Eye watering price reminders

[MOF]

I've just dug out some original receipts for old equipment:

1978 Sony TC 377 reel to reel, £185 now £1,052.
1979, Korg MS10 synth' £225 now £1,128.
1982, Arp Quartet string and brass machine £375 now £1,312.
1984, DX7 synth £1255 now £4,000.
1986, Drumtraks drum machine £550 now £1,598.
1988, Atari 1040 + monitor and pro 24 software £795 now £2,114 a few months later Cubase came out and that was an upgrade for £258.

Now you can get all of this 'virtually' and a lot more in Garage Band on an iPhone. Kids of today don't know they're born

Still chasing the dream, pop superstar by this time next year

P.S. I used this http://www.in2013dollars.com/uk/inflati ... amount=795 to calculate new values.

[Philbo King]

1977 Teac C3 rack mount metal cassete deck $750. (Still works great, but doesn't see much action...)
1978 Components for home made hand built computer (Z80 cpu, 64k dram, power supply, motherboard, keyboard, using a hacked black & white TV as a monitor, running CP/M OS): $1600

[MOF]

Postby James Perrett » Wed Jul 31, 2019 12:40 am
Sam Spoons wrote:
I got the price from 'The Home Studio Handbook" which, I think, was a collection of reviews from Home & Studio Recording mag.

In which case you are probably out by a decade for the 48 as Home & Studio Recording started in the 80's and the 48 was reviewed in 1984.

It was most likely the Teac 80-8.

[MOF]

I had a quick look at the August 1976 issue of Studio Sound and prices mentioned ranged from under £2000 for the Itam 8 track up to nearly £5000 for an Otari 8 track. Actually that quick look took rather longer than expected because that particular issue also includes some really interesting articles on Abbey Road studios which I hadn't seen before. I found it at

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Ar ... 976-08.pdf

You are absolutely right, out by 10 years and £3k just goes to show how unreliable the ageing memory is.........

So true, I thought I started to buy Studio Sound in 1978, turns out it was late 1981. I’ve been looking at copies from 1970.
Also I scanned my August 1992 issue that was missing from their archive and it’s now there for those who want to have a browse.

[CS70]

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Ar ... 976-08.pdf

What a fascinating journey! Just looking at the commercials. I was a very young child back then - it's like walking into a time machine. Thanks for the link!

[Urthlupe]

I've just dug out some original receipts for old equipment:

1978 Sony TC 377 reel to reel, £185 now £1,052.

Wow, thnks MOF......

So where do I get £1k for me old TC377 then............?

Loopy

[MOF]

Wow, thnks MOF......

So where do I get £1k for me old TC377 then............?

Loopy

Not sure, I’ve still got mine but don’t use it these days, it would probably need servicing first.
The plan is to move to a bigger house and have an office with wall to wall to roof shelving for all the magazines and books I’ve accumulated and display space for old sound and photographic equipment.

I’ve just had a thought re your TC377, advertise it as “Rare, classic/vintage ANALOGUE technology, perfect for use as a delay or echo device”.
Alternatively sell it as a recorder perfect for rediscovering the original Sound on Sound technique, which is what I used it for before I bought the Teac A3440, then I used it for delay/echo duties and mastered to cassette.

[Urthlupe]

Thank god for people like you MOF - I get rid of everything......

Loopy

[Drew Stephenson]

Not long after I got into this game I remember pre-amps costing ridiculous amounts:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... e_500.html
Fortunately those days are behind us...

[Aural Reject]

Not long after I got into this game I remember pre-amps costing ridiculous amounts:
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... e_500.html
Fortunately those days are behind us...

Oh I dunno...you can still get some interestingly priced ones...especially some of the boutique remotes.

[Aural Reject]

Just to go back to the original post wrt denoising, I’ve recently had a client come to me with a “can you just...” style comment about his master. I never do anything like that until the musical content is agreed (ideally one doesn’t use the take where someone kicks a pencil across the floor in the first place but...depending on the abilities of the performer sometimes one has to and minimise it later), so it was on my to do list anyway.

Where it’s ‘entertaining’ is that - having had a conversation with one of the original users of the system from the OP - what he’s asking me to do would have likely cost him the same back then as his entire project has now...including his sessions, post production, artwork -and- the CD units...if not more....

[Arpangel]

In 1975 I paid £500 for my EMS VCS3 with the DK2 keyboard, X2 Presto Patches and the manual. You'd pay the best part of £20,000 for that lot now.
Gear I wish I hadn't sold....the above...and...

