Old rack modules- sell, donate, or recycle?

[OrpheusNY]

Opinions sought- I need to clean out my deep storage, and I have some old 20th Century rack synth modules- A Roland JV 2080 with a bunch of expansion cards, a Yamaha EX5R and I believe a Kurzweil Micro Piano that I haven’t touched in a decade at least.

 

My sense is that ROMplers of that era are not of particular value these days and are unlikely to be revered or sought after in the future (maybe somebody doing a retro 90’s project could use them?)

 

Assuming the dollar value is quite low, I thought of trying to find some kids to donate them to, but given that they’re kind of a technological dead end at this point maybe that would just be child abuse.

 

Are they electronics recycling material at this point? If you were going to sell or donate them, where? Right now they’re about 2 hours north of NYC. No desire to pack them up and ship them anywhere.

 

 

[mdenriet]

Well, a jv2080 should fetch around 350 euros on ebay. You should sell the cards seperatly, around 50-100 each. The ex5r is about 800 euro. The micropiano 75. I would sell it, .

[CEB]

Keyboards I have given to young players and local High School.  Modules just sit in racks.  If I die I don't know what my wife is going to do about all this gear crap.  I have storage building full of ****.  A lot of it is PA rigs.  Nobody wants those heavy passive cabs.  No one is using wedges anymore.  I've taken old TVs and microwaves to electronics recycling.  I guess they would take modules.

 

 

[ProfD]

There's value in those rackmount units if you were willing to Reverb them.

 

Otherwise, donating the gear to an electronic music program isn't a bad idea. The boxes make noise. Some budding musician(s) will embrace it.

 

As evidenced by the analog synth resurgence, what's old becomes new again.

 

Give it a year or two and those ROMplers will be in demand again. 😁😎

 

[OrpheusNY]

4 minutes ago, mdenriet said:

Well, a jv2080 should fetch around 350 euros on ebay. You should sell the cards seperatly, around 50-100 each. The ex5r is about 800 euro. The micropiano 75. I would sell it, .

Those numbers surprise me. Guess I should look into it. Thanks.

[Mighty Motif Max]

The EX5R and JV-2080 sell for a decent price still. I'd say sell them on eBay or Reverb, and pack them super well when you ship them.

 

Always was interested in the EX5/EX5R but they're not overly common now.

[stillearning]

A local School of Rock, high school or college with a music program may put them to good use for teaching. I donated several of mine to a student who was more than happy to get them. He’ll get some use of them, whereas I had them piling up in a closet.

[Michael W]

2 hours ago, mdenriet said:

Well, a jv2080 should fetch around 350 euros on ebay. You should sell the cards seperatly, around 50-100 each. The ex5r is about 800 euro. The micropiano 75. I would sell it, .

 

Yep, looking at JV-2080 units sold on eBay in the US recently, they're going for about $350.

 

[ElmerJFudd]

There’s always a market for the rack sound modules.  Older guys who are nostalgic for them, younger guys who are curious about why they were so popular and are looking for retro sounds.  Giggers that feel they are simpler to use and more reliable than a laptop or iPad.  Not to mention, they change hands in the mid $300s. 

[Delaware Dave]

send them to me, i have a ton of shxt in my basement; keyboards, midi modules, old PA equipment.   my wife is already pissed so a few more items added wont make a difference.....

[brenner13]

I’d only ever sell my beloved EX5 if I could exchange it for an EX5R. It a collage of flagship Yamaha synthesis of the 90’s. There is even a VL-1 hidden inside there. A breath controller input really brings it to life, though aftertouch is very expressive with this synth, too. Well come to think of it, the EX5’s three wheels and small ribbon might be a challenge to find on a controller. I gotta go fire that thing up today…HA! 
 

Donating to a school or institution for kids is a wonderful gesture, but all of these things have value on the used market. 

[Konnector]

You might be surprised with what you can get these days for those modules. Prices have risen a lot in the last year or two. The EX5R is a rare bird. That should fetch several hundred dollars easily. I recently sold a mint JV-1080 with 4 expansion cards for $700. A few years ago I would've been lucky to get $250. 

[The Real MC]

One of the few rack modules that is valuable is the Voyetra-8.  Programmable polyphonic, eight analog voices in a rack with decent modulation, sequencer, and arpeggiator.  Not many show up for sale.  I would love one for my gigging system.

[analogika]

17 hours ago, Konnector said:

You might be surprised with what you can get these days for those modules. Prices have risen a lot in the last year or two. The EX5R is a rare bird. That should fetch several hundred dollars easily. I recently sold a mint JV-1080 with 4 expansion cards for $700. A few years ago I would've been lucky to get $250. 

The 1080 is a bit special, though — it apparently has a bottom end that the other JV are lacking. 
 

i never particularly liked it, but „vintage digital“ is a thing and now encompasses the 90s, with a beginning price curve to match. 

[nursers]

4 minutes ago, analogika said:

The 1080 is a bit special, though — it apparently has a bottom end that the other JV are lacking. 
 

i never particularly liked it, but „vintage digital“ is a thing and now encompasses the 90s, with a beginning price curve to match. 

Absolutely - I still have a 1080 and pulled it out last year, had it serviced and a lot of the sounds hold up surpringly well.

[allan_evett]

On 1/23/2022 at 9:38 AM, brenner13 said:

I’d only ever sell my beloved EX5 if I could exchange it for an EX5R. It a collage of flagship Yamaha synthesis of the 90’s. There is even a VL-1 hidden inside there. A breath controller input really brings it to life, though aftertouch is very expressive with this synth, too. Well come to think of it, the EX5’s three wheels and small ribbon might be a challenge to find on a controller. I gotta go fire that thing up today…HA! 
 

Donating to a school or institution for kids is a wonderful gesture, but all of these things have value on the used market. 

Well this brings back memories.  An EX5 was my main stage synth for several years; finally switched it out with an EX5R.   I've essentially sold off all my rack modules (with the exception of a 1987 Yamaha TX-1P), but if I could have one back it would be the EX5R.