It’s the time scale of things that brings about regret… and the insane value that some antique analog gear has gained lately..!

Music tastes change quite rapidly. A few years ago you couldn’t give away a used DX7. Now FM is the new ‘flavor of the month’, they’re adding it back to workstations and even arrangers and now all those DX7’s and TX modules are a cause for regret (if we found someone to buy them for pennies on the dollar instead of letting them rot in a case in the attic!).

A few years ago, most of us were swearing up and down a 61 note arranger was all we needed. Now we’re playing 76’s and even 88’s. Tastes change. Gear changes. We change. Quite honestly, most of my gear regrets are made moot by the fact that there are incredible software and even hardware emulations of them (and even the gear we lusted after but couldn’t afford!) that are far more affordable than the originals ever were, are MUCH lighter and more capable (an 8 voice polyphonic Minimoog? Yes please!) and don’t suffer from some of those analog drawbacks.

The only really irreplaceable thing, imho, are the keybeds. I miss the touch of a real Clavinet, the feel of a real B3, the weight of a Rhodes. The high quality of 80’s keybeds (even quite downmarket synths had better actions than most of today’s synths). Can’t get around that with emulations!

But the rest of it? No, I’m pretty good with modern stuff. I got my old Minimoog, my old CS60, my ARP Odyssey, my Rhodes, B3, Clavinet, all in software. For a fraction of what I paid back in the day. With all their idiosyncrasies modeled quite well. I just miss the actions…