Buy Low, Jam High
With the pandemic long in the rearview, I think a used gear apocalypse is on us a little bit, and the law of diminishing returns for synthesizers now starts at $100.
Months ago, I was cruising Marketplace and found a Behringer Crave for $100. I didnāt even know what it was. I just bought it. Turns out Itās a direct clone of the Mother-32 by Moog. Sounds amazing. It feels good. It has that analog punch-through factor. Iām no Luddite when it comes to this, but you just canāt get that with digital. Thereās just something that happens. I donāt know what the alchemy is, but itās there. Itās way more fun than $100.
More recently, I came across a Roland Boutique SE-02, which is an actual analog synth and a clone of the most famous Moog synthesizer of all time, the Minimoog. It also sounds incredible. Itās got a freaking delay on it. It has three oscillators. It will shake the foundations of your house. I got it for $200. They originally went for around $500.
Yes, the knobs are tinyāalmost comically soābut when youāre setting it up in a studio, or in my case doing a table-beat setup with a Teenage Engineering drum machine and the OP-1, it just works. Itās such a great sound. You can sync it with the EP-40 or the EP-133, those really cool calculator-looking Teenage Engineering sampler/drum machines. Itās all just so fun.
Talking about cheap garbageāthis is not garbage, but it is cheapāthereās just some lasting effect when youāve overpaid for something. Itās like a shroud of lameness thatās a bit unshakable. Like you freaked out, you had to have it, you paid too much. That just doesnāt leave you.
There really is something to underpaying and over-delivering when it comes to the lasting fun factor. Yes, itās fine when you get it home, but keeping it and playing it over time makes such a difference when youāve paid well below what you āshouldā have. I find that feeling lasts until you sell itābut in the case of the Behringer, why would you ever sell it? Just keep it around. Same with the SE-02. It does a lot.
They all have issues. They all have limitations. I wonāt bore you with how limitations inspire creativity, but basically what Iām trying to do with this little setup is get to a place where Iām totally fluid, have enough samples, know where they are, and can just endlessly jam and improvise. The goal, obviously, is to be in a small boutique doing some cool shit that nobody really worries about too much. Just, āOh look, that nice old man in the corner is jamming away and somehow making the place better.ā
Iām going to spend the month with my demos trying to chop them up, feed them into this setup, and see what happens. I donāt know whatās going to happen. Iām going to keep trying. Iāll report back.
The main thing here: buy low and jam high. It always pays off.