🔗 Share this article

This innovator of electronic music with the group the German electronic band revolutionized popular music and influenced musicians ranging from Bowie to Run-DMC.

Currently, the musical tools along with devices utilized by the musician for producing the group's famous compositions throughout two decades are estimated to earn a high six-figure sum when they are sold at auction next month.

Rare Glimpse of Final Solo Project

Recordings related to his own venture that Schneider was working on prior to his passing due to cancer aged 73 back in 2020 can be heard initially in a video related to the event.

Extensive Collection of Personal Belongings

Together with his suitcase synthesiser, his wind instrument and his vocoders – utilized by him to make his voice sound like a robot – collectors have the opportunity to buy approximately 500 of Schneider’s personal possessions at the auction.

These include his set exceeding 100 brass and woodwind instruments, numerous Polaroid photographs, his shades, the passport for his travels until 1978 plus his custom van, which he custom-painted grey.

His cycling gear, featured in Kraftwerk’s Tour de France music video and is depicted on the single’s artwork, will be auctioned on 19 November.

Sale Information

The total estimated value from the event ranges from $450,000 to $650,000.

The group was revolutionary – among the earliest acts that used synthesisers producing sounds that no one had ever heard of before.

Other bands considered their music astonishing. It revealed an innovative direction for compositions developed by the group. It encouraged a lot of bands to shift towards synthesizer-based tunes.

Featured Lots

• One voice modulator possibly utilized on albums for recordings during their peak and early '80s work may go for a high estimate.
• An EMS Synthi AKS believed to be utilized in early work their iconic release has an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.
• The flute, a classic design that Schneider used alongside electronic gear through the early '70s, is valued at $8K–$10K.

Quirky and Personal Items

Among the lowest-priced items, a collection of about 90 Polaroid photographs Schneider took featuring his wind collection is on sale for $100 to $200.

Additional unique items, such as a see-through, vibrant yellow instrument and a “very unique” insect replica, placed at his studio, may go for $200–$400.

Schneider’s gold-framed eyewear with green lenses along with instant photos of him wearing them could sell for under $500.

Family’s Words

His view was that instruments should be used and enjoyed by others – not stored away or gathering dust in storage. He hoped his instruments to be passed to people who would truly value them: artists, gatherers and those inspired through music.

Enduring Impact

Reflecting on their contribution, a well-known drummer stated: Starting out, they inspired us. Autobahn was an album that made us all sit up and say: what’s this?. They were doing innovative work … fresh sounds – they were consciously rejecting previous styles.”