Nashville, TN (October 23, 2025)—Few bands have been more influential than Kraftwerk, the pioneering German electronic music act that paved the way for synth pop, EDM, techno, instrumental hip-hop and countless niche genres. Now the studio gear and instruments of late founding member Florian Schneider will go up for bid on November 19, 2025. Julien’s Auctions will hold the auction simultaneously online and at the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in Nashville, TN.
Schneider, who passed in 2020 at the age of 73, co-founded the group in 1970, initially focusing on the flute, which he would play treated with effects. Later on, he moved to stringed instruments like guitar and violin, before largely focusing on synthesizers, sound design and speech synthesis. The items up for auction draw from all those areas, with seemingly endless numbers of flutes, tubas, horns, guitars, basses and saxes on offer—but naturally many potential bidders will be more interested in the vintage synthesizers, drum machines, tube-based gear, racks and the like being placed up for sale.
A notable highlight of the auction is Schneider’s personal EMS Synthi AKS Suitcase Synthesizer from the early 1970s. Carrying an auction estimate of $20,000, it was the first synth owned by Kraftwerk, purchased in 1972, and Schneider initially used it for processing his flute through it. The Synthi sports three oscillators, a 16×16 pin matrix, 20 pins, ring modulator, envelope filter, reverberation and more.
Another way that Schneider treated the sound of his flutes early on was to use a Dynacord Echocord Super Tape Echo Unit, now up for auction. Expected to go for $5,000, the tape echo unit was used to multiply and echo flute tones during early live performances of the song “Ruckzuck” in 1970.
Given Schneider’s interest in voice synthesis, it’s not too surprising that he owned a number of Sennheiser VSM 201 Vocoders up for auction, which he used on albums like The Man Machine (1978) and Computerworld (1981). A standard VSM 201 in the auction carries an estimate of $20,000-$40,000, while another, part of a larger rack of gear, is uniquely painted grey and was used at the band’s famed Kling-Klang Studio.
Discover more great stories—get a free Mix SmartBrief subscription!
Numerous vintage microphones are also being offered, including an M49 with M73 mic tester; U47 tube condenser; another M49; and an AKG C30A.
But while mics and instruments may be rare but otherwise “findable,” there are a number of unique, likely one-of-a-kind items set to hit the auction block as well, such as a 1954 Klangfilm CCC-Film Tube Mixing and Control Console that Schneider had restored in 2007. Listed with an auction estimate upwards of $10,000, the catalog describes it, noting
“The console is a large metal desk unit on a metal frame with casters, power input and six Left-Monitor-Right connections on the left side, six unmarked connections on the right side with two additional XLR beneath them, and 12 XLR connections on the back. Equipped with two identical control banks on each top corner for the console’s six channels and 12 inputs, a trio of hi-low equalizers, four banks of Left-Monitor-Right mix W68 sliders, a trio of % meters and associated controls, a central Volume indicator, and six Klangfilm RZ-062B tube three band EQs. On the front are three black magnets with neon green numbers: 25, 26, and 29. Underneath the console are 12 V72 cassette preamplifiers, two V74s, and one KLQ-565B. Power cable is missing. Includes a box of Tuchel connector cables.”
Equally unique for MIDI aficionados will be the pair of MIDI devices hand-built by Schneider himself. The units—Matrix Switches and a Phoneme Keyboard that share a stand—were used at Kraftwerk’s Kling Klang Studio in conjunction with a Robovox and Votrax Silver Rack Case that is being auctioned separately.
For those who want something besides gear or vintage instruments, there’s plenty of unlikely ephemera up for auction, like suits; oddball turntables; a wig; Schneider’s grey 1964 Volkswagen minibus; his 1968 passport; and, of course, multiple tandem bicycles.
The one-day auction will begin at 10 AM, CST on November 19, 2025; more information is available at Juliensauctions.com.
