alt Hacker NewsI don't think I buy that argument (that there aren't enough people interested in it).
It's not quite in the ball park of something like the DX 7 or several of the better known analog synths, which have nearly all seen re-issues, mini-versions, software emulations, etc., often several. Damned near every Roland synth from that era has seen a re-issue and official plugin. Yamaha has been more measured in their re-issue plays, but the DX did get a reface DX, along with the CS, CP and YC. FM synthesis has been wildly successful in nostalgia synths as well as novel takes on the idea (e.g. the Elektron FM groove box) and Korg's Opsix (I have two of them, the first gen small one and the big expensive one made in Japan), and Yamaha still ships FM synthesis engines in their high end workstations. And, there's at least four plugins that emulate the CZ (I'm working on a fifth to be released in another month or two).
I don't think all that would exist without some demand. I have a soft spot for early digital synths, and I think a lot of other folks do, too. I don't like to buy from Behringer, but it's the only hardware option out there right now aside from the real thing (I own a real CZ 101, but I wouldn't want to take it out of the studio).
AudioPilz (Bad Gear) even made a video demanding it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb8nMZE-bb0
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Hell you can often even find the Korg Volca FM for under 100 bucks and it’s a patch compatible DX7 clone.
I have a Casio CZ-5000, the 61 key version with sequencer. It’s well made but given its age I’m not sure I’d want to take that to a gig either.
There is always https://busycircuits.com/pages/alm042
> I don't think I buy that argument (that there aren't enough people interested in it).
That you can buy them on ebay all day long for less than most cheap synths costs new argues against it being viable.
>I don't think I buy that argument (that there aren't enough people interested in it). >I don't think all that would exist without some demand.
What we old synth nerds need to understand is that there are always new synth nerds leaving the worlds music schools, quite often with a fat wad of disposable income/parents cash, and they want to build their own little studios to make the next mega-hit.
This is the driving force behind Behringer and all the re-issuing goings-on and such.
But the synth world is a fashion scene. Devices and techniques and engines go in and out of fashion.
The recent Gearmulator releases have lit a serious fire under the DSP-synth world precisely because folks really want these old synths, and I suppose its quite fun to take the real DSP firmware and emulate them:
https://github.com/dsp56300/gearmulator
(Disclaimer: have worked professionally in the synth world for decades, I have my biases and also new releases on the horizon ..)