Another forgotten gem is the Yamaha SY77!

Stumbled upon your video by accident and I absolutely loved it. @12:45 what you said about the “reliability of older gear” could not ring more true. I packed my equipment away back in 2003. Now that I am getting ready to move to a different state, I was thinking about putting the old studio back together at my new destination. Listening to you toward the end of the video was my tipping point to unload everything I have. You certainly have not wasted my time. I am no analog purist and I think I would be happy with an 88-key weighted controller, a 61-key synth-action controller, and a bunch of iPads and laptops. Thank you again for your insight, and by no means is this a jab at people who love to have this kind of equipment… and lots of it! It’s just not for me anymore. Time to find a good home for the well loved items of my young adulthood.

Thank you for the excellent overview! Very useful!

A very,very good video! And listing affordable synths, good job!

Still have both my Roland D-50 and Korg DW-8000. I just bought a Korg Prologue yesterday to replace the DW-8000 when I play live. I've used the Roland up until 2005, replaced with a Triton, and the DW-8000 from the 90's up until last week. It will enjoy a happy retirement in my home studio. Great list, I remember when all these synths came out. Affordable is hard to come by these days.

Love my Yamaha AN1x, a fake analog synth from 90s . I don't really understand the technology, but as someone who loathed FM synths in the 80s, I'm grateful it doesn't sound like that. Bought it for about $250 five years ago. Not sure what they go for now. [five minutes later] Holy crap, now they're well over a grand! I will cherish this device and take good care of it. Also, speaking of the 90s, I bought my Roland U-220 rack mount unit brand new (back then) for ~$1,000. I've had to service it a bit, but still love the thing. But maybe it's just me. They seem to be going for about $250 right now.

When my only synth was my Yamaha DX21, I was looking at getting a rack mounted FM syth and looked at the TX81Z but they were prohibitively expensive for a teenager on a budget back then! But I did find in a weekly for sale magazine you could buy at 7-11 stores, a band selling some of their old equipment and they had a Yamaha FB-01 that was very battle worn, but still quite functional! Picked it up for under $200 back in the late 80s. Paired it to my DX21 and by layering it got some really phat sounds out of the combination! Super difficult to use, but full of great FM sounds!

So glad to see you included the ESQ -1… It was the first synthesizer I bought, and I sometimes regret selling it because it had cool sounds…I also have an original Wavestation keyboard, which, like you, I love .

Thank you for this great video. Korg dw 8000 is my favorite👍

Great list! But although I own a Casio CZ 101, I would definitely recommend the Cz-1 not the 5000! The Cz-1 has velocity sensitivity, which opens up a whole new world for this synth family! And where is the Alpha Juno? I expected it to be on the number one place!

Happy to see my beloved ESQ1 on the list! I bought it in 1990, used it throughout the 90s for sounds and sequencing in a covers band and sold it in the 2000s. Regretted selling it immediately so last year I bought another one (and won't be selling it!). Also happy to see the DX7IIFD on the list (which I bought last year after wanting a DX7 for around 35 years). My keyboard player friend will be happy to see the Poly 800 on the list - he bought one of the first series new in 1983. I remember jamming with him in my bedroom in 1984 - he sequenced the bass line from Duran Duran - Hold Back the Rain (I still have the recording on cassette).

I own half of those :) I would add in possibly the Alpha Juno. As far as reliability, rebuilding power supplies, replacing tact switches, and keybed maintenance is usually all that is required.

Great video. I still have/love my CZ-5000 I bought in 2000 and love the simplicity of programming it. This thing is anything but a toy. Maybe the Casio FZ-1/FZ10M would have been worth mentioning in the sampler section with their complex envelopes and synthesis features.

Nice video. I agree with you on all except maybe the Poly-800:) It was so nice to see ESQ-1 on your list. I still have mine and it is truly remarkable and is a hidden gem that is starting to climb in price. BUT I am missing the Roland JX-8P on your list which still is good value. Strangely enough the JX-3P is getting more popular even though it is a much more limited synth with horrible midi:) I have own all the synths on your list except the AX-80 and DW-8000 (I’ve had a couple of DSS-1 though) and still have some of them. BTW I also largely agree with the other overpriced list having owned 3-4 of them. Thanks!

