Professionally Serviced British Classic in Excellent Working Order

Overview

We are delighted to present this Oxford Synthesiser Company OSCar – w/MIDI, a beautifully preserved example of one of the most distinctive and forward-thinking British synthesizers ever built.

Designed by Chris Huggett, the OSCar embodied a unique fusion of digital precision and analogue warmth — combining digitally controlled oscillators with a true analogue filter and amplifier path. Released in the early 1980s, it stood apart for its bold industrial design and its adventurous sonic architecture, which offered both subtractive and additive synthesis capabilities long before such hybrid flexibility became commonplace.

Equally admired by musicians, producers, studios, and collectors, the OSCar remains a landmark in British synthesizer design — unmistakable in both sound and style.

This particular example is an original UK/EU production model, factory-fitted with MIDI, and offered through the RL Music Brokering Service on behalf of a long-term UK owner.

Condition

This OSCar is presented in very good overall condition, graded 9/10 under RL Music’s in-house professional evaluation system, applied to all collector-grade instruments to ensure transparency and confidence for discerning buyers.
There are light signs of age and use visible on the casing and control surfaces, consistent with a carefully used 1980s instrument. The screen-printing around the high-usage Volume potentiometer shows the most noticeable wear, but again, this is quite consistent with many other OSCars we have seen over the years. The distinctive moulded ABS body remains clean and intact, and all controls and keys function exactly as intended. Overall, this OSCar presents as a well-maintained and cherished example.

Servicing & Restoration

This OSCar was evaluated and bench-tested by KSR in October 2025, confirming full operational status ahead of sale.
Following purchase, it will undergo a comprehensive post-sale service by KSR, including:

• Full power-supply re-cap and conditioning
• Calibration and general health check
• Minor preventive maintenance for long-term stability

This post-sale service is included in the purchase price to ensure the instrument is delivered performing at its very best, fully meeting RL Music standards.

Provenance

This OSCar has been in the possession of its current owner for around 20 years, having originally been purchased via eBay from a seller in Italy. The instrument was serviced in the mid-2000s by the well-known UK synth technician James Walker, who performed a general overhaul that included re-capping (extent unknown) and hard-wiring the two main PCBs together with jumper wires to improve reliability. Since then, the synth has performed flawlessly and has not required any further technical attention.

This particular OSCar left the Oxford Synthesiser Company factory with the factory-fitted MIDI interface, rather than having it retrofitted later.

Technical Overview

• Oscillators: 2 digitally controlled oscillators with multiple waveforms, additive synthesis capability, and oscillator sync
• Filter: Dual 12dB filters switchable to 24dB ladder mode, with low-pass, band-pass, and high-pass configurations and self-oscillation
• Modulation: Single LFO with multiple destinations, plus an envelope generator for both filter and amplifier
• Memory & Control: 24 patch memories, duophonic operation, factory-fitted MIDI
• Output: Mono audio output with external input for filter processing
• Power: UK/EU 220–240V model with hard-wired UK 3-pin mains cable

This combination of digital control, analogue signal path, and additive waveform design gives the OSCar its unmistakable sonic personality — from deep basses to rich, harmonic textures.

Handy Links

• OSCar Synthesizer – YouTube Review by GForce (Dave Spiers)
• Sound On Sound – OSCar Retrospective Review
• RL Music Archive – OSCar Owner’s Manual (PDF Download)

Price & Availability

£5,990 GBP — available now.

As this is a brokered sale, no VAT is applicable to UK buyers. International buyers are responsible for any import duties or taxes levied in their respective countries.

The instrument will be supplied fully tested, carefully packaged, and prepared to RL Music standards — meaning it has been professionally inspected, fully quality-controlled, and presented to the highest collector-grade specification to ensure authenticity, reliability, and buyer confidence.

Increasingly sought after worldwide, the OSCar represents not only a fascinating milestone in synthesizer history but also a sound long-term investment in British analogue innovation.

Payment

Due to the high value, we accept bank transfer only (UK Faster Payments / CHAPS or international wire).
Full payment details will be provided on the invoice.

Packing & Shipping

We ship worldwide. Packing, shipping, and insurance are not included in the sale price and are quoted upon request.
Our standard practice is professional, export-grade packaging tailored to the instrument and fully insured for its sale value.

UK buyers are welcome to collect from Reading, Berkshire, or we can arrange a dedicated personal delivery within the UK (subject to quotation).
We are happy to tailor a logistics solution to your specific requirements.

