Have you ever... thrown away a synth?

pinky_blue · Post by **pinky_blue** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 4:04 pm

Never a synth, but a few broken effects pedals when I was younger (probably 10 years ago). It kills me now as although they were broken at the time I think I'm tech savvy enough now to fix them.

Post by **meatballfulton** » Tue Jun 14, 2011 6:59 pm

How about stuff that becomes truly worthless?

Right now I have a Yamaha QY10. About 30preset pre-GM sampled sounds wedded to Yamaha's trademark arranger/sequencer (4 backing tracks from patterns, 4 "linear" tracks). It does sequence external MIDI and has a full event editor to tweak with. You can create your own pattern "styles" in addition to the factory set.

20 years ago this was hot stuff...but what good is a super portable 8-track "walkstation" in today's laptop studio world? Keep? Toss?

I hung on to my TR-505 for about 15 years after I had used it for anything before I sold it. I've still got a few rack units (Behringer Feedback Destroyer, DOD RDS3600, MicroVerb, NanoComp), some amps in need of TLC, old tape machines, a pre-MIDI Kawai home keyboard. These things all trade in the $25 or less range.

I guess I'd rather give it away than throwing it out if I knew anyone who needed any of it.

tekkentool · Post by **tekkentool** » Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:04 am

Psh, not small and/or useless enough.

if you had that we'd be cracking. It doesn't even have a keyboard.

Synthhead66 · Post by **Synthhead66** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 12:09 pm

I've never actually binned off a piece of kit but I have sold one or two when they've outlived their usefulness. I had an Ensoniq Mirage rack sampler for a while: boy, what a donkey that was. I had bought a used Akai S900 which failed pretty quickly and the seller gave me this Mirage which had been sitting about. I used it for a while but flogged it for a few quid on Ebay. I had a clearout about twelve years ago when I flogged two SH-101s, a Moog Rogue, a TR-606 and a TR-707, basically most of my setup and bought a JV-880 and then a JV-1080 (fully expanded) before I bought its keyed version, the XP-50. Now I'm happy!

Ps If anyone ever offers you a Korg MR3 rack, don't buy it as they're c**p.

Post by **madtheory** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:57 am

meatballfulton wrote:QY10

It actually has great sounding drums, crunchy and punchy.

StepLogik · Post by **StepLogik** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 11:17 am

I use my QY100 all the time. Granted, it is more powerful than the QY10. The QY series are great scratchpad tools and once you learn yamaha's bizarre sequencer/arranger mess you can put tracks together very quickly. If only the korg nano- series had a proper MIDI output, they would be the perfect mate for the QY100.

Take it to a bar and sip a cocktail while working out a new jam. You'll be picking up hot chicks like crazy

also wear some kind of hipster t-shirt.

Phollop Willing PA · Post by **Phollop Willing PA** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:30 pm

meatballfulton wrote:How about stuff that becomes truly worthless?

Right now I have a Yamaha QY10. About 30preset pre-GM sampled sounds wedded to Yamaha's trademark arranger/sequencer (4 backing tracks from patterns, 4 "linear" tracks). It does sequence external MIDI and has a full event editor to tweak with. You can create your own pattern "styles" in addition to the factory set.

20 years ago this was hot stuff...but what good is a super portable 8-track "walkstation" in today's laptop studio world? Keep? Toss?.....

My daughter is putting together a small set up to get into some sort of sound making. She gets all the stuff I no longer use. Waiting for her at home is a Yamaha mixer, amps, speakers and a CS 40M

Since she lives on the other side of the continent, I've had to send her the small stuff, beginning with a Yamaha DX 100 and QY 10. Realizing that the QY 10 was still useful (as a midi controller and a sketch pad), I bought another, one for me one for my daughter.

My QY 10 sits in front of my MacBeth M5 and acts as a useful MIDI controller as well as yet another basic pattern generator and sequencer.

One day, you may miss the QY 10, just for it's size and functionability. You can't stick a laptop in your pocket (unless you count iphones etc). Apparently circuit bending the QY 10 is possible too..

BTW, I like the electronic drum sets and all patterns can be MIDIed out, so external tone/sound modules can be used. Haven't figured out how to send a transposition out yet, if possible.

bluedad · Post by **bluedad** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:42 am

I haven't thrown away my Chroma Polaris..I can't do it. But it's tucked away in the closet. Every now and then I'll pull it out, open it up, shake my head, put it back together and slide it back in the closet.

Post by **rhino** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 4:11 am

Sell it to me

Computer Controlled · Post by **Computer Controlled** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:06 am

I would never throw anything away. Right now i have a bricked Microwave II sitting under my bed. Its probably permanently f**k, but i'm keeping it in hopes that someday, someone will figure out how to unbrick these things.

Computer Controlled · Post by **Computer Controlled** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:07 am

Phollop Willing PA wrote:
She gets all the stuff I no longer use. Waiting for her at home is a ... CS 40M

.

So, uhhh, where does she live again??

Post by **rschnier** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:41 am

I've thrown away two pieces, both of which I'll regret forever (ever since then, I hesitate to ever even sell anything, even if it seems to be not useful at the time):

Roland TR-606 Drumatix, in 1988; I'd even modded it for separate outs. (I'd recently bought an SP-12 and the Drumatix seemed a child's toy by comparison.)
Roland RE-201 Space Echo, in the early '90s. (Who'd want noisy analog tape echo when there were digital reverbs? )

Again, these were both huge mistakes, which I post here in the hope of preventing someone else from making. My only defense is that it was way before the WWW or even Internet access in general was around (eBay, vintagesynth.com, h**l -- anything .com). The best one could do to determine the value of gear was to look in local music stores (RE-201's were going for around $25 at the time) or advertise it in the classifieds section of the local paper.

Live and learn.

tekkentool · Post by **tekkentool** » Sun Jun 19, 2011 5:26 am

rschnier wrote: [*]Roland RE-201 Space Echo

Post by **rschnier** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 4:06 am

tekkentool wrote:[head explodes]

Thanks, that pretty-accurately represents my feelings about it looking back. But this is the "true confessions" thread, right?

Post by **gmeredith** » Mon Jun 20, 2011 5:37 am

OK let's all make a pact here and now with one another that if we EVER feel like tossing a piece of gear for whatever reason, that we post up here to everyone before we go through with it, and let everyone either persuade you not to, or encourage you to give it away to one of us instead of binning it. This thread makes me cry

Moderators/Admin:

Maybe there is room on this site here for a "Freebies" section??

Have you ever... thrown away a synth?

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