Great video - agreed with most of your choices but you had me with the Poly-800. I remember playing with them in the 80s and they just did not sound that good especially in comparison with the Poly61. Also, have been looking for an Ax80 for years - pretty rare find indeed.

I picked up an analog keyboard not too long ago for 60 euro, the JVC KB-700. Its warm, a lovely stereo chorus and I love the stereo analog rhythm machine inside. Not a lot of info about this gem on the internet, but I freaking love it 😊 its from the same year as the Juno-60, which I have too.

Good to see the Akai AX80 on the list, and agree with your summary. It really is dull without effects, but add chorus (as per Juno), reverb and it does indeed come alive. I also put it through my Grove PolyMoog Resonator which can add some extra life. I think it is a mistake to expect it to excel as a "jack of all trades" - when I do it often disappoints.

We are really lucky with the new influx of analog synths. The deep mind 6 is an incredible value - like the Polysix was at the time.

I still have my Korg 01Wfd. Great sounds.

Looks like I'm doing well, I have a good half of these or rack/module variants.

Hey guys remember on the dx7 algorithms the carriers are always on the bottem and if theirs a number on top of a carrier its always a modulator. This saved my head fm synthesis can be confusing compared to subtractive synthesis or wavetable synthesis. The casio phase distortion synthesis is kinda like fm but could produce crazy sounds if used right casio hasn't made new ones since like 1990.

On the whole, I agree with your list - great selection of affordable yet interesting gear. But prices are going up all the time!

Thanks for the excellent video! - Would you say the newer Wavestate matches what you like most about the Wavestation? In terms of warmth etc?

Problem with certain keyboards from a certain era is things like failed membrane buttons and LCD displays. Also, if you buy vintage keyboards that have memory, make sure to update the old battery used for that. I didn’t even know there was a battery in my old Korg PolySix when I first bought it, because I thought they were only in digital synths.

I was a synth tech for 34 years. The last ten I ended up condemning many of these synths because of lack of main circuit boards. So one takes a risk buying them. Many are now available in VST versions if you really want those sounds.

The Wavestation was designed in partnership with Dave Smith, hence the fantastic sound.

The dx7 mk1 with supermax addon is phenomenal. Stack up to 4 voices with detune, patch morphing and a arp. And loads of extra preset banks.

7:46 The Rev 1 Prophet-5 had the power switch on the panel in almost the same place. It was red, too.

What about the DX7 II Centennial? How did you get all the Wavestation presets up to 4 osc into the Kronos 2 osc architecture? Seems like the ESQ VFDs ought to be available, being used on everything they made for years until the mid 90s. Komtakt 6 and above does not convert Roland sample discs anymore. Don’t know about Yamaha.

Holy Smokes... I played the Korg DW8000 professionally in a band - in 1990 34 years ago... It was quite a synth at the time. I remember from one gig to the next it just died... and the crew set up a Roland Juno (can't remember which model) in it's place - and I never saw the Korg again...

Still in love With my DX7 (1983 model). Also Kurzweil K200VP, and Roland VR760, JV880, 1080, SH-101, and MC202.

Great list!!!!

I had a Casio MT65 in the late 1980s, loved some of its features such as the env modulation switches, man I wish I hadn't sold it to buy a more professional-sounding synth (Seq Circuits Pro1)!

not a waste of our time at all. very informative. thanks!

Good video! The killer are capacitors. These go bad and it can be painful to fix.

The SQ-80 is worth the extra $$$ over the ESQ-1. More waveforms, sequencer, and poly aftertouch.

My first "real" synth was a DW-8000. Loved that thing. Never should have gotten rid of it.

I think the Yamaha SY22/35 are worthy of a mention.

I would buy that Casio CZ500. Thak you 4 recommend that

I mainly agree on your list. I confirm the tx81z is a realy good machine. I still have mine, bought new!, in a rack. Among the old forgoten synths, what about the Kawai K5, the powa' of additive synthesis at your fingertips! (and a lot of head scratching too). The hardware samplers: I still have my S1100(+S1100EX) and an EPSm but to be honest I don't realy use them so often. The EPSm more often maybe, due to its more vintage sound, the S1100 is too "perfect" and I can have pristine sounding samples from my computers now. An other possible contender in the list: Roland alpha Juno 1 and 2 (there's a rack version too but I don't remember the name), not so expensive (I think) and digitaly controled analog.

