they are pumped out a dime a dozen for super cheap in chinese factories, there won’t be any supply cap on these. i imagine behringer will continue producing in various colours and flavors until people stop buying them
Teenage Engineering OG OP-1
The Pocket Operators. ( Just found my old Nintendo Game and Watch that’s worth over £600 now!)
The more weirder Soma stuff other than Lyra8 and Pulsar23 like the QO, Enner etc. and Electromagnetic gear that is made in smaller quantities.
Plinky Synth
Most Bastl Gear
Roland Boutiques
Ciat Lonbarde stuff (tho I don’t see these as cheap really)
This could be a great investment if you’re able to restrain yourself with it - the demos I’ve seen are very physical - I have a feeling most will end up a bit beaten up. It would be a waste not to use it at all though.
I’ve been tempted by one but I don’t really know how I’d make use of it…
tx81z is a massive piece of gear…I guess it’s all in perspective, that’s the first I’ve heard that. I have one on my desk and haven’t done anything fancy. It’s certainly bigger than eurorack modules I suppose. But it’s also an 8 part multitimbral synth with decent sized buttons and screen.
Wavestation A/D is what I’d call a large module, but still ridiculously convenient compared to a mk 1 dx7 or wavestation EX. TG-77 is another large module but much more compact and reliable when compared to the keyboard counterparts.
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An unbent OP-Z is gonna be worth $$$ in 25 years…
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anything that doesn’t need external software to fulfill its potential
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Isla Instruments stuff.
Edit: Also Perkons for the right crowd, it’s got a sound and timeless workflow.
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Nord modular stuff is pushing 25 years old and still fetches a healthy price !
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I think older Akai, MIJ samplers are still found at a decent price. In 25 years they will be gone. Same with the MIJ MPCs (60/3k/2k/2kxl).
A Yamaha pss 480 is cheap now , and is already 35 years old, so when it reach 60 I am pretty sure it will be very expensive.
Ammo can Grendel Drone Commander,
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I’d say that the future is already here when it comes to the ammo can grendel.
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Anything digital from the past 30 years that hasn’t already had a resurgence. Especially anything that’s associated with a particular style of music, but can actually do a lot more.
My favorite example would be the Roland JP-8000. It’s a much deeper synth than its reputation as a one-trick trance pony suggests, but it’s mostly just retro trance producers buying them right now. Even though it’s part of the Jupiter lineage, it’s not hard to find one for well under $1k.
All it takes is one hot new act whose sound uses that unique Y2K-era DSP and they could start selling for Jupiter-8 prices.
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I owned a JP-8000 roughly a quarter of a century ago. It was a decent experience but it wasn’t a keeper. Far from a Jupiter experience and more portable.
Not all cheap anymore but will def get more expensive: A4 DN (when discontinued. my bet is on A4), JP8080, D50, V-synth, DX7, SY/TG77, Dominion, ms2000/radias, Pre 2000 (Akai/emu/roland/ensoniq) samplers.
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In all honesty, I believe that the Analog Keys will be more or less unobtainable in 25 years.
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Question is how long an Analog Keys (or any other synth) will remain in working condition and when they fail how difficult they are to fix.
Older analog designs (MS-20, Juno etc) are serviceable, but starting with the 90’s digital and software based stuff it’s becoming complicated. There’s a thread on gearspace about fixing an Alesis Andromeda requiring a lot of reverse engineering. I fully expect an Analog Keys to be equally or more complex. Especially when you need custom firmware or components it could mean ‘sudden death’ for a synth when an ‘unobtanium’ component breaks. I presume the market prices will adjust when stuff starts breaking down and turned into expensive paperweights.
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To be fair, prices are already double what I paid for mine a couple of years back. Whether they sell or not at that price, who knows…
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While no shame necessarily in “shower thoughts”. I don’t think I’ve ever thought to myself-
"you know what my life needs right now? Less emphasis on using what I own, and more resale price-based FOMO 25 years from now.
I am certain that “limited” things I have acquired over the years that, if money was just put away instead, I could put towards other unobtanium items like a Macbeth Elements.
Side benefit: If I focus on easy to replace gear I’ll lust less for the unique and quirky (which is great and fun) but why not stretch conventional kit to its breaking points?
Gear is great, but isn’t talent or magic and absolutely nobody cares what I use beyond intermittent trolls (not on this site generally!) who prefer arguing to art.
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Yeah this is the issue for me with newer gear. A lot of it is made cheaply now and seems like it is far cheaper to just buy a new one opposed to fixing what you have.
Criteria for long term gear purchase for me would be build quality right after musical quality.
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