You often read how genres like house music or acid were spawned by the unpopularity of devices like the 909 or 303. Penniless musicians picked them up cheap because nobody wanted them and music shops were giving them away so they worked with what they had and new genres emerged etc etc.

I’m curious: what are today’s 909 and 303?

I can’t really think of anything so unpopular the music shops give them away super cheap tbh and a side of me thinks it would be nice to try and ‘misuse’ modern gear the way the 303 was and see what happens.

I guess the Akai rhythm/timbre wolves kind of fall into that but what else could I pick up for pennies today and make new music with tomorrow??

Is the next 808 or Juno sitting there in an unloved special offer somewhere??

Software.

Zoom ARQ was really cheap on blowout pricing for a while. Does that mean it's the next 303?









No. No, it doesn't.

Beastly old organs.

Haha, yes! I actually tried to pick one up but Thomann ran out of stock. Would have been worth it for the novelty and the millions I would have inevitably made from the new genre of music I birthed with it.

Acid tambourine.

Precisely. And that’s what the kids are using to make all that terrible crap they’re all into currently. ‘Trap’, is it? Or is it something else now?

Us old dinosaurs still using hardware aren’t ever going to innovate and come up with the fabled ‘next big thing’.

I’m perfectly comfortable with that, btw.

house, acid, and all that followed would have happened Roland or not imo

todays bargains are everywhere in soft and hard form, i think bargains and gear that influences/motivates and assists change are completely different things though

Probably software. The 80's was a bit special as the technology evolved so fast. Huge difference between stuff from 1980 and 1990. We don't see that that today. Not until next quantum leap .

A hundred more pieces of gear could be in this list. Super cheap, don't even have to buy from the bargain bin or used, and you can start a "genre" with any of them if that's the goal

Fruity Loops Studio, followed by the microKORG - in the right hands, either could be considered dangerous.

AKAI Timbre Wolf

early nineties romplers.

in ten or fifteen years that low grade digital sound will be as revered as 70s analog.

buy all the d-5s now.

ha ha lol,

fact is they are the only things going cheap these days, that have 'a sound'

This has to be the answer, congrats!
But now they will increase in value :(

ive already bought every u220 for sale in the last 5 years.

There is so much new stuff that something expensive and amazing is bound to slip thru the cracks, and get sold for pennies on the dollar, right? Gear speculation and information access has changed that old dynamic. There is some cheap old stuff that still hasn't been hyped, and a few blowout deals occasionally, but not as much as there used to be, and getting rarer by the day. The idea of decent new synths that are cheap at launch... that's a fairly new concept. Which ones do something uniquely amazing?

What has a unique sound and/or pattern player, that can basically shit golden eggs, but people just haven't noticed yet?

Like other people said, I think it is probably software. Maybe I'll change my mind by this afternoon.

Is there a piece of gear that sounds really good, but nobody can figure out how to use it in music yet?

For me, so far, I feel that way about the Pulsar-23 and Gotharman stuff I've heard demoed online. Neither are cheap, though. Some chord progressions on MPE surfaces, played and tuned by ear, by someone with a good ear, make me grin from ear to ear. Granular stuff... it seems like its potential is still waiting to be tapped, beyond ambient freeze pads and glitch sequences. Is the Tasty Chips GR-1 a contender? People keep saying it's unique, and yet I've also read a lot of complaints, and it doesn't get much publicity. That could be a recipe for a classic that gets overlooked. Or it could just be half-baked. Does anyone really know?

Because there is so much flexible gear out there now, a now genre-defining 303/909 moment is unlikely. I think that's part of what you mean.

The other part - where are the bargains.

Now, it's not entire categories. You need to be a little gear-savvy to know why something could be really cool and what makes it unique, what gear has params you can really freak.

I am a long-time bargain shopper (who bought all the classics at pawn shops - but don't have them anymore) who is still bargain shopping.

Everything is relative. 80s digital drum machines can be a good buy, but they have been getting bid up a bit. The 626 is a bargain vs the 707 and 727 for example - most of the sounds, individualizing outputs, plus pitch control for sounds. I have a 626 and love it, but use samples more often when just looking for drum hits. Where I (personally) usually use this stuff is processing and sampling.

80s digital effects processors, too. Old Zoom, Roland, Boss, Yamaha. Some of them run at low sample rates and sound really cool. You can use them to really catch a certain vibe, and all are misuse able. And bendable! A knob to control the clock is good for really neat and unique sounds and fx. Some models are bid up now. Others however are not...

Behringer, Arturia and Korg already make so much stuff that sells for $500 or less brand new, who cares.

The only truly pennies on the dollar gear in the used market I can think of is Boss and Alesis drum machines and older digtal FX processors.

I just bought a sampler for $200 that cost $1500 years ago..

There was a Hammond B3 with 122 for well under $5k recently. OMG.

Giant recording consoles

Wait, there are genres that haven't been invented yet? Which ones?

Hardware.

Everyone wants to live inside a box and are selling gear for cheap. Mega-expensive high end mixing consoles are about 10 cents on the dollar from new. So are old digital keyboards. Picked up a Proteus and a U110 for $40 each. On their own, they suck but good for layering or as a 3rd oscillator for my monologue. K2000RS with a 2 dozen zip disk library and a drive for $200? Sold! TX7 for $100? Sold! D110 for $50? Sold! Yamaha SK15, $125. Needed a patchbay but got a 2x mackie Auto34 and controller for the same money. My Hammond C3 was $650. Got HR40 and JR20 cabs, $100 total. Hammond Auto-vari 64, $100. Otari 1” 8 track with transformer mic/line pres, $300. MCI 1/2” 4 track, $300. Dolby XP SR/24, $250.

Yeah, I’d rather have an inexpensive/great sounding Valhalla reverb than a cheap crappy sounding box from yesterday, but there are deals out there.

if it ever happens.

Generally

old fcks (us) dont know what youngcnts (them) will be into.

no one in the 50s was listening to pheadra unless it had robbie in it.

“Hey you kids! Get off my lawn!” ?

that's what they said last time

and the time before

aaaaand the time, well, you get it by now

say that to the wrong kids nowadays and get stabbed or shot

An iPad or iPhone.

yeah, incredible bargains for sure and sorta mind blowing when you really research apps. But same for your computer and Audacity..

Tascam Porta Studios, get 'em before they become the next hot item.