This is a message I need. I'm so stubborn about parting with gear that I'm damn near sliding towards homelessness with nowhere to even keep it 😬 Someone else just struck this same chord, when I overheard them on a random reality TV show saying "the goal isn't to _own_ all the toys, but to *play with* all the toys... and it was simply time to let some stuff go so that the next person can enjoy it".
Wise words. My channel has mostly been the reason I've kept a lot of the stuff, not my actual work and music. It's good to let it go and not having to maintain it when that's been money out the window.
I sold Juno-106 in 200x because I didn't have a studio at that time and I wasn't active with music. 00's went largely with software anyway. I thought I want that somebody's uses the Juno. I made a very clear decision to not regret it afterwards. I listed the reasons including the (small) need of money to buy a second hand mountain bike. Bicycling became my main hobby and the physical fitness gained was priceless. Selling for a reason is good. Keeping gear as investment rarely is. If I'd kept Juno to see the prices go up 3x it wouldn't affect my will to keep or sell it. I just couldn't use it and didn't have room -> sell.
80’s music is among the most lucrative genres/time periods. It outsells, and out streams, modern music by a wide margin. This is something that has been written about quite a bit in the music industry. Also, connected to this issue in a slightly tangential way, the musicians who make the most money, again by a wide margin, are artists from the 70’s-90’s period. They are selling their catalogs partially or entirely to big companies or platforms, and also selling for commercial usage … all for hundreds of millions of dollars. Outside of a few artists like Taylor Swift, very few musicians who have started in the past 20 years are actually making big money from music. Part of that is just the change in the way people consume music, but part of that is literally just popularity of older music compared to modern music. The Atlantic, or the New Yorker, wrote an article last year in on this issue: 70% of the most popular streamed artists were older artists from before the millennium, or in a few cases shortly after 2000, and the most streamed song from that year was a 40 year old song: “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush. Not only is the 80’s music alive, it might be pound for pound the most popular.
Well if my teenage kids and their friends are anything to go by, I’d say interest in 80’s music is very much alive and well…. As well as envious curiosity about the way of life before becoming enslaved to smartphones and the internet (says me, a 51 year old man who’s using a smartphone and the internet to make this comment 😂!!)
You have a very healthy approach to this, and it’s similar to how I (on a much smaller scale) operate. If you get on with a sound and workflow instantly, and several times after, produce sounds you like working with, and have fun, absolutely keep the relationship with that tool going as long as you can. If the UI or sound don’t work for you, by all means, pass it on to someone who WILL enjoy these things. I sincerely appreciate your openness and you gave these tools their due in the positives.
Good for you 👍. I did the same a few years ago with a ridiculous amount of cameras, calculators and other handheld gadgetry and equipment which I’d been hoarding for decades. Haven’t missed any of it for one moment, and it felt very cathartic and ‘cleansing’. I haven’t yet reached that same conclusion with my synths and other music tech yet but that time will come - and the task of having to replace memory backup batteries or have PSU’s recapped, will be a distant memory! Good luck :-)
I just got an Ensoniq SQ-80. Hasn't been used for decades but in great condition. It's in the shop getting the battery replaced, but will be up for sale when it returns to me.
I've sold, traded and bought synths since 1986 so this all part of being a productive craftsman. You get rid of things you don't need and you get what you need. Don't be emotional about dead things.
Nothing better than optimizing the studio. Went there myself over the past 2 years. From 30 synths down to 0. Only kept my Simmons kits as I am primarily a drummer. The space I got back!
I hate to get rid of gear unless I'm really really REALLY sure I won't regret it. That's especially true for synths because I feel they've beaten me if I have failed to find a way to make them emit sounds that I like.
What I do is what's best for me. If it's the best for you to keep it all, then keep it. This is not a guru video, just a quick update on what I'm doing. ;-)
It's good to have a clear out. I love old gear, but also one reason I had so much was there wasnt anything decent being made new. That's just not true anymore. I've got 3 I keep, the rest went. Guitars too. So easy to have too many guitars.
@@PORRFNK I love my Refaces - so much mojo. The only one I don't have is the DX because I can't justify yet another Yamaha FM synth. A Reface-like CZ would be great.
Yup. Since January I have sold 10 guitars, 3 practice amps, a drum machine pedal, several pickups and a Boss pocket GT. Trying to not just control but completely eliminate my GAS.
Its also good to get rid of synths that are overlapping in function and basically doing the same thing. You don't need three or four analog polyphonic's when they are all basically the same. I am about to get a Prophet 12 for example which includes entirely what the Korg DW8000 can do so I am thinking I might let that go too. Slightly different sound yes but in function they are both very similar. Prophet better of course and would go deeper.
@@EspenKraft But you have done something like that. The reason you don't use the Poly 61 much is you must be using another analog poly synth to do the same job. (And the one you do use is probably more powerful) So it's like two wooden hammers that are only slightly different. In the scheme of things, like banging in a nail (or a complex arrangement) you would not notice the difference. Its good to do though and healthy. With less synths around you are more inclined to work on better ideas and focus on the music more. Same with the Akai samplers. The ones you are keeping can do the job of the ones you don't use. You could probably survive with one Akai sampler in reality.
