Julien’s Auction has completed its auction of items from the collection of Kraftwerk founder Florian Schneider, with many of the rare instruments selling for record prices.

The auction featured Schneider’s personal instruments, which were used in creating the ground-breaking recordings of Kraftwerk, as well as personal items from his home.

The Kling Klang Sennheiser VSM-201 Vocoder, above, sold for $256,000, about 5 times what it was expected to sell for.

The vocoder is not only rare as an instrument – only a few dozen Vocoder VSM-201 were made – but vocoded vocals are one of the most iconic elements of Kraftwerk’s sound.

Schneider’s EMS Synthi A suitcase synthesizer, above, sold for $115,200 – again, about 5 times what the auctioneer’s original estimate.

The Synthi is extremely rare, but this one is also notable for being Kraftwerk’s first synthesizer. It was purchased around 1972, and can be seen being used in some of the band’s early performances.

Schneider’s Robovox and Votrax Silver Rack Case, above, sold for $76,800.

The system features a Telefunken rack unit, two Robovox Sculpture MIDI rack devices, and seven Votrax VS-6 speech synthesizer rack units. These were used at Kling Klang Studio to create the iconic robotic speech sounds which opened each Kraftwerk concert from 1981-2002.

The instrument above is Schneider’s rare Telefunken Trautonium Ela T 42 “Volkstrautonium,”, which sold for $38,400.

The Trautonium features a string input device with seven auxiliary keys, a three octave range and controls for Register, Stimmung (Mood) A-C, and a slider for the positioning of the auxiliary keys. Includes fold-out music stand built into the lid.

Its an extremely rare instrument, which debuted at the 1933 Berlin Radio Exhibition. Schneider purchased it directly from Trautonium inventor Oscar Sala during a visit with his students from Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design, where he was a professor.

Another one of the rare high-end synths sold in the auction is this 1978 Korg PS-3200 synthesizer and keyboard, which sold for $25,600.

The PS-3200 features 16 patch memory locations, 48 note polyphony, temperament adjustment, 2 VCOs per voice each with their own VCF and LFOs, low pass, and envelope generator.

According to the Florian Schneider Estate this synthesizer and keyboard were both used at Kraftwerk’s studio Kling Klang.

In addition to all the rare and custom Kraftwerk gear, the auction also included some more common synths, like this Casio CZ-101, which sold for $2,880:

The CZ-101 is one of the biggest-selling synths of all time – so it’s clear from the sale price that the gear’s Kraftwerk connection is multiplying the value of many of these instruments by 5 times or more.

In addition to his instruments, the auction also featured many of Schneider’s personal items, including this 1964 Volkswagen Type 2/T1 Kastenwagen (Panel Van), which sold for $44,800.

The van was used the van Schneider to move equipment from Kraftwerk’s studio Kling Klang to his private studio.

See the Julien’s site to review the full auction results.

What do you think of the results of the Kraftwerk gear auction? Share your thoughts in the comments!