Why can't they make a new sub- $500 analog synth.....

[Blue Monster 65]

Big ticket items I typically made 35% or less on. Small ticket items could be as high as 400%, which isn't difficult when you're selling guitar picks for a quarter.

But as long as everything is BLUE, who cares?

[Kenneth]

Korg just put out two analogue synths for $150 each, do you guys not realise this is a joke thread?

Oh...

[silikon]

[garranimal]

And then finally retailers that actually market and sell things online and stores need to make a profit and pay for overhead. Generally retail markup is 200%.

I think that you will find that music retailers could only dream of a 200% mark up unless you mean guitar picks. The norm is more like 30% and that's before the customer comes in demanding a further 20% off.

You're probably very correct. My knowledge comes from general grocery, drug, and retail places I've worked before where the sweet spot is 200%, but the music store model could be very different given the bigger average price breaks on merchandise and as well today is very much a different economic environment than 20 years ago. It is just as surprising how quick overhead costs quickly add up for merchandisers as well: rent, employee pay, taxes, energy bills, maintenance, loss and loss prevention, etc.

Here's the Dave Smith factory tour excerpt I referenced.

[mute]

seriously ppl?

CUP HOLDER.

[atlantida]

A short answer: transistors cost just too much nowadays, like 10 USD for 5 pounds of semiconductors, resistors.

[Blue Monster 65]

seriously ppl?

CUP HOLDER.

BLUUUUUUUUE!!!!!!!!

[gs]

Okay it's a joke thread, but...

Here's 3, not quite sub-$500 but pretty damn close:

- Arturia Minibrute
- Korg MS-20 Mini
- Moog Minitaur

Just put up the extra $150 or so, and be happy.

[Rick N Boogie]

And, if you double-up and go to $1K, the list gets even longer. There've never been so many cool affordable synths as there are right now.

[silikon]

And, if you double-up and go to $1K, the list gets even longer. There've never been so many cool affordable synths as there are right now.

And yet none come with the ever-so-useful drink carrier. Pure rubbish, they are.

[Kidney05]

Here's the Dave Smith factory tour excerpt I referenced.

i'm glad you posted this. I saw this ages ago and forgot about it. where is this, anyway? For some reason I assumed dave outsourced all production to china.

[zoomtheline]

But as long as everything is BLUE, who cares?

I'd love all my synths to be blue haha. I'm pretty sure I even made a thread to see how many synths were blue. I also nearly bought a faulty OB12 just so I could put it with my other blue synths.

I'm over that phase now though.

[Cumulus]

Joke thread or not, it reminds me of my feelings towards cars a while back. I came of age in the 1980's when there weren't a lot of great cars being made that were affordable, at least not in the US.

Factor in my love for all things retro and you have a young car shopper wondering why Ford did what they did to the Mustang and why Chevy couldn't just reissue one of their old 50's panel vans with a few updated features.

I eventually came to peace with the idea that there were not any cool afforadable cars being made so I just drove old cars for a couple of decades.

Then, the New Beetle came out, followed by the PT Cruiser and the Plymouth Prowler, the MINI Cooper, Chevy SSR, Camaro, Dodge Challenger, etc. Suddenly, retro is everywhere. Even Ford has made the Mustang cool again.

I'm sure the car forums are filled with people complaining about this or that model and how they have ruined the brand, etc. but it's a great time to be a car guy and the same thing is happening with analog synths.

Suddenly, there are some nice affordable box on the market, mostly from Korg but perhaps the other companies will follow suit. If those Mini MS-20's keep flying off the shelves Roland has got to take notice and dig up some old designs...

I am hoping for more retro designs and more niche products as production becomes cheaper and the marketing guys discover there is a market that out there, at least until the bust. Then I’ll be buying plastic Korgs at pawn shops for $50 a pop like in the old days….

[tekkentool]

f**k cars. Motorcycles are the only automotive strain that got incorporating things people liked about old models into new ones correctly.

The new beetle is like the SH-01 or JUNO-stage. This is the MS mini.

[Cumulus]

That's an awesome bike.

I'm not a New Beetle fan but I think MINI got it right. The differences between the old and new are improvements whereas on the Beetle they're head-scratchers, like why a front engine?