Many MusicRadar readers will have suffered from a mild case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome in their time, but judging from a recent studio tour with Reverb, Deadmau5 has the nastiest diagnosis that medical history has ever seen.
Inviting Reverb into a gear-stuffed home studio that he says took “a solid three years” to build, the mouse-headed Canadian artist shows off a jaw-dropping collection of synthesizers that surely must be one of the most extensive on the planet outside of a museum.
From vintage classics like the Roland Juno-106 and Oberheim SEM, through multiple towering walls of modular gear, to rarities like the last Minimoog Voyager ever manufactured, Deadmau5 talks viewers through an diverse array of synthesizers that would make even the most seasoned collector drool.
Article continues belowAmong Deadmau5’s collection – one so sizeable it spills out into several storage rooms – are some ultra-rare instruments, including a Fairlight CMI-30A, a limited-edition modernized remake of the historic sampling synthesizer that was released in 2011; only 14 of these $17,000 reissues were manufactured before a trademark dispute forced creator Peter Vogel to halt production.
Another rarity is Deadmau5’s Minimoog Voyager, a synth he previously told us was a mainstay in his workflow, that he reveals was a gift from none other than Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes. This isn’t just any Voyager, though, but the last one ever made. “That’s the last unicorn, the last one,” Deadmau5 says of the synth, a 10th-anniversary edition of the Voyager of which only 31 were manufactured.
deadmau5: “The Moog Voyager - I can't seem to escape that synth. It’s the last good Moog”
Boasting a 24-carat gold-plated chassis, Japanese Awabi pearl inlay and black piano lacquered wood cabinet, the limited-edition Voyager was priced at $15,000, but that didn’t stop Deadmau5 bringing it to a one-off orchestral performance at The Wiltern Theatre in 2018.
While Deadmau5 is clearly happy to drop five-figure sums on a synth, he also knows how to drive a hard bargain. Showing Reverb his Roland Juno-106 – a sought-after instrument that could easily set you back $2,000 today – he reveals that he originally purchased it for the princely sum of $40 in a Niagara Falls pawn shop.
“I go in there, and I know exactly what the fuck that thing is,” he says. “He’s got it sitting sideways in a ‘fuck it’ bin. So I say ‘hey man, I’m looking for a MIDI controller’, and I pull it out and I’m like ‘what about this?’ He didn’t even know what the fuck it was. ‘I just need the keys’, I said. He’s like, ‘okay, 50 dollars’. I was like ‘eh… 40?’ He’s like, ‘yeah, whatever.’”
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