At over 10 times their original price, the TB-303 bassline synth by Roland still command a respectable (read: Stupid) price on the second hand market.
Programming the thing isn’t too tricky if someone who knows shows you, if you don’t know anyone but have the manual it gonna be a hard mountain to climb (the manual was translated from Japanese, to Korean and then into English, and badly done every step of the way) If you have neither you’re chances of working out how to use one is practically nil.
So why do people pay so much money for them? Especially when there are hardware clones (such as the x0xb0x that uses the same components) Well it’s because there’s just something about them. Even the most seasoned circuit heads can’t work out why the thing sounds the way it does.
Anyway here’s a couple of videos dedicated to my love of a fragile, ridiculously expensive, far too limited (even by 1981 standards!) and horribly confusing synth. Oh and it pretty much kick started an entire culture/art form/industry/social experiment.
Tb-303 Vs. X0xb0x, the ultimate test!