I have a mixed feeling about that. Selling stuff keeps aftermarket healthy and greedy sellers at bay. Old electronics are slowly rotting away, unused caps with are dying, internal batteries are leaking, faders and contacts accumulate crust. Even if a compressor, of effect is unused musically, let it live longer just in case. Simply turn it on from time to time and let it work for 3 hours. Let it warm up, turn all the knobs and faders. Spare some compressed air cans afterward. I'm into the old stuff, if the seller is a fellow musician, or have a studio and was actually using the thing. There are a lot of places finally switching to pure DAW during or after covid. I got a pair of good monitors, dbx rack stuff and finally a 3-head casette deck during the pandemic. Now those prices are increasing again.
Seeing so many music RU-vidrs with loads of gear, it's refreshing to see someone who is actively downsizing because they don't need gear sitting around just to look good on camera 🙂
@@EspenKraft it really is. It’s not even that I mind paying taxes. If we’re gonna tax me like a business then technically I’m thousands in the red. I should be getting tax cuts or filing for bankruptcy 😭
@@timweinheimer1 Soundwise, yes it can. (or to 99%). "Convenience wise" with saving everything together with the song, much better than outboard gear. But for the feeling of turning the exact knob/slider on the actual synth and not via a controller which looks different? No. That is still funnier on the real synths. The best is a mix of both types! And newer hardware Synths can integrate quite good with DAWS plus have lots of software updates (Arturia MiniFreak) or software oscillators Synth engines that can be installed (Korg Minilogue Xd).
(Just came back from re-watching the DSM-1 video. Everything is clear now.) Yes, good riddance indeed. I really liked the sound you got out of those vintage samplers, but there are other ways to achieve that. Specifically, a €12 plug-in. Now that you're getting rid of so much stuff, that means that there's space for new gear...
No plugin will emulate what some vintage samplers can do, fully. Plugins have their place, as do vintage hardware. I'm only selling parts of my fleet of vintage samplers. I will keep some that is impossible to replace.
@@EspenKraft Yes, absolutely, plugins will always be an approximation. But it reminds me of the stance that some people took at some point, that you couldn't make proper [fill in EDM music flavour] without a Roland TB-303. In the end, it's what you do iwht what you have (and I must admit that I don't do an awful lot at the moment). When on the dance floor, nobody's going to care whether it's a 303, or one of its many clones or similar monosynths.
I know, but I like the 800 hardware. I find it unique, both in sound, tactile experience and the way it makes me feel using it. Combined that makes it a creative tool I use a lot. As such the plugin becomes redundant to me.
The Poly 800 is one of the last synths I'd get rid of. It has a real lofi 80s sound and the pads work really well. The software vst is decent but lacks the magical fizz and chorus. I think it could be cloned as a vst but it's not there yet.
...S612 had/has a unique sonic;short & sharp¡...TFSOL liked it alot i believe...it'd the poly-61 a Juno-6 semi-clone never did anything for me after the DW's came out...:I think Kebu might still use one¿thanx again EK ur the best dude
I've an S1100 (2 actualy, the 2nd is an S1100EX), but if I had an S612 too I would keep the S612 and sell the S1100 instead. I explain, I have all I need in term of 16bits and good quality samplers "in the box". For instance I almost never use my S1100 but I use my EPSm more often.
What the ITB-Samplers can't give you is the PCM conversion of the S1000. It saturates what's coming in, in a very unique way, that no sound card/audio interface today is close to doing. For that alone its worth having.
@@EspenKraft Maybe I should use my "modern" akai again... For me, it was a clean sampler, what I needed when I bought it new, but it's maybe not so clean. Or my ears are aging, like everything else 😁
When it was new it was "clean". I bought mine new as well. And it was a big step up. Now, compared to a modern conversion, you should clearly hear the saturation from the input of you drive it. It adds overtones.
Due to your video and some others the akai s612 is unpayable these days, so yeah I would understand why you would get rid of it now. I was happy to bought it back then for 100 euro. A shame though :( atkeast your musical output is way better.
@@EspenKraft I love the QD load sound. gotek may be more convenient, but loading QDs is tactile, and it's honestly easier to organize a drawer of physical disks than scrolling through menus. Now I am wondering if you are replacing your S10 with MKS100... :)
Looks like you’ve decided to move over to DAW. I believe keeping something vintage helps to inspire music writing, but then if nothing inspires you from old vintage equipment, it’s best to move over to easier hardware. Old hardware were good, but technology improves over time.
I have no idea why people assume I'm going OVER to a DAW? I've been using DAWs since the dawn (pun intended) of DAWs. I'm a working musician that does a lot of gigs and I have to use a DAW and plugins on a daily basis. Just because I'm selling some stuff people jump to conclusions in a heartbeat. ;-) I'm always inspired from vintage synths, I've said so a thousand times.
@@EspenKraftHow rude, I have been reading a lot of your comments and you come across with your tone quite angry or crass when people make a comment you do not like or agree with. You are making these 'i've sold this and that' videos and publicly streaming them, then do not expect everyone to agree. People are just sharing their own opinions. It doesn't matter if their comments are not inline with your reasoning or understanding but there is no need to be quite rude with your replies, it's just sad to keep reading. Don't post videos if you don't want people to make comments, try replying in kind.
