Hiring Vintage MPC60/3000, SP12/1200 and ASR10/ASR-X

A few ideas floating around in the box (as usual).

There are people who have never been able to try or buy these samplers who would potentially consider hiring one for a week to put one through its paces. Obviously such a business would require a hefty deposit and a fair weekly rate, but make these samplers accessible to the average income kind of guy. Think of it as 'try before you buy' or even just to make some beats with a certain machine without having to own it.

Specifically thinking of machines like MPC60/3000, SP12/1200, ASR10/ASR-X because I have them all with the options. So any thoughts on this? What so of deposit/weekly charge would be fair for these models? Or is this simply a bad idea off the bat? I think there is potential to develop this idea on a local/regional/national level. I'd like to know what others think???

In an ideal world this would be a great idea but there's too many shady, scheming **** out there.

Hence the deposit, contract, and ID etc...

Any other practical security precautions that could be taken??

Forum members only perhaps, which could be too limiting...

i'd say local only... at your studio... they come to your place and work on the machines under your supervision.

old machines like that even with insurance would be hard to replace or fix.

Although I really like the idea...

please don't let mofos break the hard to get SP pads. So many mofos want to use this machine just to get the feeling they're "dope producers". IMO these machines should only be used by people who really know what kind of machine it is (history, influence on genre, how hard it is to get replacement parts etc).

peace

mr_debauch wrote:i'd say local only... at your studio... they come to your place and work on the machines under your supervision.

This sounds like a good idea.

I used to do a bit of that, but only with friends and mutually co-signed people/friends of friends.

I would just read books or play Xbox and do some over the shoulder help if they needed it.

But yeah local only, proper contracts, deposits and knowledge of who the renter is seem mandatory to do that beyond the scope of people you already know. Truthfully it's why I haven't thought to explore it again. I want to avoid a type of situation where you have to meet and greet and then put a 9mm on the table after you answered the door in your "Don't Test" T-Shirt.

And frankly where i live I do not want it known that there's over 50K of stuff here.

But I'm sure with enough safeguards and proper planning it could work out well.

My place isn't a great option, it would be a deal breaker for me. Nobody is gonna learn a new machine in a few hours, well enough to do anything useful with it. But that time could still be enough for someone to say "yeah I want one of these, it sounds dope" or "the shits over-rated, **** it".

There's got to be a sensible way this could work? And what about the money? How much per session, day, week? Assuming the customer has been deposited/screened and not just a random shady mofo.

The deposit would have to exceed the value of the machine, so it would be cheaper to just buy one on the open market than try a jack move...but who could afford that type of deposit realistically? I'm sure there are companies that hire expensive stuff and don't get ripped off, all this has got me thinking of the hire companies business model.

Yeah that's a tough spot to have to hold like 1000-2000 pounds in escrow temporarily. And the avoiding the grimey types is a huge factor as we've brought out. Sometimes I wish I just had guitars and stuff and it was just hippies I would deal with. Not that those types can't be shady too, but guns and knives are less likely in a worst case scenario.

But I hope you find a way that works big picture. It's certainly a good idea overall. I think at times some people just end up finding a cheap spot, put up a gate and install alarms, and probably still keep something under the counter as it were, when venturing into a prospect like this. Just keep enough gear permanent that clients can also just buy studio time and let the moving units part overlap.

There is a place in London that hires out gear like I was thinking. Below are some of their daily drum machine/ sampler charges. Weekly hires are charged as four days.

http://www.studiohire.net/display.php?t ... &current=1

"We usually request a deposit of £250 for first-time hirers, which is charged and then refunded on the safe return of the hired equipment...The hirer is responsible for all loss or damage to equipment."

Akai MPC2000 £60
Akai MPC2000XL £60
Akai MPC3000 £70
Akai MPC4000 £80
Akai MPC60 MK2 £60
Emu Drumulator £35
Emu SP1200 £70
Linn 9000 £75
Linndrum MK3 (MIDI) £50
Roland TR808 £40
Roland TR808 (MIDI) £45
Roland TR909 £50
S.C. Studio 440 £75

They have been doing this for years, so it must work. I'll pose as a potential customer to find out what it takes to get my hands on a machine with such a small deposit. Presumably they want lots of ID, credit card details but what else...

With some of those prices above (MPC2000/XL) it would be cheaper to buy a machine than hire it for 4 days (or a week), the same is not true for the real vintage pieces.

Yeah I learned most everything I didn't pick up just growing up in the 80's from CM UK and Future Music mags. Years ago they touched on it in an article. I think like a general article about varied options one could utilize. They mentioned exactly the kind of place you mentioned. Other times it would come up in the letters section like "yo i can't afford MPC's and SP's and analog synths how do I get access?"

So yeah there must be a way to dot the i's and cross the t's and make moves like this.

Another place in London hiring MPC's but no SP's.



http://www.fxgroup.net/products/search_ ... n=category

MPC4000 (Akai) Hire £80
MPC3000 (Akai) Hire £70
MPC2000 (Akai) Hire £60
MPC60 (Akai) Hire £60
S950 (Akai) Hire £40
S1100 (Akai) Hire £65

"Hire rates are shown as £ per day...A week is charged as 4 days. A month (28 days) is charged as 12 days...We ask new customers to verify their identity and leave a deposit."

Drool....

sell me ur sp12 turbo for $500

I did contact Studiohire who confirmed that I could hire a SP1200 for £70.00 a day with a credit/debit card deposit of just £250.00 and some proof of address ID. Too easy??

whats that $550?


cheapest SP around!


burner credit card and some photoshop skills.


how many SPs would be allowed as carry on luggage?