Since this ongoing acquisition of music equipment shows little sign of slowing, I figured I would begin a record of my purchases, because I’m sure at some point, I’m going to want to look back at this period with a sense of awe and confusion.
For the longest time, I had somewhat the bare minimum of keyboards in my studio. The Roland RD-600 and the Casio CZ-1. The former because it was a workhorse and the latter because it was rare enough that I said I’d never get rid of it. And as I’ve said before, I do regret every piece of gear that I’ve ever gotten rid of, and now, I have every bit of it back and much more. So lets recap.
The impetus for this journey was a desire to re-record a lot of my old recordings in a higher quality. And to do so, I would need the original instruments. A lot of the newest music was done with software instruments, so that was a little tedious tracking down those bits of software. Unfortunately, I can’t find the exact version of some of them, so the sounds are slightly different in the redos.
Going back a little further in time, one of the devices I had was the Yamaha SW-1000 – a computer sound card. In studio form, this was the Yamaha MU-100. I didn’t fully know that at the time and mistakenly thought I needed its earlier version, the MU-80. So I bought an MU-80 in June, 2021 for $124 and began my work. I then found out that device did not have the exact sounds I needed and that I really needed an MU-100. 10 days later, I purchased an MU-100 for $199. There’s still a happy ending, because there were songs from even earlier from when I had the Yamaha SW-60 sound card in my computer, which was, in studio form… the MU-80.
Now, as I was reworking songs, there was a device that was needed and was a pain in the ass to find, the General Music Equinox. I did finally purchase one in December, 2022 for a whopping $1200. Its rarity sort of justified its cost and it will be a thorn in my side forever that I sold off my own 88-key version for so little.
And I think that’s when things really started to snowball. Because now I was working on songs from an even earlier era – the classic 90’s version of my studio. The only thing I had from that era was the MU-80, which replaced the SW-60 of its time. Problem was, gear from that era isn’t all that cheap. In January 2023, I located an Ensoniq ESQ-1 for $475. This was the bedrock of all the songs from that era. However, back then, I had all but one of the factory sound cartridges, and those cartridges remain impossible to find today. Research led me to a mega-cartridge containing all the ESQ-1 sound libraries. I bought one from a seller in Italy for around $130 in February.
Now it was time for another major purchase. I had an Oberheim Matrix 6R back in the day. I think I paid $650 at the time for a used one. But it’s one of the worshipped devices that has appreciated over time. They run $1200 or more, now. I found a Matrix 6R that “needed work” and bought it for $800 in February, 2023. After fixing it, playing with it, and discovering it didn’t have any of the same sounds I used to have, I purchased its cousin, the Matrix 1000, on a whim for $800 – again “needing work” – hoping it would have all the sounds I’d need. This purchase is still waiting for parts for repair. In the meantime, I’ve been using Sysex dumps on the Matrix 6 and making progress.
Drums in that era were handled by the cheapest drum machine available – the Yamaha RX21. I found one for $100 in March, 2023. The buyer took a week to ship it, then when I got it, it didn’t have a power supply and was packed terribly. The good news is, it did work well. The bad news is, it’s not the right model I needed. This machine does not have all the sounds I need. Additional research shows me I needed the RX17, not the RX21. Lower model number, but more sounds? Sounds about right for the era. So the RX21 is cleaned up and once I get a power supply (not going to fuck the customer like I got) it’ll be ready for resale. Hopefully I can break even on it. In the meantime, an RX17 is soon to be coming.
As I worked through the songs, it was comforting to see that the MIDI file could give me hints as to what device and patch was used for the track. I could count on MIDI channel 2 being the Roland Alpha Juno 1 and channel 3 being the Matrix 6, channel 16 being the drum machine, and 6-10 being the ESQ-1. But at some point, tracks with channel 4 started showing up. What was that device? The only other module I recall owning from that era what an Emu Proteus 1, but I don’t actually remember doing any recordings with it. However, my memory must be faded, because there’s some patches that I know don’t exist on either of the three other devices. So, a Proteus 1 is now being shipped. It cost $135 and it’s from a store I purchased something from back in the 90’s. Can’t remember what it was; it might have even been the ESQ-1.
So the studio has been rebuilt, but that is in no way the end of the purchases, because I’m not only trying to reconstruct old songs, but I want to do new stuff as well, and that means fresh gear for fresh sounds. So I’ve been opportunistic and buying whatever I think seems cool, and I gotta say, there’s lots of gear out there. At this point, I’m just going to use this post as a continually-updated log of the gear I find throughout the year.
One device that I picked up pre-pandemic (it’s a historical landmark now) is the Alesis QS-8. I bought it at a thrift shop and it never worked right, but I only paid $100 for it and it just sat in my closet for years. I did actually bring it back to life as detailed in another post, but its purchase was long before this buying frenzy.
In January 2023, I got a Korg DW-8000 on craigslist for $400 and a Roland D-70 from a pawn shop that needed significant work for $250.
In February 2023, I got a Roland Juno Di at a pawn shop for $80 that doesn’t work and needs professional repair. It’s sitting in my closet waiting for the shop to call when the parts come in. Another pawn shop had a Kawai K3 for $300.
In March 2023, EBay tempted me late at night with an auction that was getting no bids. That resulted in a Yamaha SY-35 for $175. One night browsing at the mall, I happened across an unwanted Roland U-110 in a resale store for $100.
Total studio outlay to date: ~$5,400. Total devices: 17.
Stay tuned for more madness…
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