Top 5 Vintage Bargain Synthesizers. Really! Usable instruments you can get for under $150

[@Gerald_Daniel]

07:55 "If you don't find the CS1x fun to play with I probably don't wanna know you!" Splendid! ,🧬🎖️🎖️🎖️💈🎉 😂

[@ralphhathaway-coley5460]

You are correct, fashion can be a terrible thing, but with good synths going for peanuts as they are not currently 'in fashion' means you can pick up a superb deal. In the early/mid nineties I bought a Roland SH05 and a knackered amp for £125!!! It is a wonderful synth and has gone up in value now! So my advice is not following the herd can save you a fortune and can be quite an investment and give you accesss to loads of unique sounds. I also have a load of cheapy 1980+ keys not the greatest as is, but pass through a load of similar aged multi-effects can produce some great results.

[@tedmurena]

Yes back in the 90s when analog stuff was out I bought a Roland Juno -06 and an SH2000 for 120 dollars together. I wish I held on to those

[@brucephoenix3989]

Had a Casio VZ1 for a couple years. Great synth with nice variables 🎵Got it for $100 at a swap meet, was asking $220. Also had an Ensoniq KS2 that had a good dark piano sound and nice organ w/Leslie sound. Paid $80 for that.

[@tedmurena]

Nice the VZ series of Casio is super rare but probably fits this category

[@claudevieaul1465]

I'm mostly using old synths in my studio, and they still do their job perfectly 👍 However they are in a somewhat different range than these... 😜 The main synths: Kurzweil K2600X (88 keys, 1999) Roland XP80 (76 keys, 1997) Roland XV3080 (19" module, 2001) And in addition I've got 2 newer synths: Korg MikroKorg (1st edition, with mic) Roland FA06 (Black Edition, only a few years old) The biggest problem keeping the old ones going is the deterioration of electronics like capacitors (I've replaced them all) and leaky batteries that keep your carefully crafted patches alive (regularly checked, and synths all have backups 😎). Sonically they are still magnificent. Of course I'm also using VSTs (EZDrummer3, Omnisphere and Keyscape mainly) but most of what I can do is still from these old synths 🤘

[@tedmurena]

I had a K2600x when I was in the US - a real beast. I hear you about the deterioration of the electronics. I spend a decent amount of time working on them but they do sound good. As much as I like VSTs it’s hard to replace physical gear IMO

[@jawoody9745]

That is an impressive list.

[@Michel-r6m]

A really nice and cheap as chips synth is the KingKorg. Several classic filter as a vocoder. Technically you can mimmick two MiniMoogs on one KingKorg and at a press of a button make it sound like a P5.

[@kimmorgan379]

One thing I find about vintage/just older cheaper synths is they often have lovely keyboard action so if you run them just as MIDI controllers into Garageband you've got a playing experince and tones it'd have cost thousands to achieve just ten years ago.

[@tedmurena]

I agree I use an arturia as my primary controller when working in Ableton Live but these old synths generally have great key beds

[@thespadestable]

As an old head, the vintage stuff served its purpose back in the days, but the soft synths have been loaded with so many different sounds, what you can put on your hard drive are near replications of what were featured on the vintage to the point, if you own 4 soft synths, you have duplicates of the vintage synths with some expectations. I'll admit that my Korg M1 VST is not an exact copy of the M1 that had to be trashed due to a mishap not of my doing, but it's close enough to bring back fond memories.

[@tedmurena]

No VST is perfect but I get it. I spent 10 years only using software and it’s great but real gear is definitely still intriguing

[@chriscantplay...2933]

I’m a website developer so my 90’s synth hobby gets me away from the computer and I love playing with the kit I could only read about when it was new. I recently picked up a E-MU Proteus 2000 rack unit for £150 GBP and was shocked by the clear punchy sounds though the background noise is brutal

[@jawoody9745]

Interesting reviews. Kawai manufactured incredible synthesizers that no one bought. I used an Ensoniq ESQ-1 and its sequencer to score a series of films. I don't overlook instruments like these. The sounds can be very unique.

[@RebeccaTurner-ny1xx]

Not all Kawai synths were great. I had a K1 which was anything but, with little scope for making interesting sounds.

[@tedmurena]

Before I got the K1 I figured it would be way worse believe it or not - I hear you, the K1 is limited but I like it for what it is.

[@ralphhathaway-coley5460]

So true, I bought a PH50 in a carboot for about £5-10 in around early 2000s, an amazing 'home keyboard' essentially a cutdown K1 complete with joystick!