Warranty

RL Music provides a full 3-month warranty on this instrument, covering all labour and parts. Our warranty guarantees that the synth will arrive in excellent working order and perform exactly as described.

Conclusion

A true British classic, the Oxford Synthesiser Company OSCar remains one of the most characterful and innovative monosynths of the 1980s.
This example combines verified working condition, authentic originality, and professional servicing by KSR — a superb opportunity for musicians, producers, studios, collectors, and investors alike to own one of the most distinctive and musically expressive instruments ever created.

Pictures 

If you would like specific photographs — such as panel close-ups, internal boards, MIDI ports, or serial plates — please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

We are Brokering this EML-101 for a UK customer.

Came into stock: October 2019.

Restoration Status: KSR has already health-checked this pre-restored instrument and gave a 100% pass, so it’s ready for sale now.

Remarks: A super condition example of a rare machine to see available for sale these days and in the scheme of things, not all that well known either.  To any aficionado of vintage analogue synthesisers, Electronic Music Laboratories involvement with music instrument goes back to the late 1960s, and much like the British EMS products, share a similar boutique feel to them, was sold to education facilities (universities and schools etc.) and oozes charter and uniqueness.  

The EML-101 was the third product to come out of Connecticut, in the USA, from 1972 and much like the Arp 2600, is 4 x VCO, 3 x VCF semi-modular system that offers duo phonic operation and patchable break-out to really dig into the sound design possibilities.  The architecture of the EML differs from what Arp and Moog were doing in their designs at that time as it uses op-amps to deliver much from stability in tuning, and reliability in general.

This particular example has been subjected to a sympathetic restoration, having a beautifully made wood cabinet & catches/handles for the keyboard and main synth.  The main control panel was left original, so shows a natural patina for its age, retaining that vintage feel and look.  Internally, the circuits are all in outstanding condition, being well mounted internally and of course, the whole system is fully operational.  The keyboard has had new bushes fitted and plays beautifully.  The mains transformer has been upgraded to a high-quality toroidal one with a very professionally installed voltage rectifier circuit. It operates on 220~240V rather than the original US voltage – this has made the 101 very stable and it has a very low noise floor. Surprisingly so for such an old instrument (47 years at most).

Our client, the owner, did not commission the restoration, so we don’t have any information on who did the work, but it’s of the very highest standard and certainly equal to anything we could have achieved if it had been one of our own projects.

Our client purchased the EML-101 from a Swedish collector/musician about 3 years ago, so it’s not been in his possession all that long, but they told us that It is an early version as it doesn’t have the ‘SEQ IN’ socket on the patch-bay, but has the ‘CM2’ out socket.

Kent at KSR has given a full health-check of the EML-101 and told us ‘it was perfect’ so there were no service items to carry out.  This verifies what our client told us as well, so we’re confident this is ready for sale and shipping now.

As mentioned above, the EML-101 runs on 220~240V, sold with a full 3-month warranty and a copy of the owners manual will be supplied (PDF) as well.

Price: £3,200 GBP.

Availability: This EML-101 is now SOLD, as at 10th March 2020.

Click on the thumbnails for higher resolution photos of actual EML-101 for sale.

We are Brokering this instrument for and on behalf of our client

Came into stock: Arrived at RL Music in April 2018

Restoration Status: Kent Spong of KSR completed the full 6-week restoration on 22nd June 2018, so the system now resides with RL Music in Reading, UK.

We probably don’t need to make much in terms of introduction here, but with there only believed to be 40 System 700 ever made, then you will appreciate this instrument was scarce even when it was in manufactured during the period of 8 years from 1976.

As electronic musical instruments go, this is considered by many to be the Holy Grail of synthesizers, and is without any doubt, amongst the very best designed and built analogue modular synthesizers ever made. It’s not for us to sell the virtues of such an outstanding instrument as the worlds most accomplished synthesists have shown the capability of these beautiful creations, so we will just talk here about this particular instrument that’s available for sale.

Provenance

This System 700 has very recently (March 2018) been purchased from its original owner in Japan. The owner purchased it new from Roland and had it kept in their home all that time, and although they could not recall the exact date it was bought, it was certainly around 40 years ago. The incredible instrument has been imported directly into the EU from Japan and is now being offered by RL Music for sale.

Cosmetic Condition

Upon arrival at RL Music, we checked over the system and found it to be 100% intact with all the controls, ancillary hardware (including all lids), knobs, sliders caps, switches, keys, cables and serial plates etc., all to be present and correct.

