The prices on the midi modules are ok (I don't get them from ebay though, Roland is a Japanese company and that's where most units are. Japanese people also don't throw everything away unlike the western consumption people) but the real killer are shipping costs. Getting a few of them shipped quickly adds up... In Australia you can get some units for under 100 bucks. A few weeks ago a MT-100 went for around 80 bucks which is ok. But the Australian market is very small. CM units I haven't seen a single one in the last few weeks...
Having said that, they are still a lot cheaper than back in day. I couldn't believe when I read that a LAPC-I cost almost 1000 Deutsche Mark. That's ~ 500 euros for just a single card...
Because of shipping I do buy several units. That way I get a lower total cost per unit and I do like to have various models so I can play around and see how they differ. But yea it's a big hobby of mine, so I don't really put a prince tag on my passion. Waiting for a bargain is all good, but don't forget your time waiting and bidding and watching is also worth something 😉
Ind the end of the day I will have my Roland units and can wallow in nostalgic memories! Playing Wing Commander and Monkey Island 2 and Fate of Atlantis with a MT-32 (well in these two cases it will be a CM unit as these games support these 33 extra sound effects) has been a lifelong dream for me and I will enjoy every minute of it!
EDIT: 220 for which unit? CM-500s go for $400 and the sad thing is that most are not aware that the CM-500 has a vibrato that is faster than previous units and IMO the least useful unit for actually playing games.
MT-100 is a MT-32 (New) but many are not aware of this. For Sound Canvas there are many alternative modules like the SC55-ST or CM-300 and so on...
A bit of research and you look a bit outside the mainstream markets and it's not nearly as bad as it looks...
EDIT: From what I have seen the MT-32s are quite cheap and from the CM units the CM-64 is the easiest to find and usually quite cheap also. LAPC-I and CM-500 demand just silly prices. The LAPC-I is an internal card, so you are very limited with what you can do. External units you can hook up to a new machine with a USB midi cable and play DosBox game or plain midi files if you like.
The CM-64 is a CM-32L together with another module (CM-32P). The CM-32L and CM-64 IMO are the most useful untis as they don't have the buffer issue of the MT-32 (Old), come with these 33 extra sound effects and don't suffer from the vibrato bug (which the CM-500) has...
EDIT EDIT: Here is an example. A MT-100 just sold on ebay Australia for 100 bucks shipped. Thats a fair price I believe: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI … e=STRK:MEWAX:IT