[sdiy] Korg Kronos/Oasys story

[Bob Weigel]

On 1/24/2011 12:10 PM, David G. Dixon wrote:
>>> I'm not saying
>>> Karl's
>>> comments are without merit, but I just wonder if a
>>> generation that
>>> grew up with M1s and K250s and (insert name of first gen
>>> digital  workstation here)s will be paying premium prices for these
>>> machines as "collectors items" in another 10 - 20 years.
>>>        
> I'm going to weigh in here on Karl's side of this argument.  I base this on
> my (not very scientific) pawn shop observations.  There is a place in
> Vancouver called "Lotusland" (older Vancouverites will remember it as "the
> Captain's") which deals in second-hand musical and stereo equipment, and I
> sometimes drop in there to have a look.  They always have DX-7s and Ensoniqs
> and all that crap, at rock-bottom prices.  I've never seen anything analog
> in there, except once, they had one of those very old Roland string
> ensembles, and it didn't stick around very long.
>
> I don't think that old digital gear will ever have much resale value,
> because digital has only increased in speed/capability/functionality, and
> that is the whole point of digital gear.  Hence, there is no intrinsic value
> in old digital gear, just as there is no intrinsic value in a Pentium IV
> desktop computer.  Analog gear simply isn't subject to the same ruthless
> rules of obsolescence.  It's all obsolete by definition, and that has
> absolutely nothing to do with it.  Indeed, it's part of the charm.
>
> Anchors away!
>
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>
>    
The only real reason digital gear tends to maintain significant value 
when stuff that technically blows it away is available for not much more 
(eg. Korg Karma for 600 or whatever...vs. M1 for 400?  What in the world 
is that about one might ask!! lol...or for that matter why a wavestation 
that is far superior to M1 can be gotten for 150 sometimes!) is that 
there remains a number of users who are embedded into that design for 
one reason or another and/*OR* there is some distinct quality that the 
instrument has that isn't done perfectly in other units.  DX7's have a 
lot of sounds and particular with the E! expansion like the one I just 
refurb'd here, it's going to maintain some value because it's a great 
feeling keyboard and has decent performance controls and it's sounds 
have been used in so many things that there will always be some 
affection for it in the near future probably.  The M1 has supposedly the 
same keyboard though I think they didn't do something right by the time 
the Wavestation came out and I have an M1 movement IN my wavestation 
because of that.... but anyway I think some M1's suffer from that issue 
of sticky keys also.  Anyway people built a lot of sequences for them so 
again in the near foreseeable future there will always be a body of 
people who want to have one around probably.   Wavestation meanwhile 
didn't have a sequencer so people are not *as* determined to get one 
unless they wrote their own sounds... many downgraded to the smaller 
rack units that had the factory sounds..SR's I think they were called.  
Anyway so I think the reason the WS keyboards went down in value were 
those two things...sticky key reputation and availability of rack units 
that served most just as well ...whereas M1 is a performance interface 
with the sequencer and the rack just isn't as desirable for that.   The 
D50 and Rainer notes had such a distinct musical sound quality that it's 
still sought after by many.  With key contact issues they're getting 
harder to find working ones of so supply/demand keeps their value 
somewhere in the ballpark of the M1.  But I think it goes beyond "Oh 
I've got to have the keyboard that was used for the sound in THAT song" 
with the D50 OR "Oh I've got to have that keyboard that I used for that 
sequence" or whatever with the D50 since it is a higher sound quality 
digital instrument musically speaking I believe.  SY99 was a similar 
thing I think for Yamaha.  They seem to have maintained a decent 
value..and JD800 again for Roland.  Plus the distinct user interface in 
that case of course. -Bob

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