Reverb – the largest online music gear marketplace – has shared its end-of-year lists for 2023, and once again, the lists are dominated by the instruments of Teenage Engineering.
New and used gear, the ‘design-forward’ Swedish company topped the lists, which are based on total number of units sold. While you see a lot of criticisms of TE’s pricing, lots of musicians are buying the original OP-1, the updated OP-1 Field, their affordable Pocket Operators and the new EP-133 K.O. II.
Check out the rankings and share your thoughts in the comments!
Reverb’s Overall Best-Selling Synths & Electronic Gear For 2023:
- Teenage Engineering OP-1
- Roland SP-404MKII
- Elektron Digitakt
- Arturia MicroFreak
- Akai MPC One
- Teenage Engineering PO-33
- Elektron Digitone
- Native Instruments Maschine MKIII
- Make Noise Maths
- Akai MPK Mini MKIII
Reverb notes that the OP-1 has topped their best-selling electronic gear lists for five years straight. While it’s a premium piece of gear, the OP-1’s solid build quality and resale value make it a low-risk instrument to buy used and try out.
Reverb’s Best-Selling New Electronic Gear of 2023
- Teenage Engineering PO-33
- Roland SP-404MKII
- Akai MPK Mini MKIII
- Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88 MKII
- Korg Nu:Tekt NTS-2
- Arturia MicroFreak
- Native Instruments Maschine MKIII
- Arturia MiniFreak
- Teenage Engineering EP-133 K.O. II
- Korg Volca FM2
When it comes to new gear sold on Reverb, Teenage Engineering again tops the list, but this time with their inexpensive Pocket Operator PO-33 micro sampler. The PO-33 is so popular that the company created a more powerful version, the EP-133 K.O. II, that also made Reverb’s top 10.
The list also makes clear that people are interested in hardware samplers, with Roland’s SP-404 MKII taking the # 2 spot. Arturia also clearly has found success with its MicroFreak and MiniFreak synths. A premium ‘SuperFreak’ seems inevitable!\
Reverb’s Best-Selling Used Electronic Gear of 2023
- Teenage Engineering OP-1
- Elektron Digitakt
- Korg MicroKorg
- Elektron Digitone
- Make Noise Maths
- Akai MPC One
- Arturia MicroFreak
- ALM/Busy Circuits ALM017 Pamela’s New Workout
- Moog Mother-32
- Alesis SR-16
The OP-1 tops Reverb’s list of best-selling used gear, and Elektron’s Digitakt and Digitone make the top 5. Korg’s MicroKorg has been on the market for more than 20 years – probably the longest any mass-market synth has ever been sold – so it’s not surprising to see that it’s in the top 5 also.
Surprised by any of Reverb’s sales stats? Share your thoughts in the comments!
This clearly demonstrates that thee is an idiot born every minute!
Based on your statement, that idiot is thee.
Doesnt this just mean people tried to sell off more teenage engineering stuff than any other brand? I,e the t.e stuff wasnt worth keeping. Reverb is practically the same as ebay.
Reverb is a US website and if I’m not mistaken most of the salls are from and to the US (not only but most?) so it’s possible this result is affected by US culture of accumulation and consumerism and it’s not saying much about the actual products. It may mean the OP-1 is more of a temporary dream to some than a practical tool, or maybe it’s all because of the new field version, who knows…
If you search for any of these instruments on Reverb you will generally find just as many if not more listings are based in the EU and UK as in the US
While the US might be a big single market – it’s only about equal to the EU/UK put together
Not that it would have anything to do with it but most of the music tech companies shown in the lists above are based in the EU, UK or elsewhere
The only US companies I see at a glance are Make Noise, Alesis and Moog
You sell because you:
A. Want something else and need the money
B. It sucked and didnt meet your expectations
C. You dont really use it because you have a bunch of other gear
D. You need money
Everyone selling the Op-1 isnt doing it because of just B. And as much flak as TE gets for their absurd prices and rightfully so. It clearly isnt stopping a large group of people (who i assume dont frequent synthtopia) are buying the OP-1. I got me one, perfect cize, perfect sounds, easy to use, usb midi controller side hustle with an ipad or a mpc, quick sampler, nice FX.
I understand the hate, not because it isnt awesome but because it the internet, everyone hates everything.
or you don’t know how to use it
Do they seriously not separate OP-1 vs. OP-1 field sales????
Appears so, definitely skewing the data.
press the link 1, 20
Reverb lists them separately. The OP-1 Field is new, though, and didn’t make the top 10.
oh ok, very surprising, I would have assumed it would have been top 10 already
The list is new ones from shops and used- all the big shops put stuff on Reverb. The list includes a lot of popular and very well respected gear Digitakt, Maths, Pamala Workout, 404, Mother32 so do we assume this is all rubbish as its on the Reverb list?
No, of course not. The only rubbish is the Teenage Engineering stuff that was the subject of the article.
Some brands have a great resell value, most don’t.
Is that by count or by value? ie: 1 Trigon 6 is worth quite a few Volcas.
Total units sold.
I don’t understand why people are so enamoured by the Teenage Engineering OP-1. The Synthstrom Deluge is miles better and miles cheaper too. It’s even had it’s LED 7 Segment display updated to a QLED screen for a price differential that TE would wish didn’t exist…
It looks cool and novel to a lot of people, GearTube was kicking into high gear around the time it came out, Thom Yorke uses one, etc. Mostly reasons that don’t involve insight on what someone needs as a music-maker and a consumer. But then again, there are also people out there who just dig it, have the money to blow, or find it less intimidating and more intuition-based than something like a Deluge.
And my computer is much better than your Synthstrom Deluge, and if you think it’s not comparable this is exactly what i think about your comparison.
i have to admit the OP-1 is really nice to look at. the aesthetics are easy on the eyes. would i buy one…..no, can’t afford it. 🙂