experience with tonetweakers.com ??

[jkhuri44]

gday guys,

was pondering a purchase from these dudes, but just wanted to hear from any dudez on here if they are cool to trust?

Things look ok on their site, and mailing list from what i can see...

http://www.tonetweakers.com/

[beatmad]

I haven't seen them before. Looks like the site has been around for a while have you contacted them to see if it's active? What are you looking to buy? I believe cem3374 selling from Japan on Evilbay is ok. Before you buy OS though you should ask around to see what people have. Most local stuff will be 240v whereas gear from US or Japan will need step down transformers.

[jkhuri44]

hey p,

after an Akai AX-60.

no replies on the forum here, so looking on their site...

they've been very responsive, was just hoping someone on these boards has had experience with them!

[jkhuri44]

woops, my bad...my memory deceives me!

ive been flu ridden, again for 4 days!!!

i didnt post up an WTB about the Akai...if anyone has one and willing to sell?!?

lemme know!

[Futureman]

I've got a mate who's got a AX-60 that he doesn't use 'that' much.. It probably could be sold with the right offer.
(Sydney)

If you don't mind me asking, whats with the appeal for an AX-60 ?

[jkhuri44]

i've heard a few good things about them being good for more industrial/techno/hardcore music...

ie a brash filter.

plus, theyve got an audio input so the synth in unison mode + an audio input sounds like a shitload of fun to me :)

[no-fi]

the 2 interesting things they do, is the audio frequency filter FM, and have 6 voice inputs to hook up with the matching socket on an S612, S700, S900 (and maybe S950?) so you can make a 2 osc per voice synth with 1 VCO and one digital sample oscillator per voice...

I had the rackmount version (VX-90) of the sliderless big keyboard version (AX73) of the AX-60, and I sold it without any twinges of sadness. though I never got around to hooking it to an old sampler, that might possibly have made it a keeper.

Unison mode is kinda cool, for getting a wall of 6 detuned VCOs, but you can get your hands on way better filters for just running random audio through.

[jkhuri44]

you can get your hands on way better filters for just running random audio through.

was more interested in the whole oscilator + audio thing running into filter rather than just the audio on its own

thats the kinda stuff im doing on VSTs, which im really over doing on VSTs :P

[no-fi]

aaah, fair enough - I guess you would just make up the cable to take a single audio source and run it through all six filters at once?

[NYMo]

Hi there,

There were only a few Ax 60's imported and even less AX 80's.
(love the displays on the AX 80)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[NYMo]

Hi there,

Didn't look at tonetweakers till now.

I know minime123...from the analog heaven list....his gear is meant to be in excellent condition....
but his prices are on , shall we say, the high side ;-)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[jkhuri44]

Hi there,

Didn't look at tonetweakers till now.

I know minime123...from the analog heaven list....his gear is meant to be in excellent condition....
but his prices are on , shall we say, the high side ;-)

are they good to deal with tho? some stuff they have is normal price (the cheaper stuff) plus, if what they say is true in regards to having all their stuff in good nic before it reaches you, i suppose that is a good thing and ends up being a saviour?

[Hybrid88]

Hey mate, haven't heard any bad stories from dealing with these guys personally, they take their work pretty seriously and service all stock before selling to deliver a fully working unit, so thats got something to do with the high cost. The only bad thing is as has been previously said, the prices on the rare/high-end stuff can be overtly high.

Just remember that buying from O/S can be very, very costly (ie to the point of not being worth doing). For example, costs to consider when purchasing O/S;

- Currency conversion - a simple one but still sometimes overlooked

- Shipping - can be a killer on big items

- Freight Insurance - a choice but worth considering when shipping 30+ year old gear half-way across the world

- Repair costs - not an issue with these guys, but for example, what if you buy something from eBay O/S and you suspect it being broken before being sent and the seller won't refund - it happens

- Scammers - sad but true, these a-holes exist, even one in an Aus classifieds that I had a few choice words for recently

- Power Voltage - also often overlooked (mostly by newbies - I've heard of a few MicroKorgs fried this way) most O/S synths would need to be converted for use in Aus, I'm not a fan of ext. PS converters as they can induce hum in my experience

- Customs Duty - A bastard of a thing but for the most part unavoidable - my advice go to the customs site and work out costs before buying something this can be a deal killer on already expensive items (only applicable on items over $1,000 Aud)

- GST - Another not-so welcome cost thanks to our friends at customs (well ATO but customs collects) - actually have a bit of an issue with this regarding second-hand items but thats another story...


So as you can see, what was once quite an attractive deal can be very costly once these additional expenses are factored in, this is the main reason why I have bought all of my vintage synths to date from Aus.

Hope this helps people,


PS; Hey NYMo, what synths have you got? Do you have a Jupiter-8, what's you opinion on this machine?

Cheers,

Hybrid88

[NYMo]

Hi there,

Hybrid 88.. I had the first Jupiter 8 in Australia and only sold it about 10 years ago.

I've always loved it...but then again ,I've nearly had one of most (over 100 synths) but it was my first poly and will always be my favourite. Minimoog being favourite mono (I'm pretty old school)

Ok...well that might not be entirely true..I still make interesting music !
(have a listen to potatohead on my myspace !)

