used synths in nyc - where to shop?

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

hi,
if you would, please list your favorite places to shop for old synths in new york. i am feeling very impulsive today and looking to abuse my credit card a bit (but not too hard.)

― bell labs (bell_labs), Monday, 6 March 2006 17:43 (nineteen years ago)

absolutely nowhere! WAY to expensive. If you want to play around, the main place is Two Lines music on 46th(47th?, 48th? Whichever road has Mannys/Sam Ash). They have the most beautiful collection, but it's way to expensive, and everything in the store is also on eBay, where it usually goes for half the price! I think it's a spin-off of the original cool synth store, Dr. Sound, which is on Broadway I think downtown, also...epensive. On 33rd or so is Rogue Music, which doesn't stock as much as they used to, because they probably sell everything on eBay, and near that is Armon or Ardan or something, this huge shop filled with stuff. Also expensive and I hear he rips people off.

The only way to shop is:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/msg/ and ebay.

East Village Instruments which I think moved some point recently has stuff, but again...not to cheap.

But you can still find great deals online. Especially if you're not looking for what other people are looking for.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 6 March 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

ohh if the east village music sight is up to date, their prices don't look too bad!!

http://www.evmnyc.com/conkey.html

i would sooo buy that dx-7 for $250!

i almost always buy things online but i like being an annoying music store customer and testing everything out from time to time.

― bell labs (bell_labs), Monday, 6 March 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

that's a pretty good price I guess, I suppose it's the analog stuff that's priced way high. I used a DX-100 on my college application tape, later learned it was a detroit techno classic, used for basslines. Have you ever made sounds on an FM synth? I'd kinda weird.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 6 March 2006 19:40 (nineteen years ago)

Midtown music block is on 49th, I think.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 6 March 2006 20:22 (nineteen years ago)

Nabisco, you're a block off. 48th Street.

― Redd Scharlach (Ken L), Monday, 6 March 2006 20:23 (nineteen years ago)

i used a friend's SY-99 which is probably a lot easier to deal with than a DX series, but i've been reading a lot about fm synthesis recently and played around with emulators...so, mostly no. i'm really curious about it, though.

― bell labs (bell_labs), Monday, 6 March 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

(that was x-post btw)

― bell labs (bell_labs), Monday, 6 March 2006 20:34 (nineteen years ago)

basic thing is, the more Operators, the more flexible. DX-7 is a 6-op FM synth, while DX-27 and DX-100 are 4-op synths. If you know anything about subtractive synthesis, just thing Carrier = Oscillator, Modulator = LFO. All FM synths have a chart of algorhythms, which define how many and which operators are Carriers (i.e., audible Oscilators), and how many are modulators (either LFOs, or even just audible control voltages. So you can have 5 oscillators and the 6th one modulating the 5th. Or you can have 1 audible oscillator and the rest of them all modulating each other in the back. How you control this to make a specific kind of sound, I have no fucking clue.

The SY series came way later, so they compliment the FM sounds with sample based sounds. I had a TG-33 which was the rack version of the SY-22 plus a bit more. It was simple but cool. It gave you 2 2op preset shitty FM sounds, and 2 shitty samples, you then used the vector stick to change the mix, like on the Korg Wavestation or Prophet VS. So like, you can have a sine wave at A, a bell-like sample at B, some noise at C, and a reed sample at D. You hit record and after you hit a key, start moving the joystick all around. It records that movement. It was pretty neat, is 16 part midi multitimbral, and has a nice desktop shape. They're probably way cheap now too.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Monday, 6 March 2006 20:43 (nineteen years ago)

I have an SY77. A great instrument, similar to the SY99, but with way shittier samples and effect processor. The FM side is gr8, though. It does everything a DX7 will do, plus you can customise the FM algorithms to some degree, select one of 16 operator waveforms, not just sine, and there's a dual filter stuck onto the end of it. It's pretty mighty. Even the best example should cost next to nothing.

I'd love an SY99, one of the best synths Yamaha ever made, I think.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Monday, 6 March 2006 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

learning how to program an FM synth just seems like it would be so rewarding. algorithms! operators! maximum unwieldiness! but it might have to be shelved for a period of unemployment.

how difficult is it, really?

― bell labs (bell_labs), Monday, 6 March 2006 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

TG33s are really cool for the money, I love mine. They seem to go for peanuts on ebay now, I've seen them for $50.

Apparently Jeff Mills used one extensively on Waveform Transmission Vol.3, but I'm not sure I really hear it.

― jng (jng), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

Programming FM isn't too difficult if you're not specifically aiming for something. I always found it for just messing around w/the parameters until you hear something you like.

It's ALWAYS easier, I found, using a computer editor, though. It really helps to relate to what the different parameters are doing if the algorithm & feedback paths are displayed on a screen while yer programming. Pay attention to the velocity and key scaling parameters, they're really crucial to getting good sounds.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 16:38 (nineteen years ago)

if you wanna edit fm on the computer but still have hardware, you can get a TX module, DX-11 in a box:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Yamaha-TX81Z-Vintage-FM-Synth-Module_W0QQitemZ7395460768QQcategoryZ64387QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

bell labs, I'm selling a DX7-II FM synth w/ 2 cartridges and sustain pedal for $350. I'm one block from East Village Music. The lowest C# key is stuck, but I assume could be easily fixed. E-mail me at the address below in parenthesis. EV Music has the same machine for $450 with one cart. and no volume pedal. My apologies for using IMM as craigslist.

― dewey2, Tuesday, 7 March 2006 22:02 (nineteen years ago)

x-post dan - thanks! i just bid on that. making it about the 90th thing i've bid on today. my apartment is soon to become a giant tangle of midi cables and patch cords. you can download patch editor programs for most systems i am assuming? i should probably look into that first...

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

dewey - that's a good price, but i'm looking at some similar/less expensive things for the moment...

― bell labs (bell_labs), Tuesday, 7 March 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

ok...does anyone know of any good places to shop for used equipment on long island or in westchester?

― bell labs (bell_labs), Sunday, 12 March 2006 23:49 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/msg/146927826.html

you could probably go a bit cheaper?

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 7 April 2006 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

ah! nice. coincidently, i just met someone last night who is thinking of selling their dx-7. i may have to buy myself one for my birthday...

― bell labs (bell_labs), Friday, 7 April 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.