System 100

Fuckin' check this shit out! It's my new Roland Synth 100. It cost me $20. I found it in a store full of dusty secondhand music gear, here in Phnom Penh. I asked the lady if I could plug it in to try. At first, she tried to steer me to some nicer, newer models. No way lady. I want this one. After convincing her that she really did want to sell it, I hooked it up and managed to produce enough space-invader white noise to start dogs barking and kids crying. That was all I needed to know. Sold to the man with dust all over his white t-shirt.

When this was being made in factory in Japan in the mid-late 70s, Cambodians were working in the fields under Pol Pot's regime. Now, Cambodia seems to be the end of the road for unwanted music gear, and buyers here receive containers full of stuff like this from Japan by the tonne. THEY BUY IT BY THE TONNE! They sift through it, repair what they can, and recycle the rest.

I just love that it is called a 'System 100'. It is not just a keyboard. It's a System. The same keyboard (sorry, System) just sold for a thousand bucks on ebay. The interweb tells me that it is used by Orbital, Aphex Twin, Depeche Mode, Meat Beat Manifesto, and (wait for it) Vangelis. Vangelis, I'll fight you with the world's dirtiest System 100 any day.

Roland SYSTEM 100 SYNTH