MM 16-2 mixer, best EQ I've ever heard, at a silly price.
Studiomaster Series 5 16-4-2 best mic amps for me, stupidly big and warm.
Casio CSM10-P it has one sound that's worth having, but it's a beautiful sound.

I've owned a lot of gear in my life, I can't really remember, buttge things I mentioned above are really special, and don't ever get mentioned much. I haven't owned any piece of outboard I couldn't live without, most synths too, all of the equipment I own right now is the most important to me, even though it's not old or vintage.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I bought a CS80, complete with all the accessories -- lid, music rack, stand, sustain and expression pedals the whole kaboodle. Paid £1300 for it in 1984. Perfect working order. Sold it ten years later for a couple of grand. Now worth upwards of £25k...

[Arpangel]

I bought a CS80, complete with all the accessories -- lid, music rack, stand, sustain and expression pedals the whole kaboodle. Paid £1300 for it in 1984. Perfect working order. Sold it ten years later for a couple of grand. Now worth upwards of £25k...

I guess we buy these things because of what they are, and what they can do for us at the time, not as investments. But if we had known how much they would be worth now, would we have held on to them? And would we want to sell them now if we still had them? Probably not.

[James Perrett]

MM 16-2 mixer, best EQ I've ever heard, at a silly price.

I'd agree that they got the EQ right on the old MM mixers - I still use mine occasionally for live gigs.

[Sam Spoons]

My first ever mixer was an MM, it worked fine for my needs at the time but I was not sophisticated enough to tell if it was any good

[James Perrett]

The main drawback with my MM desk was that it was very noisy compared to the later mixers I owned and I ended up having to modify it to add inserts on the first couple of channels as well as a 25 way D connector for a multicore. The connectors were all jacks but then that was the standard for non professional use back in the late 70's and early 80's. I still haven't got round to opening it up to make a note of some of the names on the stickers on the channels inside to see if it was one of Ivan's (his company made stuff for both MM and HH).

[Arpangel]

The main drawback with my MM desk was that it was very noisy compared to the later mixers I owned and I ended up having to modify it to add inserts on the first couple of channels as well as a 25 way D connector for a multicore. The connectors were all jacks but then that was the standard for non professional use back in the late 70's and early 80's. I still haven't got round to opening it up to make a note of some of the names on the stickers on the channels inside to see if it was one of Ivan's (his company made stuff for both MM and HH).

If anyone wants to sell their MM desk there's cash waiting.
Yes they were a bit noisy, but the sound was superb, you'd pay a fortune for a sound like that these days, it was worth it just for the EQ, what? 16 channels of great EQ for almost nothing. I bought my MM 16-2 from a guy who'd dropped a bag of cement on it, for £20, I completely rebuilt it, new sockets, and direct outs, I just wish I never sold it.

[Stickman0_3]

I remember, back in the 1980's, watching Top Of The Pops. It was the first time I had seen a synthesizer, it's what got me into music and synths. Back then I wanted the following:-

Sequential Prophet 5
PPG Wave 2.3
PPG PRK
PPG Waveterm B
Emu Emulator II
Fairlight CMI
Yamaha DX7

I wanted all of the above, that would be my dream setup, and it would cost

£ 5245
₤ 7200
₤ 2400
₤ 9000
₤ 5950
₤ 27000
₤ 1449
₤ 52999 Total

I had my list. Now all I needed to do was win on the Coin Pusher game at the seaside!

[Mike Stranks]

OTOH I bought 4 AKG 190Cs in 1974 for £80 plus 12.5% VAT...

[Sam Spoons]

IIRC My first Canon 20D camera body cost me £850 used, the second cost £200, now they struggle to fetch £60-70. But that's just the same as old computer kit I suppose

[John Willett]

My first ever mixer was an MM, it worked fine for my needs at the time but I was not sophisticated enough to tell if it was any good

And mine - they were good for the price, but were rather noisy - I sold mine and bought an Alice 828.

[Arpangel]

My first ever mixer was an MM, it worked fine for my needs at the time but I was not sophisticated enough to tell if it was any good

And mine - they were good for the price, but were rather noisy - I sold mine and bought an Alice 828.

I had a Seck 18-8-2, now that was noisy, add an Alesis Midiverb to that and you've got your very own white noise generator!

[Hugh Robjohns]

Yes, it's easy to forget how far semi-pro equipment has come in just a few decades. Budget gear now often exceeds the performance of revered professional gear from the 60s and 70s...

H

[Eddy Deegan]

Anyone with a time-machine fancy a bargain? I rather like the look of a Fairchild 660 for $200 ...