[@NigelMarston]

My two friends and I started a band in 88 with a Kawai K1 (and drums and guitar). Back then is was great. Today, its good enough. I have a K4r (amongst a stack of other vintage boxes) which I like.

[@tedmurena]

The K4 is a better machine - the K1 is a good beginner synth but I like it because it’s noisy

[@funkmachine6420]

Totally agree, most of these are awesome. I have a D-10 myself which I love. There is a free K1 vst and the Korg M1 vst is good. Might have a look at the SQ1!

[@tedmurena]

I think you and I could be friends. The D-10 is cool because it’s got beats. The SQ-1 is really interesting and one I’m still learning but a really nice board😵‍💫

[@funkmachine6420]

@@tedmurena haha for sure! Love cheap old gear! The drum sounds in the D10 are awesome, use em all the time! I might have to pick up an SQ1!

[@tedmurena]

Yeah I like those drum patterns a lot

[@patrikknoerr9777]

It's actually quite easy to get great stuff for very little money. Especially if you step into the rack module territory. Get yourself one master keyboard, then add modules. I personally use the CS1x as the master. recommendable modules are: Roland JV880, Roland JV1080, Yamaha TG500. They go around 150€. If you want to spend less per module, then go for Yamaha TG55, Roland U220, Kawai K1r, and Roland D110. They are below 100€. You should get the D110 anyways, it's amazing if you get past the presets. Cheap drum modules are: Alesis D4, Yamaha TMX. Better drum modules: Roland R8m, Yamaha RM50. The most expensive parts are the rack enclosure and the cables, plus mixer, midi patchbay, and audio interface. If you know what you are doing you can get yourself a very nice and powerful midi setup for way under 500€.

[@tedmurena]

Agreed sir. All this stuff which was so expensive is now so cheap and still ‘mostly’ good. I like sound modules but have spent time on full synths since these are more accessible to people looking to get into synths

[@patrikknoerr9777]

But we can agree, modules are way more hoardable ;)@@tedmurena

[@tedmurena]

Well I just got a Roland JV2080 for 99€ so yeah 👍🏻 rack gear is killer value

[@doordedeur]

The best budget synth I have is the Yamaha S30. That synth can compare with many pro synths soundwise and featurewise. It cost me only 200 coins. The Yamaha Motif 6 was based on the S30.

[@tedmurena]

Totally a good choice too. These still price a little bit out of the competition for this video but that’s a good machine and worth every penny

[@davidrenaud2791]

You found a Korg o1 for under $150.. I want to shop where you do.

[@tedmurena]

I got the one in the video for 100€ and a O1/W ProX 88 for 100 as well - that was too heavy to move for the video lol

[@davidrenaud2791]

@@tedmurena What a score!

[@rachelar]

Hold out for a better D series than the bottom end D5. Even a D10. Found a mint looking D5 on the street, but didnt get it and I found a D550 soon after. Karma

[@tedmurena]

Ha the 550/50 is the best D but the D5 is really useful for the money.

[@mrdali67]

Only thing in this video that is interesting is the Yamaha CS1x and Korg 01/w. Everything else is cheap because it was junk already when it was new 🙃 Biggest positive is definetly that many 90’s boards was generally good quality keybeds cause about 90% were using Yamaha keybeds which is still waay better than a cheap Fatar keybed you find in todays boards. The sound is kinda irellevant as you can find so many cheap or free softsynths, but really any Korg and Yamaha from the late last century for cheap will make a great controller keyboard

[@tedmurena]

Pretty sure the CS1X was also junk by your standards. It’s hard to say the Roland D5 is junk when it’s built so well. Yes of course these are all cheap because VSTs are accessible and take up no space - that’s not the point though. Using these old things with their terrible menus is way more fun than using a mouse

[@karl.weaver]

You have a great knack of picking the weakest sounds on each synth, coupled with the fact that you are at a learning level of playing - these facts do little to show their true potential.

[@tedmurena]

@beaverkiss haha I’m so sorry Brian Eno, I did not realize you of all people would be listening. I‘ll try harder next time.

[@patsonmusic]

​@@tedmurena D-5 is actually the same synth and engine as the D-20 (which had sequencer and effects) and the D-10 (which lacked the sequencer but had effects) and the D-110 which lacked the keyboard. They are all very different from the D-50 and all sonically in the shadow of their big brother. So D-5 was very trimmed down, more like a starter synth, although built like a tank.

