EMS Synthi A

gd · Post by gd » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:24 pm

Haven't seen one in years and now a local guy has one for sale and asking $6k cdn. Are these really going for this now? Anyone else own one and still use it?

mpa1104 · Post by **mpa1104** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:41 pm

That is a lot of dosh! You could probably get a new one from Robin Wood (the man keeping the EMS gear alive) for less than that. Last I heard, they retailed at around the $3-4k mark. I have owned (and I still love it) a VCS 3 for many years and have used a Synthi A at a studio on quite a few previous occasions. The big thing that the AKS has over the Putney is of course the sequencer and the touchplate keyboard (which is why I'd love to have one) but as far as I'm concerned, $6k is way overpriced. This has been happening so much since the vast amount of info on the internet has become available to all and sundry. People come into possession of gear like this, find out about its "classic" status and then charge like a wounded bull. Looks to me as though he's waiting for someone gullible.

That said, they are wonderful instruments (not that I'm biased or anything

)

EDIT: Someone may wish to verify the status of availability from Robin Wood as I'm only going from memory at the moment and all my search engines have suddenly frozen on me.

Postblank · Post by **Postblank** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:21 am

Last I heard, they are still being made but the wait list is really long.

steveman · Post by **steveman** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 1:45 am

Postblank wrote:Last I heard, they are still being made but the wait list is really long.

Yes, like years...

sleestack · Post by **sleestack** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 3:34 am

Plus, the old synthi's are different than the new ones. Older parts. The flaws are half the features.

mpa1104 · Post by **mpa1104** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:14 am

IF the $6k includes everything in that picture, then that's actually a reasonable price - assuming everything is in a decent working condition. No idea what the bottom panel is. There's clearly another matrix board there, maybe it's something to do with connections between the VCS, the KS and the Sequencer

couldn't say for certain.

That's a wonderful looking rig.

JJQ · Post by **JJQ** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:17 am

Sounds like a fair price....

chamomileshark · Post by **chamomileshark** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 10:10 pm

This site is running so slow I can't check what's in the ad. You can't get a new AKS from Robin, they don't have the parts. I've been on the list for a VCS3 and with mods that's about £4k (sterling) a Synthi A would be about £3k, maybe a bit less without any mods.

I've been on the waiting list since Oct 2005. I'm not sure they are ever going to do another run.

gd · Post by gd » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:24 pm

he has another advert that I'll copy for anyone interested.

http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/msg/615896274.html

Micke · Post by **Micke** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:12 am

Koa wrote:6000$CAN, negotiable. I doubt I'll ever see this in my local classifieds again.

An EMS sequencer 32! you don't see these very often.

It appeared in 1971 and is one of the first digital sequencers along with the EMS 256 keyboard sequencer and Oberheim's DS-2 which came out a year later (1972).

Micke

JJQ · Post by **JJQ** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:58 pm

Come on, get it!!!!

If you have second thoughts you can allways sell it to me for that price when I go to Toronto in the summer.

minime123 · Post by **minime123** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:41 pm

whats interesting is that someone emailed me how much we wanted for our vcs3 thats up for sale. then he emailed back saying he had one to sell, with sequencer and keyboard. he sent the same photos that were posted here only the price was significantly higher than whats shown in the ad. the emails were from a hotmail account and were similar to those ive seen from scammers in the past. this isnt to say that this person is definitely a scammer, but id be very careful if youre seriously considering buying it as scammers have been posting phony EMS ads for a while now. this may or may not be one.
mini

tim gueguen · Post by **tim gueguen** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:02 pm

And its amazing the lengths some will go. There's currently an ad floating around Craigslist for a '53 Les Paul at a rather low price, and it is literally turning up in dozens of different markets.

minime123 · Post by **minime123** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:36 pm

sadly some people fall for this or they wouldnt continue to do it.