD later synthesizer, the OSCar, which was much more upmarket and had good build quality. I am the first to acknowledge the Wasp's innovation and digital/analogue hybrid technology as being ground breaking, but in general I maintain that due to cheap and shoddy build it sounded crap and was (in standard form at least) unplayable. I think it was Genesis P.Orridge that used the Wasp, not Genesis the band......

As for your Paul Wiffen suggestion, I may well ask him myself, as he is in regular contact with us over apple Mac issues. I'll let you know what he says!!

Best

SCx

mee3d · Post by **mee3d** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:23 pm

At the age of 10 (1978) I used to go to a youth club in South London that ran a small studio. They had 3 Wasps, the sequencer and the full size keyboard that made it possible to play the lot polyphonically . . . That was my first experience with synthesis.

The Wasps were a lot of fun at the time and with careful setting up chords could be played from the catapiller keyboard but looking back now, I really do not see the current interest . . . my Dad bought a WASP for me in 1980 and I ended up trading up to a Prodigy a year later with a little of my money extra.

What with the tiny speaker, membrane keyboard and 7pin DIN socket that used to always work lose from the plastic casing (although that was quite robust) . . I am surprised that there still is a lot of interest - is this a case of "Vintage for Vintage sake"?

The club (Chestnut Lodge, Tulse Hill) later struck up a deal with Roland UK and we ended up with a Jupiter 8, Jupiter 6 and Juno 106 . . . Pretty wild experience at he age of 11!

Mal

sundaeclubber · Post by **sundaeclubber** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:36 pm

mee3d wrote: - is this a case of "Vintage for Vintage sake"?

I reckon that sums it up!

My guess is that the Wasp fans of today were not there at the time.........

SCx

peter ripa · Post by **peter ripa** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 8:20 pm

dont sell anything
never mind the bollocks

bunnyman · Post by **bunnyman** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 8:29 pm

RE: Wasp. If you really want one, Doepfer make a Wasp filter that supposedly sounds like the real deal. Lots cheaper and easily connected to the Voyager...

-andrew bunny

sundaeclubber · Post by **sundaeclubber** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 1:21 am

peter ripa wrote:dont sell anything
never mind the bollocks

Top advice!!

SC

THM · Post by **THM** » Sat Aug 28, 2004 3:40 am

Hi Boeing, sorry I only looked at this thread now & this is my advice: don't worry about what those people say - it only smells like jalousy. I had so many critics 'cause I'm "relatively" young (age: almost 32) & owning L.A.M.M. Memorymoog, Elka Synthex and a serious bunch of other classic vintage synths (Oberheim OB-Xa upcoming - probably next week). This is all about jealousy; I worked hard and saved a lot of $$ to buy these great synths, so imho they're well-deserved.

So I fully agree with the expression from peter ripa:

peter ripa wrote:dont sell anything
never mind the bollocks