Selling off some studio gear:
Well I've decided to absolve myself of the sentimentality keeping me attatched to some/all of the gear in my studio, and have made the very grown up decision (in my opinion anyway) to sell some of it.
Fact is, a lot of my stuff is superfluous to my needs. Purchased on a whim, usually with next to no thought given to it. Then it just becomes this distracting thing sitting in the room, suffocating me, stopping me from writing music.
Anyway, if any of you guys are interested, I will be getting rid of the following items:
Roland W-30 with SCSI upgrade:
I bought this one on a whim probably 5 or 6 years ago. I got into sampling for a little while, but mainly held onto it because Liam Howlett from the Prodigy swears by it. I had some grand ideas of using it in a computerless setup, because the sequencer is rock solid and very deep, but really, I just don't NEED a workstation/sampler.
I managed to eventually track down a SCSI chip for it as well, so you can boot it off a hard drive and never have to bother with floppies again!
Roland D-50:
This was an interesting one. I'd always thought that the D-50 was rather unattainable, considering how highly people spoke of it, and the countless records it had been used on in the 80's, but then one came up at the right price, so I snagged it. It sounds gorgeous...it really does. All of the individual elements of the synth are pretty mediocre in their own right (weak sounding oscillators, digital filters, 8-bit attack samples, horrendous digital reverb), but together they add up to something ridiculously special. Brilliant for evolving pads (it has like 6 lfos), I was going to use it for just that. However, I've decided to focus on producing a very particular style of music (to stop me from getting distracted and losing focus), and it just doesn't call for complex, shimmery sounds. It almost hurts to let this one go, but whatever, it's just a hunk of metal and plastic when all is said and done.
Roland MC-505:
Yeah I don't know why I bought this one. For some reason I wanted an MC-303 (why?), but opted for the bigger model. I've seriously used this thing for like an hour.
Because I couldn't be fucked learning how the sequencer worked, I was going to use it as part of a MIDI setup based around an Amiga or compact Mac. Because it's basically a JV-1080 stuck in a groovebox, it would have been great as a sound module, with the added awesomeness of heaps of tweakable knobs (which send midi data). And the synthesis options are pretty deep (if you've ever programmed a JV you'll know this). Great for strings, and has a full compliment of Roland drum samples and synth samples.
Once again though, I shouldn't be thinking of building a second/third studio setup when I'm still trying to get my head around my current one, so it's gotta go!
Yamaha AN-200:
Ugh, this is killing me right now. I love this thing. I still might not sell it, but I think I probably should.
It's a 5 voice virtual analog synthesizer/groovebox. Based on the AN1x, one of the first ever (and arguably still one of the best sounding) VA synths produced. The D-50 which is quite a bit older could actually be considered a VA, but that's a boring story for another time ;D. I was actually on the hunt for an AN1x at the time, but couldn't find one locally, so went with this desktop module. Pretty much the same as the AN1x, just half the polyphony.
Anyway, the sounds you can get from this box are ridiculous. It's phat as hell. It does really awesome sync leads. You can stack/modulate the oscillators in myriad of ways. The filter is amazing, especially considering that it's digital. Does a great 303 squelch, and actually has some of the best drum samples I've heard on a groovebox. Even has some decent effects. This thing is pure acid.
Unfortunately I'm not much of a live performer. I can still use it as a synth module, and do have it sitting next to me at all times, but it doesn't get much use. I've been doing a lot of my song sketching in software at the moment, and even though the bass isn't as devastating, software is infintely more flexible.
The AN200 is quite an old box. There are programmers out there for it so I can kind of use it with my PC as if it were a VSTi, but I find it to be much more hassle than it's worth. Plus the polyphony is kind of a bummer. 5 voices is good if you're doing acid/techno/house/minimal, but if you want to get a big stack of oscillators going, then you can only play single notes, not chords.
So when this sells, I'm probably going to treat myself to a Virus B rack :]
As for when I want to do music on the go, I have my iPhone for that. And hopefully I get to beta test the Teenage Engineering OP-1. See, I'm hoarding shit again, and I haven't even gotten rid of stuff yet >___>
Other stuff:
Might have a couple of other odds and ends. Might be letting go of my Casio CZ-5000. Probably my Akai S-2000 sampler. Also have a Korg EX-800 laying around which could do with a new home. It's actually my father's, but he enjoys storing bits and pieces in my house. If he doesn't want it back, then it's next stop is eBay :P.
And you know...other bits of crap like patchbays and cables, and useless shit like this god awful behringer tube abomination. It's supposed to be a "harmonic exciter" or something like that. I haven't even fired it up, but I'm guessing that it does the job of a massively convoluted bass knob.
Anyway, enough crapping on. If anyone is interested, I'll post the auctions when I've finished cleaning and servicing the various pieces. I can definitely do discounted prices for fellow Audio Forum chums ;D
