Saturday, July 26, 2008
Rummage Shop Keyboard
Had to go to main post office yesterday, so walked a few more blocks downtown.
I don't like downtown Elizabeth, avoid it if I can. Especially on hot days. I was sweating anyway. For shopping, downtown Elizabeth is a big crowded nothing. I buy two items there; socks & $10 PC keyboards. I needed a keyboard, this one's nearly filled up with Cheez-it crumbs.
A huge rummage store opened. Clean, well-organized, inventoried, bigger & cheaper than Salvation Army. I get my flannel shirts at rummage stores. I browsed.
Downstairs at this store, on a shelf by the useless used computers & suspect printers, was this:
Stopped me in my tracks, my mouth probably dropped open. It's a mid-1980's Ensoniq Mirage sampling keyboard synth.* Originally sold for around $1500 & was considered "affordable" compared to the competition. Much more complicated to use than it looks, ridiculously small sampling rate & zilch memory by our current standards. 3.5 floppy drive. MIDI control, which soon became available on the toy keyboards at Walmart. Must weight 40 pounds. It has what thrills lovers of antique synths - genuine analog filters. Not a digital imitation of analog filters. The Mirage isn't one of the musical instruments from that era I've wanted for myself, but I sure can admire it. I know how it can be made to sound - very cool. It's a beautiful thing. The price $75. If it has the original owner's manual & Mirage's basic library of prerecorded samples, & if it works perfectly - unlikely ifs for a rummage store, you could turn around & sell it for three or four times that to an eBay collector or a trust fund baby musician in New York with an apartment full of stuff that makes him a genius. I wouldn't even know how to begin to test it out. When it comes to synths I'm a tweeker type rather than a step-by-stepper. I like dials, toggle switches, & faders. Actually, I'd rather have an old Hammond organ. Still, this baby was hard to resist.
*Digitally records - samples - sounds, various functions change & mix the sounds, which become the "notes" on the keyboard. Now, if you don't want to lug a big instrument around, you can just plug a small, plastic piano type keyboard into a laptop. Many bands do.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
I don't like downtown Elizabeth, avoid it if I can. Especially on hot days. I was sweating anyway. For shopping, downtown Elizabeth is a big crowded nothing. I buy two items there; socks & $10 PC keyboards. I needed a keyboard, this one's nearly filled up with Cheez-it crumbs.
A huge rummage store opened. Clean, well-organized, inventoried, bigger & cheaper than Salvation Army. I get my flannel shirts at rummage stores. I browsed.
Downstairs at this store, on a shelf by the useless used computers & suspect printers, was this:
*Digitally records - samples - sounds, various functions change & mix the sounds, which become the "notes" on the keyboard. Now, if you don't want to lug a big instrument around, you can just plug a small, plastic piano type keyboard into a laptop. Many bands do.
Labels: Elizabeth NJ, music
