Great Price-Per-Controller Shootout

Last night I had the totally crazy idea to ask the question: what's the cheapest way to get some synthy knob action going on? Put another way, how do synths rank on a price-per-knob basis?

Perhaps this has been done before, and if so, it's certainly been done better, 'cause I only spent a few hours last night digging up pictures of the synths, manually counting the controllers, and using my on-going list of E-Bay prices (from early June 2009), which are totally subject to change. ...But here are the results (take them with a huge grain of salt):

• AN200: 18/0+ controllers @ $250 = $13.51/controller
• APC40: 27/0+ controllers @ $400 = $14.55/controller
• Andromeda: 73/3+ controllers @ $2300 = $30.07/controller
• DX200: 18/0+ controllers @ $250 = $13.51/controller
• DarkStar XP2: 15/3 controllers @ $180 = $10.00/controller
• EMX-1: 22/0+ controllers @ $350 = $15.56/controller
• Electribe ES: 10/0 controllers @ $190 = $19.00/controller
• Indigo: 31/2+ controllers @ $750 = $22.39/controller
• Ion: 31/3+ controllers @ $500 = $14.49/controller
• JD-800: 60/2+ controllers @ $550 = $8.80/controller
• JP-8080: 28/14 controllers @ $500 = $11.00/controller
• KS-5: 33/2+ controllers @ $450 = $12.68/controller
• KS-Rack: 33/0 controllers @ $400 = $12.00/controller
• Karma: 15/2+ controllers @ $500 = $28.57/controller
• KeyStation Pro 88: 33/2+ controllers @ $260 = $7.32/controller
• MS2000R: 34/0 controllers @ $340 = $10.00/controller
• Microwave XT: 46/2 controllers @ $600 = $12.00/controller
• Mono/Poly: 41/2+ controllers @ $820 = $18.85/controller
• Nova II XL: 21/2+ controllers @ $850 = $36.17/controller
• Ohm 64: 29/0+ controllers @ $600 = $20.34/controller
• PolyEvolver: 67/2+ controllers @ $1600 = $23.02/controller
• Q-Phoenix: 58/2+ controllers @ $2300 = $38.02/controller
• Q-Rack: 30/0 controllers @ $800 = $26.00/controller
• RM1x: 13/0+ controllers @ $200 = $14.81/controller
• Radias: 40/0 controllers @ $900 = $22.00/controller
• ReMote Zero: 24/0 controllers @ $230 = $9.00/controller
• SH-32: 26/0+ controllers @ $225 = $8.49/controller
• SuperNova (rack): 20/0 controllers @ $560 = $28.00/controller
• SuperNova II (rack): 28/0 controllers @ $675 = $24.00/controller
• Supernova (kb): 43/2+ controllers @ $1000 = $21.98/controller
• Virus A: 32/0 controllers @ $425 = $13.00/controller
• X-Station: 40/0+ controllers @ $350 = $8.64/controller
• XL-7: 18/1+ controllers @ $350 = $17.95/controller
• Z1: 24/4+ controllers @ $480 = $16.84/controller

NOTES:

• The "+" indicates that the box has either a keyboard or pads... kinda-sorta counting this as an extra "controller". I counted it for half a knob. ...Guess I'm biased towards my weighted controller's keyboard! :D
• I counted wheels and ribbons as controllers. X-Y pads and joysticks counted for two (since, really, that's what they are).
• I was really subjective about which boards to include. ...I generally went for the cheapest version that had some non-trivial number of controllers (for example, skipping the Micro-Q, but not going with the "full" Q). There were some exceptions in the cases that I really liked the keyboard version. ; )
• Prices are also somewhat subjective. I really tried to put a value in that represented what I would be willing to pay, given the E-Bay market: I skip the cheapest (don't trust them), and wouldn't bid on the most expensive. ...When there were only a few data-points, though, I took a rough average.
• This may have simply been an exercise to justify the purchase of a JD-800, which I've wanted since it was first released when I was a young lad, and they ran those "what does this button do?" adverts that showed a submarine launching a SAM.

...If you have better information on controllers, please comment. If you have better information on prices, please comment. If you have ideas for other synths that should be weighed, measured, and likely found wanting, please comment. True to my geekery, I wrote a program to calculate this, so I can fix things quickly and update this post. :)