If a synth fan is taking a trip to Orlando, chances are they are not going to Disneyworld. Nearby Winter Park, Florida is the home of the Keyboard Museum, home of over 1,300 vintage keyboards and synthesizers!
The Audio Playground Keyboard Museum came to life in June of 1992, and since then it has amassed a collection of over 1300 items. The museum is free and open to the public, at 699 Clay St., Winter Park, Florida.
The collection is made possible by donations from friends of the museum, and various other sources. Where possible, the equipment is restored to its original cosmetic and mechanical condition. If the necessary parts aren’t available, it will be displayed in the hope that parts become available to make a full restoration possible.
The Audio Playground webpages offer a virtual tour of the collection and shows some of the the electronic instruments and gadgets which have shaped popular (and not so popular) music through the years — from the earliest innovations, to more recent toys.
The museum is working with local schools and developing educational programs for use in the museum and in classrooms.
I started collecting the YAMAHA DX series synths and associated gear in1983 and long ago massed what is believed to be the world’s largest collection of functioning YAMAHA FM synths, a variety of all popular circulated models, some 58 FM units are contained in air-controlled storage in the PHOENIX, AZ AREA. I am planning to return to AUS and will sell the collection which comprises of some 45 DX CRTS, two TG500s, two TX816s, one TX416, a K8 as NIB. Other instruments will be sold, such as mint conditioned (Two copies) of SY77,one SY85, an Alesis QS Plus piano, & a CSX2 .