Totally agree with you on the Korg Wavestation. I also have the original EX that I bought in the 90s. Will never part from it.

Jeffrey thank you so much for your priceless video… I’m discovering your channel and wanted to ask you, did you make a video about what effects to buy for our synths? I’m a bit lost on this subject, there are so many effects on the market… (EDIT: THE NEXT OF MY MESSAGE IS USELESS EXCEPT IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ME sorry I write too much) I have a Yamaha RM1-x and I discovered that I love to use its internal guitar amp effects and distortion to filter its synth sounds/organs/bells etc. I would like to buy real hardware effects like that to filter my synths (HydraSynth, DeepMind12, MonologueXD, Akai MPCX and Force, Behringer RD9…) but I’m LOST… I would like also to find a nice reverb but not very expensive I don’t know if it’s possible… I’m a “beginner”, I was mixing turntables vinyls A LOT during the nineties, techno music, German and Detroit inspirations, then my level increased to mix on 3 turntables and I progressively wanted to compose music in the same time, I wanted to replace my third turntable by a groovebox so I bought the RM1x and I fell in love with hardware like that. Then studies and professional career stopped me, and two years ago I was thinking that I missed A LOT the sound of my eighties, my childhood, and realized that type of sound was MAINLY from synthesizers… so I decided to continue my journey into electronic music which I stopped twenty years ago… And now I’m learning a lot, the gears I’m buying I’m gonna keep them all my life, I’m the type of guy who prefer to dig very deep what I have and make it mine instead of barely scratching the surface and resell to buy new ones… I’m very satisfied with my analog and digital synths, I don’t want more, I just want to exploit them the best I can. I’m sorry if I’m asking or talking too much, I sincerely wish you the best and I’m gonna dig your videos maybe my answers are there ! Big salut 🫡 from France ! ViNZ.

Owner of dozens of synths, I got a DW-8000 in the 80’s and it’s still wonderful. One other thing to add is.. it has a very unique feature. The Delay is out of phase, which brings it some really novel sounds, and useful, at least to me.

Fun fact. The Korg Wavestation contains a widely used keybed made by Yamaha. It isn't very robust, and the leaf springs can detach, which requires major dismantling to put right.

I had a CZ-5000 and didn't understand it at the time, and sold it for 300. I would kill to have one now.

Surprised none of the EMU modules made the list. Particularly the Proteus 2000 or Mo Phatt. Typically these can be found under $300 and are very capable romplers.

What a nice clear voice 👍

KingKorg (the 61 key) is a great VA synth with 16 band vocoder. Several filters (Moog,Oberheim,SCI,MS20 etc.) Ergonomically nice yet not the best keybed. And yes, DCO with analog filter can sound great. Had a JX-3p in the 90's.

The Dx7 Mk1 and MK2 both out put 9-109 velocity. Someone did a test with both somewhere online.

I had an original Korg Poly 800. Within the first year I had to ship it back to Korg to fix the stick. It kept getting stuck with a noticeable vibrato even though it was in neutral position . It started again less than a year after the original repair so I disconnected it. Is this a known issue and is there a fix?

I kinda sorta agree with ya about the korg(s)poly-800's (bcos i had'em) but i guess u don't think Kurzweil K-series are a bargain for all the stuff they can do & what about the Kawaii K's¿thanx dude

Great video !! Ok, no keyboards, but racks and great synths too: TG77, JD990, JV1080 and 2080, Kurzweil K2000...

Actually there were four models of the DX7 II. The Centennial model had a silver finish with gold Pitch and Modulation wheels and 76 Keys that glowed in the dark.

Back in January 2007 when I was in the act of turning loose of my ARP Axxe MkII, the storekeeper who took it off my hands had a DW-8000 that deeply tempted me. Even as I turned the 8000 down, I was aware what a mistake I was making. As I commented previously, my first analog polyphonic experience was a Roland J.x-8p w/ PG-800. Where does it show up between the lists of bargain synths and overpriced ones? P. S. My 8p’s DCO1 square wave generator is non-functional. I’ve considered turning to a 3D-printing business I’m aware of called PBCWay to print me out replacement microchips. Thoughts?

I would have put the Yamaha SY77 in place of the CZ-5000. They're nice, but there are better options.

