Gonga pretty much said it. There are analogs that are known trouble makers. Old Arps will have pot problems, Matrix 12/Xpanders will have encoder problems, Juno 106s/MKS-30s will have VCA problems with the potted modules, Korg Poly-6 will die if you don't replace the batter etc.pdxindy wrote:If you use that older analog synth every day for 5 years, what would be the expected maintenance cost? How likely is it on 20+ year old equipment for there to be some mechanical/electrical problems that come up from daily use? I didn't find any statistical data online, but I would be surprised if old equipment didn't have relatively frequent repair rate.ghettosynth wrote:
We were also talking about analog synths, and in recent years, at least the last 20, I'd say you could break even or do better more often than not. So comparing analog hardware today, and in the reasonable short term future, it's pretty safe to reason that it's going to hold value until you sell. If that's what is really important to someone, then they would be correct in arguing the position that hardware is a better value. You really can't object to this, it's simply true.
Then, there are others which are reliable as rocks. Most other rolands, many korgs, and many others may never see a shop. For me personally, it's a non-issue as I do any necessary repair myself and I always have. In fact, I try to buy broken synths, and even counting my time, I always do better on the sale. You can't do that with software at all.
Nope. A little phatty streets for $1300, that's not what people pay. Well, it's not what I would pay. I saw several that had sold on ebay for around $1100, so condition is important here. If you take care of your synths, you'd be lucky to cover the cost of Diva and, of course, you have to have a recent computer to run Urs latest synths, so you have to count some portion of your computer maintenance budget in the cost of softsynths.Regarding new analog synths, a Little Phatty costs $1300 and I saw one used for sale on Ebay for $1000. So that person is losing $300 which already more than covers the total cost of Diva.
If you buy it used, you can most likely sell it for what you paid for it. This is certainly not always possible with software. You can't even buy some used. You can't buy DIVA used for about 9 months from now, right? And software is far more likely to lose value over time. How long has the basic MiniMoog and its derivatives been around? A new minimoog will not make the current ones worthless, or in fact, necessarily lose any value, as we saw with the release of the Voyager. This is not at all true with software. Technology moves forward and anything dependent on Moore's law is going to probably lose value over time.
The gap is much much smaller for the smaller synths that are currently so popular and, of course, if you go for vintage or some out of production models, you stand some chance of making money. See the Future Retro 777 or the Fenix modular for extreme examples.
There's very little difference between keeping it in storage and using it in your clean home studio. It's moving them and taking them out live that tends to cause them damage. Keyboards do sometimes wear over time, but this isn't really the problem that it used to be. Anecdotal I know, but my experience with many analog synths would, in the worst case, be an outlier. Statistical evidence won't change the minds of people who are good at buying and selling synths. It's fallacy to apply aggregated results to their individual experience.It is my guess that if we had statistical evidence on hand, that you assertion would be incorrect except perhaps in the case of someone who buys a desired vintage synth and keeps it in storage solely as an investment.
Of course, none of this factors in the real value differences between hardware and software that may be very important to some people. You can't modify your software, you still need a keyboard to play it, if that's what you're into. There's never any hassle with mapping knobs to functions, that's done for you and it facilitates muscle memory. There is ineffable value there that manifests in how and how fast you work with the instrument. There's no software substitute at this point, the closest we get is with the ipad or with maping controllers/displays, and from my experience, that's not the same thing.
I'm all ITB these days, but it's been a recent change for me and if I were to play live again, I'm not sure that wouldn't go back to hardware. I can see, however, why some people think that hardware synths are a better financial and musical choice. I have a show in a few months and I'm thinking at this point that it's going to be all hardware. It's just more fun to do, and more fun to watch.
I don't think Zebra particularly replicates an analog sound like Diva, but it does have a vast sonic landscape and makes sounds I love to play and listen to. 