[@erestube]

Had an O1/W Pro back in the day. I think it was about $3000. When I sold it, I got $100. It was great but being piano scale, a piece of furniture just too big for the house. I was sick of going through menus at that time anyway!

[@tedmurena]

I understand - it’s giant and weighs as much as a human. I still think it’s worth the 100€ I paid for it

[@MrMe4444444]

Got peavey dpm for free. Fixed the battery leakage. Found an esq-1 for $200.

[@Timetraveller2208]

At 8.05, that Yamaha sequencer sound reminds me of a Mike Oldfield's album 'Incantations', but on the album, its more bassier and a little slower. Possibly part 3 or 4.

[@tedmurena]

Thanks! Mike Oldfield is a hero of electronic music

[@sauermusicDE]

The D-5 came out in 1989...one year after the D-10/-20/-110. But the sounds as such are indeed from 1987...as the MT-32 came out in that year. (The D-50 is also from 1987 but it is not really comparable...different waveforms etc.)

[@doordedeur]

The D-10 lacks a chorus effect, so it needs an external effects processor. Then a D-5 would be a better purchase, since an external effects processor also can do the reverb. But it turns out D-5s are a lot more expensive than D-10s. The D-5 turns out to be very unriable, so the way to go is to buy the cheaper D-10 together with an external effects device and turn off the internal reverb.

[@tedmurena]

You are right - the D5 came out later and benefits from having an external transformer- better for travel. The onboard effects are better too. All of the lesser Ds could have been put in for the D-5 because they all sell for about the same today. The D-5 just seems the most worth having today.

[@sauermusicDE]

@@tedmurena "The onboard effects are better too" >> I guess you are probably talking about the performance effects of the D-5 (chord play, harmony, chase and arpeggio) since the D-5 is lacking the internal DSP (for reverb and delay) of its siblings.

[@lousyracuse]

I'd jump on a Korg O1W for $150 in a heartbeat. I heard a story that the name was actually supposed to be the M10 being as it was after the M1. However when they were doing a photo shoot someone put the sticker on it upside down, so it read 01W. Can't say if it is true or not. LOL I also have the M1 VST and find it lacking. :(

[@tedmurena]

All VSTs are lacking IMO - but they are still useful, just not exact to their original. Look out there, I see 01/Ws pretty often for 150€ or less

[@tedmurena]

Oh and the story about the name is true - marketers mess everything up😜

[@PhilipClark]

I owned an SQ2+, a CS1x and an 01/w, and I regret selling them to this day.

[@tedmurena]

I understand but sometimes it’s the fright thing to do to depart with stuff. Good news is they aren’t terribly expensive these days

[@fraknoise8523]

Im much into ‘budget’ synths which are if you use them well just as good in producing authentic sounds as their higher priced siblings. I once did a review of the Hartman Neuron (very expensive high end synthesizer). For these reviews I always added a soundtrack, and for this specific review I made a soundtrack where I played the Neuron and compared it with the Roland D110 (my own presets) with the question: which sounds come from the Neuron, which from the D110? Readers couldn’t tell … Listening to your comments and seeing you fiddling around with the knobs and buttons I get the impression there is some mysterie left in what these synths can do and how they work. And even a budget synth will start to shine with some nice playing. The Casio CZ 2000s is a serious synth, both in sound and features. This model was aimed more at the home market, but the synth itself is a good synth. The Kawai K1 is not a stripped version of the K4, it is an additive synthesizer with just a rather different mindset. And on a side note in the quest for great synthesis for little money: the homekeyboard market has some true gems. The Casio HT 6000 is just one of them. Very unique sounding synth, sometimes almost resembling the Fizmo.

[@tedmurena]

Ha - thanks for the nice feedback. Yeah I’m generally fooling around here having gotten a little bored of VSTs and DAWs. There’s an HT 6000 for sale I’m likely to buy this week. I do agree that it becomes hard to tell higher end Synthesizers from budget devices is difficult sometimes if the sounds are well crafted by the user.

[@mudi2000a]

Wow, if you can find a 01/W for only 150 bucks, that’s really excellent. It’s a M1 on steroids and I find those keyboards have good sounds, I often use the M1 VST. And they have a good keybed as well.

[@tedmurena]

I saw an O1/WFD in Germany’s version of Craigslist for 100€ today… I almost bought it because it’s the only version of the synth I don’t have… they are great - but take up a lot of space 🙄

[@mudi2000a]

@@tedmurena omg I am also in Germany, I thought they were more expensive. Really need to check this out. Thanks!

