Interesting trivia of the time. Not sure of the year, but I’d go in there and drool over the M520 boards, but they were insane crazy money. I think like 10k. Yikes
Oh, how I would have loved to see one of the 520s minty fresh and new! The music store I worked at in 1987-88 was a Yamaha dealer for keyboards, Jackson guitars, Zildjan cymbals and Tama drums. I was a Roland and Fender guy, so I didn’t really drool over the gear too much, but it was fun to be around it all back then.
Totally off thread topic but since I started the thread…
Funny story, a music teacher lady came in one day, and asked to purchase the store display that had the new DX11 on it with Yamaha speakers, a piano sound module and a QX21 sequencer. They said, ”no, sorry, that’s a store display”. She kept on them, explained that she was wanting to start teaching her students about synthesis and sequencing, convinced them she’d send all her newly hooked students in to the store if they’d sell it to her. THEY DID.
I didn’t think anything of that again since 1988, and then in 2016, on FB Market Place, I saw a listing for an estate sale, one of the items listed was a DX11. I messaged and asked them what time they would open in the morning and would they hold it for me if I was there first thing? Sure, they said.
I got there first, I walked up and lo and behold there it was, DX11, all minty fresh, on that store display stand with the little Yamaha monitors mounted on the upright posts, two little Yamaha arms holding the piano module, QX21 seqencer, a bench, music stand, all cables… all for $160. The battery was dead and it made no sounds. The lady running the sale said she’d ask the owner (their house that the estate sale was at), she came out and it was odd, I recognized her immediately, I asked her if that was her, she said yes and even remembered me as a scrawny all neck and elbows pimply teen that helped her load it to her car. She told me to just pay $100 for all of it.
And that’s the stand I’m using in my studio now, speakers are still great little monitors and I put a new battery and new screen on the DX11… it’s a keeper!