The condition of the Tolex covering on each and every Block is excellent, and the anodised control surfaces & screen print on each individual module to be superb, with only minimal wear…remarkable! Kent carried out some light restorative re-finishing to the Tolex to bring back its depth-of-colour and lustre. There is a ‘Roland” badge missing off the Block 4 lid, but all others are present on the other lids.

There is a small scuff on the sequencer panel, and some of the anodising on certain modules has oxidised due to age, but otherwise, this is a close to perfection as is possible, and the dream of most of us to own. KSR stripped each panel and deep-cleaned the anodised surfaces (very carefully).

Operational Condition

Kent carried out a 6-week complete overhaul of the system, so every jack-socket, sliders, block-connector, DIN-socket, interconnect cables and switches have been deep cleaned & lubricated. The twin VU meters were replaced with NOS Roland meters as the originals were no longer working.

Each and every Module was removed, tested, deep-cleaned and fully calibrated. A number of the power-regulation capacitors were replaced due to the originals having failed due to age. The PSU has been fully refurbished.

The Keyboard was stripped and fully overhauled.

Every single function and detail of the modular system has been methodically & fastidiously addressed, and after investing over £15K GBP in restoration costs, it now works flawlessly and looks stunning!

Configuration

This is a slightly non-standard configured system, and a manufactured later in the production run of these professional studio systems, from what we could ascertain, so here is a full configuration breakdown:

Block 1-Main Console (sn: 590069)
This is the Heart of the System, and it contains all the basic modules necessary for a professional system. It has 3 x VCO, 1 x Low Pass VCF, 1 x LP/BP/HP VCF, 2 x VCA, 2 x LFO, 1 x Dual ADSR Envelope Generators, Noise, Ring Mod, Voltage Processor, S/H, Envelope Follower, Integrator (Lag Processor), 1 x Mixer, 2 X 5 multiples, Headphone Monitor Module, and an Output Module, which includes Stereo VU Meters, a six-position test-tone, Phase Shifter, Spring Reverb, and voltage controlled Panning. Most common module connections (power, cv, gate) are made internally for easier patching.

Block 2 – Keyboard Controller (sn: 630116):
The 61-key two-voice Keyboard with Portamento and Pitch-bend controls.

Block 3 – Sequencer (sn: 800097):
This offers 3 x 12 step sequencer with Pulse Shaper, Clock Oscillator, and Series / Parallel output sections – considered one of the best analogue sequencers ever made.

Block 4 – VCO Bank (sn: 800002):
6 x VCO, 1 x Dual ADSR Envelope Generator, 2 x LFO, Sample and Hold and 1 x Mixer.

Block 5 – VCF/VCA Bank (sn: 800003):
1 x Low Pass VCF, 1 x LP/BP/HP VCF, 2 x VCA, Noise Generator, Ring Modulator, 1 x Dual ADSR Envelope Generator, 2 x Mixers and 2 x Gate Delay.

Block 6 – Interface/Mixer (sn: 780089):
1 x Frequency-to-Voltage Converter (with VDU) Interface with Envelope Follower & Gate Signal Generator, a VCA, 9-channel Audio Mixer, and a Multimode Filter.

Block 7 – Phase Shifter/Audio Delay (sn: 800001):
A 2-channel Phase Shifter and a 2-channel Audio Delay, Amplifier, Envelope Follower, Integrator (Lag Processor), 2 x Mixers and a Sample & Hold.

What does it sound like?
It sounds incredible and can be huge or beautifully musical and subtle…like any quality modular system, but the System 700 has its own sound and unique character. Kent at KSR actually wrote a short track with the System 700 just after he had completed the restoration work, so if you click the link below you can listen to the piece on his Soundcloud account:

https://soundcloud.com/ksr80/uphill-700

The System 700 is a professional grade instrument, with a price tag to match back in the late 1970s, and recent specialist auction prices ( £110K GBP at VEMIA November 2017) show that these have risen very sharply in price. Demand has always been very high for anything System 700 related, either in the Lab Systems or separate Blocks being sold, but finding a full system is exceptionally rare.

Now the System 700 has been meticulously restored, we are selling it with a full 6-month warranty, and we will ship worldwide. A quote for custom packing (by us), shipping & insurance to get it to you will be produced upon request. Delivery by us (in person) is possible for most UK destinations – prices subject to address.

This beautiful behemoth of a synthesizer runs on 110V. We are not supplying any 1/4” jack audio cables with the sale, and unfortunately, the original owners manual was not supplied to us, but we do have a high-quality version in PDF which we will include in the sale.