[@tedmurena]

@mudi2000a I spend a lot of time on Kleinanzeigen! If you look you will find deals

[@DaveDaves]

You think the CS1x is an "unsung" hero? My friend, there's tremendous bounties of affection shared all over the internet about this synth. Back in its day and still, anytime its come up anyone other than me has expressed only admiration. I grew up with a Roland D-20 (the D-5 only lacks the sequencer and floppy disk drive which isn't anything special) and I hated it so that's my personal history but when I got the D-50 via Roland Cloud I looked under the hood and discovered why the D-50 was so much more expensive and how they could be so diffferent despite having similar L.A. Synthesis, PCM samples for transients, etc - while my Dad's D-20 had built-in reverb and possibly one effect , the D-50 gives each partial some DSP, then a dedicated DSP for both the lower & upper layer and then still also a DSP on the master bus! otherwise, I don't see any difference in their LA Synthesis engines. What I'm tryna say is that if you could just add back the chorus/flanger modulation effects you could process a D-5/10/110 into a D-50 sonically (and such DSP is plenty inexpensive these days). If you panned your partials hard left & hard right you could eek two partials independently out of it per recording take, so if you did two takes (1&2 in first take, record 3&4 in second take) and then applied yoru DSP to each of the 4 partials afterwards, and to the master, I believe you'd get a full D-50 sound from the D-5. I used this method to effectively recreate some nice D-50 sounds on the Roland MC-909 which shares essentially the same engine too (there are differences). kzbin.info/www/bejne/imTIkISOqZ6Ubbs

[@tedmurena]

That’s the great thing about the internet- you’ll find people that love lots of things. I think the CS1X is cool but there’s loads of people that trash it and my real point is that it’s worth owning especially at the price they cost. Your approach to the D5 to make a D50 sound sounds about right. I have a D5 a D20 and two D110s and I just stack two or three and run the through effects - it ends up sounding better than the VST D50 I have a little detune also helps - the VST is easier to set up though

[@DaveDaves]

@@tedmurena ha YES the salient point I didn't mention but you did is that making the sound this way I proposed - lathering the D-series in DSP - is enormously time/labor-intensive

[@patsonmusic]

You can probably come really close with this method, but I've read somewhere that the samples used in the D-20/10/110/5 are of lower quality than the ones used in the D-50. Also similar samples like the Digital Native Dance sounds really thin on D-20 compared to the D-50, similar to quality difference between a mp3 and a wav file. I had borth for a while, sold the D-20. That said, since D-20 is multitimbral you can stack sounds for heavy bassed and make the room shake... with the right speakers 🙂

[@DaveDaves]

@@patsonmusic The D-5/10/20/110 were cut-down engines of the D-50 to cram a multi-timbral engine into a workstation at a cost point so yes any number of measures could've been taken to reduce the cost. AFAIK, they all used 12-bit samples for the transients. My guess is that the difference you speak of is really the gigantic difference in DSP between those engines which I mentioned - EACH partial (layer) gets its own DSP effects in the D-50 engine, so yes it would end up sounding much more higher quality, like the difference between a wav vs mp3. Remember, samples were only used for the attack transient in LA Synthesis (the very beginign portion of the sound), which they attached to a virtual analog synthesis (digitally generated) body of the sound.

[@patsonmusic]

@@DaveDaves That probably explains the difference! So your saying that the samples where using the same 12-bit sample rate? At least when I compared D-20 to D-50, the sounds that tried to exactly copy the D-50 patches sounded very weak. But then there were other sounds that sounded pretty good. D-20 was thinner overall. Maybe they used different D/A converters?

[@FTarquin]

Both the D-5 and the Korg go for $450-$750 used

[@tedmurena]

There are 3 d-series instruments for sale in my area for 100€ or less. Where do you live so I can bring them over and make some cash!

[@FTarquin]

@@tedmurena FL and ebay they're going for even more.

[@wreckage-vs5jv]

$150 translates to approx 1 point 5 million on Reverb

[@tedmurena]

Haha - I love seeing absurd prices on reverb

[@rachelar]

After this clip, not anymore!

[@tedmurena]

Ha. You mean my magic words are going to make these more popular. I doubt it but thanks!

[@christofthedead]

when you say "Steve Jobs designed it", you mean the designers all had nervous breakdowns due to working for Steve Jobs, so he took credit, right?

