Posted by admin on 2010 Jan 9

The most expensive used analog synth

Can you guess what the most expensive, used, non-modular analog synth is?
I thought i did know for sure, which the most coveted analog relic was, but after buying, selling and watching synths on Ebay for months and months, i was certainly surprised at the results..
So, if you are lucky to find one and have the money to purchase it, which of the following synths do you think you will pay the most amount of money on?

1-A Restored Moog Minimoog Model D with new exotic wood case?
nah..
Minimoog Model D

2-An ARP 2600P v3 with 3620 keyboard?
nope..
ARP 2600

How about a synth that was mostly used to create cheesy UFO and LFO synth effects and is almost unusable to play music due to its unstable oscillators and tuning methods?
Pound for pound, the most expensive vintage-used-non-modular-analog synth on the planet, going for an astronomical $7400 on Ebay is the EMS VCS3 mkII synthi cricklewood w/ keyboard & pins.

EMS VCS3 mkII synthi cricklewood w/ keyboard & pins.

The VCS3‘s has made appearances in albums such as JM Jarre’s Oxygene, Pink Floyd’s “On the Run” from Dark Side of the Moon and many others.
Obviously this synth has made the transition from being a useable musical instrument to a museum piece of synth history, which is probably the only explanation as to why would anyone on earth pay so much for it, but i am pretty sure hype as lot to do with it.
For the money, I would take an ARP 2600 any day over the EMS VCS3.. or two Minimoogs and have a couple of grand left to buy other vintage stuff..

2010-02-01 UPDATE:
An ARP 2600 (Black/Orange) w/ 3620 Keyboard auction has tied the record of the EMS VCS3, going for $7411 in this auction

2010-06-15 UPDATE:
Attempts have been made to sell a couple of Roland Jupiter 8s on Ebay for anywhere between $5700 to $9000, but nobody is buying.

Roland Jupiter 8.jpg

Post a Comment

2 Responses to “The most expensive used analog synth”

  1. Matt says:

    Hey, if you want that sound with software, try the XILS-lab XILS 3. Its based on the VCS3 and sounds aaaaawesome.. i use it for almost all my tracks for that vintage sound. I would not buy the hardware tho for that price! 😀

  2. admin says:

    XILS3 is one of the best analog digital emulations i’ve heard.
    It is a truly great program that puts most of the other virtual analog synths such as the ones made by Arturia to shame.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  1. uberVU - social comments - Social comments and analytics for this post... This post was mentioned on Twitter by enigmafon: @peterkirn I bet you can't guess …