Keys, Synths & Samplers

[U&I]

Hi all,
Found one for sale in incredibly good condition (close to showroom floor new condition to be exact) - no box or manuals though (which isn't a big issue) but am not to down with current resale prices.
Anybody got a good "ballpark idea" on what a reasonable asking price is before I plonk down the cash ?

[ronaldroy]

mmm where is it - I'll go and take a look for you

[ronaldroy]

I had to sell mine a while back, so seriously, if you don't take it, let me know. There was one on Ebay a while back for $350 which was a good price.

[carbon111]

I'd say around $400US for a minty one...maybe as much as $500US if it were pristine, but that'd be pushing it a bit.

[zzzxtreme]

hmmm $400? I would say $400 is fair price for SY77. $550 for SY99
to me i feel they worth much more. I'd personally pay $500 for SY85

[nostalgis]

hmmm $400? I would say $400 is fair price for SY77. $550 for SY99
to me i feel they worth much more. I'd personally pay $500 for SY85

You DO know that the SY77/99 is quite different from the SY85, right?oke:

[DJ RAZZ]

The SY99 is the king of the DX FM sound and the last to use true operators for sound production. Feature wise it is so much more that the DX7's ever were. If it were really pristine both inside and out, I would go $500. Do you really want this machine for specific reason or are you just looking for price--performance ratio in a used board?

[depulse]

Over here in Europe (normally dollar price equals Euro price) SY77 goes for 200-250 Euros and I've seen SY99 go for as low as 300, but normally closer to 400.

[xpander]

The SY99 is the king of the DX FM sound and the last to use true operators for sound production. Feature wise it is so much more that the DX7's ever were. If it were really pristine both inside and out, I would go $500. Do you really want this machine for specific reason or are you just looking for price--performance ratio in a used board?

don't forget the FS1R! i'd say $500 - $600 tops for one dead mint. amazingly cheap considering how expensive these sold for!

[zzzxtreme]

yes nostalgis, i had both sy85 and sy77

[U&I]

The SY99 is the king of the DX FM sound and the last to use true operators for sound production. Feature wise it is so much more that the DX7's ever were. If it were really pristine both inside and out, I would go $500. Do you really want this machine for specific reason or are you just looking for price--performance ratio in a used board?

Firstly - semi weighted action with velocity and after touch is a must IMHO. Secondly - I'd take the 99 over 77 for several reasons - the least of which is the vastly improved FX engine and routing implementation. Thirdly - the 99 took it's drums from the RY30 unlike the 77 and sounds like the DA converters or samples have a higher resolution sonically. Fourth - the filter routing can be in series or parallel unlike a 77 for 24DB per octave filter slopes Fifth Reason - Outside of an FS1R it's the best FM synth available IMHO and overlooked an awful lot on the raw synthesis front. Bare in mind I have an Emu UltraProteus, Roland D550, Roland S550, Roland JD990 Expanded, Kurzweil 1000PX, Electribe EMX & ESX and use Live (standard not with all the other instruments) with no 3rd party FX + Reason and Record (usually do all my mix downs and final production from stems rendered in Live) and I need a good quality multi-zone controller and would like high quality FM synthesis to round out what I have. (Already have an MPD32 & APC40 as controllers) I also program and sample much of this gear in 24/48 into NNXT and build custom Combinators with patches I make and so on and so forth. I also like the combination of Hardware + the Software and THOR does IMHO cover most if not all of my VA needs. The only synth I could think of using in it's place would be a Korg Z1 IMHO (which would be another obvious good choice).

[DJ RAZZ]

Wow, you have a lot of classic gear, some gear I really like. It sounds like a good controller is in order, in which the SY99 can serve that purpose. I don't quite understand all your hardware choices in this day and age, but that is up to you, and I am not talking about the Yamaha so go for it.

[U&I]

Wow, you have a lot of classic gear, some gear I really like. It sounds like a good controller is in order, in which the SY99 can serve that purpose. I don't quite understand all your hardware choices in this day and age, but that is up to you, and I am not talking about the Yamaha so go for it.

I was 100% hardware until roughly 6 years ago and sold it all and went 100% software.
In reality I work best with something that's a mix of the two and have been trying to get back a collection of my fave 90's hardware synths- they blend quite well with Reason's NNXT, Thor and Maelstrom and I like what i can do rhythm programming wise in software. That said, sometimes it's nice to get some ideas down without having to fire up the computer at all for a decent part of the creative process and Live integrates quite well with hardware IMHO of course.

[ronaldroy]

Did you get the SY99?

[OPEN OCEAN]

here sell well think more than 700 euros which is around 800$ so i cant really tell...good luck on this one.

[Mike Conway]

I only know what I paid for mine, back in 1991... Sticker is still on it.




One of the best built synths, ever.

[ChristianRock]

U&I, the SY99 was what I had GAS for before I got the Fusion. But eventually I realized that what I wanted the SY99 for (analog-style synth sounds plus the wonderful FM sounds on top of it), I could get from the Fusion, and so much more. So my question is, since you've had the Fusion in the past and seemed to like it, why are you now considering the SY99 and not the Fusion again? I know you sold the Fusion because you moved, so now that you have the space, why are you not considering it? Just to try something different, or do you think it's got strengths that the Fusion can't match? And why not an EX-5 if we're talking Yamaha? Though that wouldn't have the 6-op FM... but it adds VL which is a huge plus...