This is one serious music machine and words simply can’t describe the power and potential for infinite sound creation possibilities. There is such a lot to say about this legendary and beautiful modular system but we just haven’t enough room here on our website so please call or email us to discuss your requirements.

Price: £70,000 GBP

Availability: This Roland System 700 is now SOLD on deposit, as at 15th february 2019.

Click on the thumbnail for higher resolution photos of the actual (post-restoration) System 700 for sale.

We are Brokering this instrument for and on behalf of our UK client.

Came into stock: Available from RL Music as at 13th June 2018.

Servicing Status: A full service by KSR has already been carried out (June 2018), so the Arp Odyssey Mk3 (model 2821) is available for sale now.

Remarks: We’re very pleased to be able to offer this truly stunning condition example of one of the world best-known & loved vintage synths – much cloned but never surpassed!

This Odyssey Mk3 forms part of a larger collection of vintage synths that we are brokering as part of an Estate clearance. The owner of this Odyssey had this beautiful synthesizer maintained with no expense spared, and at some time in the last 10 years they had ALL the sliders replaced with new original Arp stock (NOS), so this synth literally feels and plays like brand new..amazing!

Cosmetically, this 37+ year-old vintage analogue instrument is in outstanding cosmetic & operational condition and we would rate this as a Collector Grade – 9 out of 10. As mentioned above, KSR has only just fully serviced it, so it’s 100% perfect operationally – this is a real keeper!

The (last produced in 1981) Mk3 Odyssey is arguably the prettiest iteration of the Odyssey family with the striking panel colours and unique design feature with the exposed keys (same as the Quadra), well we think so anyway. The Duophonic Mk3 features the beautiful Arp 4075 discrete four-pole 24dB lowpass/high pass filter. It has CV/Gate/Trig/Filter/Audio/Pedal I/O along the back-plane of the synth, plus the XLR output etc.

This Mk3 Odyssey operates on EU 220V. We do have a user manual (in PDF format). As the instrument is being Brokered through RL Music, it will be sold with a full 3-month warranty and we can ship worldwide.

Demos are available by appointment only.

Price: £1800 GBP.

Availability: This Mk3 Odyssey is now SOLD as at 15th June 2018.

Click on the thumbnails for higher resolution photos of the actual Mk3 Odyssey for sale.

We are Brokering this Korg 800DV for and on behalf of our UK customer.

Came into stock: 15th April 2016.

Servicing Status: Full service by KSR will commence post-sale.

Remarks: We just love the 800DV (or Maxi-Korg 800DV), as it’s just one of those great sounding but quirky synths from a really creative time in the mid-1970s when some amazing designs were coming out from Japan.

The 800DV offers duophonic operation (hence the DV – Dual Voice), and the sound engine from the 700/700S synths from Korg. Some say it’s two MiniKorgs in a box, but it’s a lot more than that, and the sonic pallet is very thick and powerful with some very musical effects like the ring modulator and various routing options. The front-panel operation is a little non conventional and takes some time to master, but the uniqueness of this one-of-a-kind synth make is very desirable.

Our friend, Dave Spears at GForce Software, produced a really superb demo video on the 800DV as he’s clearly a great fan of the synth (as we are also, and we own one too), so please click the link to see this: https://youtu.be/OUU2UVvglck

A useful CV/Gate modification (Hz/V) has previously been implemented to both the lower and upper synths on this example that we are Brokering. This is something that really adds some value to the 800DV for MIDI access via a converter, or use by other Hz/V Korg synths like the MS20 or PS3100 etc.

The overall cosmetic condition of this 41 year old vintage Korg is very good (see pictures), although it does show reasonable signs of age and wear to the control surface & cabinet, as to be expected.

This 800DV runs on US 110V, but the Korg will be supplied with an EU 220V step-down transformer free of charge by the owner. In addition, there is a ‘used’ aluminum flight-case included in the sale, although we will not ship the synth in this, so for any buyer able to collect it, then it will be included free of charge.

Sold with a full RL Music 3 month warranty.

As with all Brokered Sales, the synth will be fully serviced post-sale, before it’s sent to its new owner. We do this to ensure that the instrument leaves us in perfect operational condition, and it is backed up by our full warranty to give the new owner complete peace of mind. The servicing is carried out as a priority once the the sale has been completed, and although it will delay shipping/delivery by a short time, we know from experience that customers are happy to wait.

Price: £1750 GBP.

Availability: This Korg 800DV is no longer available (updated 29th Sept 2016).

Click on the thumbnails for higher resolution photos of the actual 800DV for sale.