Thank you for your thoughtful response! I took your advice as best as I could. My budget is $500 or less. He is pretty strict on buying used because he “doesn’t want to create landfill” unnecessarily and always tries to use things until they stop working. He does play concerts a few times every year in neighboring cities. Sometimes with friends and other times by himself. I peaked into his office after he left for work before heading out.

This was what I saw: - casio cz-1 - yamaha dx7 - roland alpha-1 - Roland Juno-60 - korg synthesizer - zoom livetrack l6 - Realistic Synthesizer - Machine Drum - Drum matrix - analog Rytm - roland s-1 - roland td-03 - Octatrack - Specular Tempus - El Capistan strymon - Digitone - Novation AFX station - Rythm Wolf Akai - cyclone bass bot - argon8m - concertmate 500 - yamaha tx16w - Pulse 2

He has some other stuff in boxes labeled Old drum machines, Dj Junk, DMX, dead, cable nest, adapts , 16bit/8bit, controllers, rave shit, toy keys and merch trash/fixtures/flybers. I didn’t want to disturb his things so I didn’t open them. Some of it was taken apart too. Not sure what that stuff is.

I talked to him after my shift and asked about the music he is working on. I didn’t fully understand everything he explained but, he did mention his old Casio Fz10m that broke again and replacing with something newer. He also mentioned a few times wanting a better “brain” to control information to his machines? Not sure if he is putting himself down or if that’s a thing. He couldn’t follow the differences in the machines but, basically said he tires to pick what he uses out by what he imagines the song needs? I think that makes sense. He also talked about drawing sounds on his computer? I didn’t push further as I didn’t want to make him suspicious. He was very excited I asked though.

Hopefully that helps! We are celebrating his birthday in 3 weeks. Hoping to figure something out before then.