Oh BTW I paid $4600 for that JP8 in 1981...which was worth a small fortune (put my parents house up as collateral !!)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O

[Starxi]

I have dealt with tonetweakers..
They are honest, you will recieve the synth no problem, although I think they exaggerate the amount of work/servicing they put into the synths.
for most items they are obscenely expensive..
They ship via fedex which can also be enormously expensive, so be sure to confirm shipping rates before you agree to buy.
might not be too much for an ax-60

[amnesia]

I have known them for years , haven't bought from them though as you can usually find gear cheaper elsewhere....

One of the most important things to remember is paying TAX when you bring gear into the country. I bought a 5 panel Serge into Aust and had to pay a grand tax, even though it was secondhand and from outside Oz.

I also have a Buchla 200e system imported but luckily my brother was in the US at the time picked it up from Don Buchla and mailed it to me as parts :-) that would have been $2k tax!

[NYMo]

Hi there,

a Buchla 200e ... eh ??

Must make you at least a deity on this list !
(and a 5 panel Serge...I'm impressed!)
(not you Ross is it??)

Cheers
N
Y
M
O
(owner of a lowly Dotcom system:)

[Mark Bassett]

Hi 'Starxi', could you please include your name in your signature at the bottom of your post. Your "username can be whatever you want, but in your signature, you must use your real name".

Thanks.

[amnesia]

(not you Ross is it??)

Ha ha well spotted it is me :-)

I dont own the Serge anymore just sold it a few months back to buy more Buchla ":-)

[minime123]

hi guys

mini from tonetweakers here. i wanted to take the time to address some of the comments here.

the last AX60 sold quickly to a happy customer in europe and we are now out of stock.

we're in the US. international shipping can get really costly for big and/or valuable items but is usually affordable for smaller stuff. we only ship through UPS and USPS at this time. to date, we have never shipped directly via Fedex though USPS does use Fedex for their guaranteed express service. the other USPS services dont go through Fedex. unfortunately, if you're in Australia, USPS's maximum size limit for packages using these other services is really small (79" length+girth). small items like drum machines or sound modules can usually ship safely in a box within this limit, but keyboard cant, at least not when packed safely.

we get questions about customs duties every once in a while, but they vary from country to country. this is something you should look into if you're considering importing items. we've been asked to lie about value or state that items are gifts, but, as much as we'd like to help, we're not liars and can be penalized for falsifying documents. the recipient can probably get into trouble as well. on the other hand, some of our international friends have told us they get these fees back at tax time since they're professional musicians.

starxi, im not sure who you are. we usually spend many hours preparing (testing, servicing, retesting, cleaning, photographing, accurately describing and re-retesting) the items we sell. i definitely dont feel we exaggerate the amount of work we put into our synths. lately ive been thinking its quite the opposite. feel free to email me directly to discuss this as i'd like to know why you've stated this. im also curious to know why you said we only ship via Fedex because this isn't true at this point in time. maybe you're in australia and asked me about this several years back when we werent using UPS international?

thanks
mini

[a.d.a.m. baby]

The AX-60 is an "interesting" synth - when I first bought mine (maybe 11 years ago?) I soldered up a 13 pin din cable and hooked up my S612. By also connecting the two via midi, the synth sends a "mono mode on" msg to the sampler, so each audio channel is controlled by it's own midi channel. The samplers 6 audio channels are mixed with the synths 6 channels, and the note assignments are under the AX60s CPU control, so it means you can use the arpeggiator on the sampler channels - wa-hey! Also the lovely analogue stereo chorus is applied to the synth/sample mix. The arpeggiator has a 15 note memory, lacks random mode but makes up for it with a "notes in order played" mode, which none of my other synths have. Also the arpeggiator takes an external negative trigger, but still works with positive ones, so you can sync it (not via midi though). The voices are six Curtis synths-on-a-chip (is it the 3394? - i forget. same as some Sequential stuff). Unison is not very exciting - the voices can't be detuned. It definitely has "a sound" - not very helpful, but the pads and strings just scream "eighties"! I think they're it's forte - bass sounds are a bit middy and weak.
I agree, the VCO modulation of VCF is very nice. I use mine from time to time, mostly for the (gimmicky) sample/synth arpeggio function.

[Futureman]

it's a very simple circuit to convert a +ve trigger to a S-trigger..

one transistor + diode + a resistor..

http://www.retrosynth.com/docs/trigger/triggermod.gif

I've built this a few times, and it works like a charm.. Triggering a S-Trig synth with V-trigs makes for some sloppy synced arpeggiation. (Is that a word?)

Regards
Mike

[a.d.a.m. baby]

That's probably a good idea - I should do some more tests. The sync isn't sloppy however - it seems to edge-trigger both positive and negative quite well, but it holds the note between triggers when positive. There might be less of a lag with your idea though...

Actually got stuck into programming it last night again - it really does "rave" well! And the bass isn't so bad at all! Regarding the voices, it may be a simple mod to add detune trimmers for each chip, which would then make Unison a serious proposition, esp. thru that chorus...