I have the Roland XV-5080. Sounds good most of the time, but the device has a signal issue causing static. Turning it off and on again (possibly several times) may fix it temporarily. You also mention Kontakt. I purchased one of their controllers and immediately returned it. It requires a dedicated laptop computer for almost all its function,s including the backlight for the buttons! $499 sounded like a good price until I realized I had to tie up a $1000 laptop to make it work.

D-50 was one of my favs

Wait no Yamaha DJX?

Great job with the list. The keyboard equivalent of the TX81Z is the DX11. The Yamaha V50 is even better with 16 note polyphony and built in fx.

Most people who are after affordable synths have most of them. I have them in my rack because of space considerations. The only one I'm not interested in is your number one spot, just because it's a keyboard. Reliability...I need to fix a couple, including the TX802 (DX7II in a rack, but multi-timbral; probably the power supply), one of the Proteus 2000 (probably the screen), E-Mu Morpheus (something very wrong with the headphones output), and the Böhm Dynamic 12/24 (no sound). What you could also consider is a Waldorf Micro Q, maybe a Waldorf Microwave II if you find one at a good price, and the aforementioned E-Mu Proteus 2000. Instead of the DW-8000 and trhe ESQ1 I have the EX-8000 and the ESQm; instead of the CZ5000, I have the Hohner HS-2/E, which is a Casio VZ-10M in disguise. Then there's some other stuff, like the Novation Super Bass Station, Virus Rack XL (probably not that budget), Jomox AirBase 99, and the Ensoniq MR Rack. The D-550 is pretty high on my wish list.

xv5080 has such wonderful sounds

The List is pretty solid, with the glaring exception of your number 1 pick. the Poly800 is really paraphonic not polyphonic and it just isn't going to be worth much comparatively. you also missed the casio vz series, same engine as the cz series just built much better in industrial metal housings vs the cz's plastic.

I kept my EMU ESi-32 from 1998 since today. Recently i even added an old SCSI CD-ROM Drive to my JAZ 1GB Drive (BTW not easy to find for a reasonable price...), because i was lucky to receive tons of Sample CDs from a friend. This thing sounds just unbelieveable. And i LOVE the old samples, for instance the Yamaha CP-70 Piano or the ARP Quadra. For me it's also a part of my youth, as i started my musical journey in the 80's. For me there is no reason NOT to use old gear.

This guy knows his💩! Amazing,you Rock!

Ok Jeffrey.... Im listening

Timestamp for each entry would have been excellent.

I still have my Mint Ensoniq SD-1 32 Voice , all disks, Manual and SD-1 Bible.... Best live , on the fly , unbelievable at that time Midi , control board I've ever used !!!

I think the SUPER JX10 is still the biggest vintage synth "bargain", for what it is, even without the Vecoven upgrades.

If Roland XV-5080 is mentioned, why not JV-1080 and JD-990, which they are even more valuable than XV-5080? Both of these alternatives can be excellent choices for those who don't need the sample playback feature, but still expandable with the SR-JV80 series boards.

I have a Korg 6000 in its original case stashed under my bed. Needs reprogrammed but don't have a cassette player to do it with...

You are bang on!

I would add even better bargain and forgotten synths that even today can be found for pinnuts: Roland XV2020 (cut down version of Roland 5080 - it's pretty much the same if you don't care about sampler and editing patches on devices - but who does that:) , Korg05rw ( a cheap synth that is a bit more than M1 and a bit less than Korg Triton, still sounds lovely) and Yamaha TG55.

The Akai S6000 is truly a bargain. Such a powerful machine with serious hardware. Personally I hated the Poly 800. I thought it sounded really weak.. But interesting list!

Not a bad list! I wouldn't be able to compile a list with devices from the 80's because I wasn't able to experience them when they were in their glory days.... Fortunately, we can emulations of these great keyboards in today's modern synth to reuse/recreate sounds from that era. But, this was a good list nonetheless. Thanks.

Interesting vid - wondering why the beringher rip-offs are not killing some of this market......

Cool video

I'm amazed these 80s sounds aren't available via modelling or sampling. Or are they?

"Phase Distortion" is literally FM described in a different way. SAME EXACT THING. The only difference is the sound of the chips used due to the patent.