[@tedmurena]

Yeah I expected someone to pick up on that - exactly

[@westbethkid]

Love people's snarky comments and your snarky reply "It's a cheap video about cheap synths" 😅 I have super expensive synths but also love the cheap stuff. I have the K1r and it's cool. Kind of a "glassy" sound... someone just gave me a Korg 01/WFD. I have yet to mess around with it, but it is fucking HEAVY. This synth weighs a ton. I don't how people carried this thing around, I guess people worked out more in the 90's...

[@tedmurena]

Thanks. I think in the 90s if you were touring with an 01/WFD you had roadies. I had way more expensive synths and then got rid of everything because of a move and was running every VST I could get my hands on. But I missed the tactile nature of making sounds and started noticing how cheap instruments that were unaffordable once now are. Cheers

[@johnfleming4276]

Never liked most all of Korg's offerings through the years. Excessively bright & brittle, and excessive effects reliance. That House organ sound they're known for is 'ok'.

[@westbethkid]

@@johnfleming4276 I used to have the Polysix, and I loved it. I like the DW 8000, those are the two good Korg IMHO

[@SvexTheDragon]

Good god, please balance your audio at least somewhat. Can't hear half of the things you're saying when the synth is just blasting at much higher volume than your voice.. Either talk first, then do sound demo or use some audio processing that keeps your voice on top of the synth sounds.

[@tedmurena]

Ok bud - it’s a cheap video about cheap synths. Sorry to have offended your precious thoughts about what things should sound like

[@ennayanne]

​@@tedmurenait's literally hard to hear what you're saying

[@SoundSurrealStudio]

I think these synths are cool but here in South Africa you cant find any of these synths and never at the bargain prices of USA

[@tedmurena]

Thanks, yeah. Good thing VSTs are available- less to break and available anywhere

[@canIbeyourforrestgump]

Great video

[@tedmurena]

Thanks

[@sergiodeoliveira5358]

Not sure I would buy any of these in 2024 - 30+ year old hardware probably isn’t long for this world. Arturia has an excellent recreation of the CZ series and the D-50 plugin in Roland Cloud is practically indistinguishable from real hardware. Someone has already created software versions of the K1/K4 as well.

[@tedmurena]

You must be new here, hi I’m Ted. You don’t know what you are missing using VSTs: headaches of aging Keybeds and LCDs, internal memory issues, worn out pots. When Arturia, Ableton and co add that to their VSTs maybe I’ll feature them in my videos.

[@ennayanne]

people want hardware for the hardware. if all we were after was sounds we'd be doing everything in software. the truth is that interacting with physical instruments is fun and satisfying.

[@thejollyjoker187]

01W is not that cheap. Instead, the nr.1 place could've gone to Korg's X5D..

[@tedmurena]

I bought both of my O1s for 100€ each and see them often priced in this range. You can pay more if you want to but it’s easy to find them if you look.

[@jobstludwig6197]

😢 vieleicht mal wieder Üben, um besser spielen zu können 😢😮

[@tedmurena]

This isn’t a demonstration of my playing skill - yes I’m terrible but that’s not the point of the video. 🤡

[@jobstludwig6197]

@@tedmurena kann ich nachvollziehen, aber Musik hat nicht nur mit Sound, sondern auch mit handwerklichen Fähigkeiten, wie Spieltechnik und musiktheoretischen Kenntnissen zu tun.

[@tedmurena]

@@jobstludwig6197 you sound like you must have a lot of friends. If you want to hear my music and critique that go list to my albums - I’m not a great musician, I know that. What you don’t understand is that this video is me showing the instruments. BTW Germany is one of the least musically creative country on the planet because probably because of being so focused on technical stuff. You should try to have an open mind man 😢

[@hakonberg8003]

Casio CZ1000 is NOT a good beginner synth as it is based on phase distortion which no other synth before or after has used so what you learn with it is not reusable

[@tedmurena]

That’s a fair comment - it was my first synth and look where it got me… I do think you can learn concepts of envelopes and layering with the 2000 at least that are transferable.

[@johnfleming4276]

In my opinion, Korg 01: 🤮. Kawai k1 and Roland D-5: 👍🏻

[@tedmurena]

I can understand - the O1/W to me is loveable but it also sounds like Super Nintendo at times

[@johnfleming4276]

@@tedmurena Yes. A friend of mine had a DW-8000 years ago that died when some laundry soap (weird story) tipped into it, in the back of his car. I remember us getting some nice organ sounds from it before that accident. That’s a capable instrument.

[@jfn467]

Waste of money all of the mentioned machines!🤪

[@tedmurena]

And waste of time watching this video… we all need things to do