I'm skipping over the racist back-'n-forth cuz hashing shit out online with the faceless is ultimately pointless. As for the SP, if I was filthy rich I'd buy it—even leaving Hip Hop out the equation, it's still a unique piece of musical history. My worthless speculation on what I'd buy if I was filthy rich aside, I find this auction slightly ironic as RZA was better know for the Ensonique ASR-10, which he made a shit-ton of Wu-Tang cuts on, including a lot of the beats on their solo works. The ASR-10 wasn't uncommon in the 90s, it was just never as iconic in its imagery as the SP1200 or the MPC2000/3000/etc. Another reason I think it got/gets overlooked is that a lot of people didn't/don't realize that it has a built in, and very capable, sampler. Incidentally, Jake One still makes all of his beats on an ASR-10.
100% on point. Certainly, RZA is a Ensoniq fanboi all the way, dating back to the EPS days. The ASR10 is a beast. The way you can manipulate sounds with it is out of this world. I still have the keyboard, and a rack version. The keyboard was always giving us problems, specially overheating. We ended up modding the shit out of it. The rack version never gave us ANY trouble, and today still looks brand new. The ASR 10 never became as popular as EMU, and AKAI due to Ensoniq's lack of vision. More producers wanted the pads instead of the keys, so they gravitated towards the EMU, and MPC. By the time Ensoniq decided to release the ASR X it was too late. The company was in deep shit financially. Indeed, the ASR X should had been released along with the ASR 10, and with the same sound and, editing functions.
And oh, it was me who bought it. It cleaned up real good with lots of soap and water, an old toothbrush and patience....oh no, I wasn't supposed to refurbish it...oh, fuck!
I can give you $2000 for it, had you kept it as it was with grime, cum shots and all, I would have offered $85000. Signed by Monica Lewinsky
No problem. I can produce this! So I bought it from him for $2000. I will produce some cum shots and grime and sell you for $85000. You silly butt!
Sorry but I am not interested. It is a different DNA, it wont work with my OS. Wait, maybe Behringer can clone it.
I wasn't aware of the latter, business-end of things. I've just always noticed what gear people were using, since it's a lot more telling than software (usually,) as to where they're coming from musically. Everyone who I've seen talk about them swear by them though, generally people who enjoyed pushing their creative ideas into reality despite the limitations of the 90s.
