I forgot to say that I actually owned an MC303 groovebox for a short time: it's a pretty darn big module, whose buttons and presentation ape older Roland drum machines, and I thought that it might be worth a try when one came up for £100 in east London.
I noticed quite a few people still like to use this for lots of different sounds to augment their hardware setup, so it couldn't be all bad...could it?
The internet is a great thing; connecting people with similar interests together in a meaningful way that allows for more collaboration and idea sharing as well as the buying and selling of goods. In some cases, second hand websites are the only way you can get hold of older equipment that isn't available through retail channels and there's a great number of them to check out that I have covered before.
The problem I have is over the bad rap that certain sites get when targeted by the criminal element in society who use these sites to lure victims into situations where they get robbed...or worse. In fact the impetus for these articles was a story about a court case where a 28 year old university graduate was stabbed trying to sell his Apple laptop via Gumtree (luckily he made a recovery, but I digress!)
So, I want to share some best practice tips for meeting up to do a swap or purchase. It makes a lot of sense for sellers to do face to face
So you want to buy a synthesiser, but don't necessarily have the budget to go all out on a new item: where do you go next? The UK second hand market is full of options and people selling their gear for a variety of reasons, whether it's to raise funds for newer hardware, whether children on the way, a change to all in the box or perhaps relocating to another country.
However, it can be daunting for newcomers to know where to get the best deals or just what to expect in terms of prices, availability, selection and so on. So here's a little run down of some of the places to go where you can check listings and maybe pick up something fun to play with at a decent price.
And as always with these things; Caveat Emptor!
