Why is the Roland GAIA toy synth so damn expensive

[yul]

I have everything I need ITB really I am looking for a toy and GAIA is best described as a toy..so why do I have to spend so much for it? I can't seem to find used ones let alone ar good prices as well.

Unless it is not a toy and still unique?

I know all the ins/outs of this board from reviews and really liked my sh-201 back then.

It's odd that looking at reviews they are mostly meh but then looking at sh-32 reviews some people clamored it's uniqueness even if it's sample based.

The Korg ms or micro been there done that the 4 voice count I am tired of that so next step is King Korg whichc is truly awesome but not a toy.

Go figure..?

[rod_zero]

Sounds horrible honestly.

If you want a toy check the Roland boutique line, the sh01a sounds great.

[Distorted Horizon]

Holy crap

Last time I checked the prices of GAIA it was around 200€.

[yul]

Ya tell me about it!

The boutiques are toyish for sure (compared to top notch vst's) but can't stand 4 voices..plus need external controller etc..so no go.

[fluffy_little_something]

The Roland Go mini series also seems to be targeted at the entry-level market. Maybe that's their new focus...

[thecontrolcentre]

Holy crap

Last time I checked the prices of GAIA it was around 200€.

Wow ... Its £539 on Amazon

[sin night]

As far as I remember, the price for a brand new Gaia never went down (around 600€, more or less); I did a quick search and it looks out of stock on some big stores... it's not hard to find a used one here in Italy, prices range from 300 to 450. I would hardly buy it at that price, nor sell it (I have one, I bought it at full price some years ago...).
Nothing special in my opinion (I already wrote that a few times in the past).

[rod_zero]

Get a novation ultranova, or a Waldorf blofeld.

[lfm]

It's odd that looking at reviews they are mostly meh but then looking at sh-32 reviews some people clamored it's uniqueness even if it's sample based.

I had one of those. Even though a large number of waveforms - it was rather limited in what character of sound you could get.

Cool thing though was the feature to have oscillators wobble like analog - don't remember what they called it - it's more like 15 years ago almost.

The Korg ms or micro been there done that the 4 voice count I am tired of that so next step is King Korg whichc is truly awesome but not a toy.

Go figure..?

Yes, KK is very ambitious, and I have one right now. The amount of oscillator sources, filter types and cross modulations - very cool.

Have a look at Yamaha Reface series maybe. Reface DX as some kind of similarity to old DX7 - and they made rather cool way to alter 4 parameters at a time, I think it was. It's 8 voices on them.

[Aiynzahev]

So you want to know why it costs so much. Let's take a look at what costs are involved.

So first of all we have the 7 waveforms. This is an often overlooked expense because people don't realize the good ones are still hand made! In all likely hood these were painstakingly crafted by one guy, by hand over the course of a few months of non-stop effort.

Then of course the waves have to be transported, probably out of Europe and imported into Japan, inspected, and any imperfections caught and repaired before insertion into the synth engine.

Then consider the FX, distortion for example. It's not cheap to make these, doing it properly basically requires a miniature amp & mic with a feedback loop. Probably a Marshall as Roland aren't known for their own amps. That's royalties.

Speaking of Royalties, you can't just stick the name GAIA on something without paying for the name, I have no idea who collects and what exactly they might want, probably the Greeks I imagine, but it's not cheap I'm sure of that.