We like you and your channel

There's a fantastic, free DW-6000/8000 VST called the FB-7999 by Full Bucket Music

I agree with you on the ESQ-1: Just a good all-around utility keyboard. I can't follow you with the Poly-800 Mk1 or MK2 though. I originally had the Mk1 with the reverse keybed. It was snazzy, but the sound was dull (I know, effects) and that questionable polyphony (was it the envelope or the filter that got shared, or both? I can't remember.) was just tragic. I bought a Mk2 at some point, but other keyboards won out over time and it sits in its case in my storage. The look is always cool, with a guitar strap, etc.; I would just have a better sound and smoother polyphony. Oh, and the MIDI out isn't compatible with newer MIDI (assuming I know how to use MIDI out), so you can't even use it as a cool controller. I'll admit, I fell in love with what I hoped to do with it, but I fell back out when I realized I wanted to make great sounding leads and chops. I still can't sell it though. maybe once they double in price :) Your reviews are great, even if we don't always agree. Keep up the great work!

Just a shout out for the Roland Juno DS for having the XV-5080 patches installable for free.😁🎶🎹🎹🎶Play On

Great list!! 👌🏻😃 AX80 ✅ DW8000 ✅ TX81Z ✅ Wavestation EX ✅ X7000 ✅ Emax ✅

I thought "I wonder if he'll list something I have? Nah, the only cool old one is my Poly800" So that's fun. I like mine, except the patch/tape input frustrates me. The parameter entry is tedious, but It helped me learn the keyboard pretty quickly, as I tried to enter patches from written parameter values.

The problem is if they use a floppy. I have an 01W-FD and the floppy went bad. It’s a 720k floppy not sold any more. The rom must match. Yes, I know they make a USB version. If my CR2032 battery goes dead I lose all my custom patches. I take it to a tech who can replace the battery with power connected.

9:00 Hey! I have a Wavestation SR! Hardly used it. I really should. Sounds great but any9 editing is a nightmare. I never realised SR meant Single Rack.

Must say that I have not been able to find a Wavestation anywhere near the prices mentioned here. Which may be a result of this video; hard to say.

I should have kert my dw800, And the tx81z I midied them and had it all

There was no mention of anything Kawai in this video. While they're not the most desirable keyboards based on demand, they still have some great sounds in their own right. And I would think they would be considered, bargain synths.

Through the decades I and friends have owned a fair few of these. Everything here was great for its day IMHO. Still, a used DW-8000 or ESQ1 vs a used Modwave to me is not even close. Same for a TX81Z vs a used Opsix (or pair of them vs DX7II). Also lowest US price I have seen on a Wavestation SR is the cost of a used Wavestate - also not even close to me. As a last bit of possible heresy I would also take a used Deepmind 6 over a Poly800II. Most of this is my view of just how good a job Korg did on their now second iteration(s) rPi synth trio.

The Wavestation came out in 1990 😁😁

Can you do drum machines ?

My Korg trinity is still gigging…

I guess I shouldn't have traded in my original Yamaha DX7, older MemoryMoogPlus, and original 'first synth' Korg POLY800, back in the late 80's, for a set of 'manual' Pearl Export drums.... oh well ; ( [oh yeah, probably had a Commodore64 to go with 'um!]

Cazzio?

Yes, the D-50 was a keeper. I'm surprised that you didn't mention that it had polyphonic aftertouch. I owned a Poly-800. It has ONE FILTER for ALL the voices. That's one of the reasons I would never own one again. One synth missing from this list was the Oberheim Matrix-6. True, single input value slider, but the filters were butter (that is, awesome). If I had do-overs, I'd never have sold my D-50 nor my Matrix-6.

👍

Damn, i owned half these plus I still have a linn9000

Decent list.

Vintage isn’t what I would ever call bargain. As these units age, they will need some form of service. Buttons, potentiometers, batteries, capacitors, key sensors, and felt. Don’t got down this road blind. Having basic electronics troubleshooting skills is a must if you’re going to go vintage. I only have one vintage unit. A Kurzweil K2500RS and it needed SRAM chip replacement. It has been serviced before me so it wasn’t its first problem. Find something newer that can sound like vintage where possible. Yamaha DX7 -> Korg Volca FM2. Roland D-50 -> Roland D-05. Roland XV-5080 -> Roland Integra 7. Kurzweil K2500 -> Kurzweil K2061. It won’t be perfect but good enough in a mix and still has some time on the clock before you’ll need to repair it. Vintage is a labor of love. Newer gear is for playing.