@@lookapi Heheh and then they say Italy's the country of the sun. No, we can make you cry and shiver in horror plus... it's raining! AT LAST! ;) Oh, and I live not far from a cemetery, more than one now that I think about it... enter creepy stringmachine & pipe organ intro ;)
After hearing a Retrosound demo I searched very long for a Performer and then one popped up on eBay in mint condition and I scored it for a very reasonable price. Hearing it live in real life is like heaven, nothing compares to it ❤️ These sounds always remind me of low budget 70s Italian horror movies and make me realize how important music is for cinema.
A childhood friend of mine had one of these he asked me to fix in the mid 80's, I was able to hang on to it for several months after the fix and fell in love with it. On a pure nostalgia trip, I bought one a few years ago, still as lovely as it ever was. Though for some reason mine doesn't sound as good as yours...oh hang on, I play air guitar out of tune....that could be the reason :D
@@AlexBallMusic I must admit, though I have been tempted I havent yet but my excuse is that it would require me to learn to play with more than one finger to see any benefit :D
another great time travel flashback vid! Instantly took me back to circa 79 or so, my Elka Rhapsody permanently plugged thru a Small Stone phaser. Most all of its plastic slider caps snapped off and replaced with big paper clips' tips heated over a flame to glowing; plowed those pups right down into the remaining plastic stems, yikes. Perfectly chintzy replacement parts for a cheap Italian string machine, but nothin' but good memories with that Elka. Thnks for the trip Alex.
I was at the Mosfilm museum, the largest Soviet film studio, and there I learned that one such instrument was in their tone studio, the music in many Soviet films of the 70s-80s was written in Crumar. The soundtrack to The Three Musketeers immediately comes to mind.
Alex, can’t tell you how much I love your videos!!! Whenever a new one comes up I find myself sucked back into your old videos! I recently started doing small dance compositions, but I have no formal training..... so I think it could use some help, but I’m glad to have people inspiring me such as your self!! :)
I love how at the end you often put together a little something for us so we can can get a real idea of how the device or instrument is applied practically. I love the unique sounds these sorts of 70's and early 80's equipment produce, makes me think a lot about sci-fi around the time.
For the first three chords, I thought you were playing the intro to Michael Jacksons' Thriller! lol! A superb string machine from the seventies! Very Moroderesque outro disco song. Thanks for this fine review!
The sounds from this and other machines remind me of Italian Zombie/Horror films. I love this sound. As usual your creative piece at the end was brilliant. I learned some new things from this too, thanks Alex. I will keep my RS-09 (now 30 years old) just to be able to produce this flagship sound!
Yeah, I'm told they were used in horror films. Guess it was a cheap way to get "strings" for your score. I prefer the pop and disco sounds they make, so nostalgic. RS-09 - fun little synth. A bit thin sounding compared to the other stringers but has its charms.
I do like the 'Fett. It's such a fun thing to play. And if you run it through a chain with tiny randomised pitch mod / filter and phaser you can get really close to an analog unit.
I just watched a video where they compared several analog string machines + a waldorf strichfett, and the waldorf sounded absolutely pathetic in comparison to the real ones IMO
Super cool video. This was my dad's main keyboard in the late 70's, along with an Elka X55 organ. The Elka is still home, but the Multiman was sadly stolen some years later. He knows a bit of english (we're italian) so I'll send it to him. As usual, top notch Alex Ball quality.
Absolutely brilliant! A perfect mix of technical and historical information along with demonstration of the capabilities and sounds of the Multiman. I really like that you opened with a playing demo, and closed with the playing demo using the instruments that were contemporary with the Crumar. Why haven't I stumbled on your channel before? Subscription - check!
I was amazed when Roland did not include their RS-505 Paraphonic in their comprehensive timeline of synthesizer products. I felt proud to have owned such a rare instrument that even the manufacturer would forget about it. Roland, however, informed me that they did not consider this string synth to be an actual synthesizer.
@@AlexBallMusic, aha, now I see they have updated their information to include the RS-505 (perhaps due to my inquiry). www.rolandus.com/blog/2014/02/19/roland-synth-chronicle-1973-through-2013/
I bought one of thesse for 60$ in a PAWN SHAWP in my cornfield hometown. Was worth its weight in dollars (it was heavy). No idea what I did with it :) I remember playing it on acid with my friend at like 3am tho. was called the "crumar orchestrator" when I'd come across it or something though
I'm a much bigger fan of the Orchestrator which was sold in Europe as the Crumar Multiman-S. I've got a Soviet clone called the TOM-1501 which delivers the most deliciously dirty strings I've ever heard. Excellent soundtrack machine for Gus and Sid.
Thanks that was a really great summary of where the technology fitted in - I sort of understood string v synths but you filled in a lot of gaps in my understanding and the paraphonic demo was extremely well done. More of a fan of the crumar performer ( due to early Duran Duran ) but this sounded excellent!
A bit like Drum Synths that occupied a window until drum machines came along, the string synths are very distinctive. I bet people couldn't wait to see the back of them once poly synths (as we now know them) arrived.
Fun fact, Elka and Crumar were established by the same individuals. Perhaps this might be the reason why the Elka Rhapsody 490/610 and the Crumar Orchestrator sound almost identical. Strangely, this Crumar synth also sounds very identical to the ARP Solina and the Logan String Melody in my opinion.
@@AlexBallMusic OH!! I'd love to see what you can do with Russian synths, I've heard of what the Polyvox can do and it's a really beastly, gritty thing!
@@MelonadeM Yeah, the Polivox is probably the most famous, but I had a quick look and discovered it's an entire world with all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Not sure what I could ever get my hands on, but that would be a really fascinating project.
The Crumar was my first 'synth'. I remember lugging this beast to band practice when I was in my first band. Even did a few gigs with it. With an effect pedal or two, you could get some great sounds out of the Crumar. Well, I say great. It's all relative. ;) Then I bought a Juno 60 with inheritance money. Used them both for a time. The Crumar (with lid), the Juno in a flight case and a big keyboard combo amp resulted in me getting free workouts every gig and band practice. ;) Thanks for this trip down memory lane! Great video.
Whenever I see one of your vids in my subbox I know I'm in for a good time, and a whole lotta jealousy. God some of these instruments are just unbelievably gorgeous
Oh no! Well I guess it was out of fashion, heavy and didn't have any connectivity like midi or sync. So I imagine you're not the only one to give an instrument like this away.
I love the talk and presentation of the history, functions, looks etc that ends up in a song in the style from it's time. Solid 10! (Or 11, spinaltap!)
@@AlexBallMusic Keep on trying new things. If you get fixed on a script it will eventually get boring for the viewer. Just don't try to hard reinventing yourself.. so easy to burn out!
@@AlexBallMusic I had one like 10 years ago, but one key didn't work so I gave it away to a guy who'd repair and use it. It was a vermona et-3 which was more like organ sounds - it had 4 drawbars...
I had the Multiman S for years on top of a fender roads and a Jupiter 4 , I loved it , but one night in the middle of a concert in Denmark it sat on fire with Heavy smoke and I went hysteric and it was the end of Crumar Multi M S 😊
Alex Ball The Roads and especially the Jupiter went on for years after that terrible incident , Roland stuff from that age where build like tanks , and I guess some of the new Produkts like Fantom are to ...
Ha! I played one of these in the early 80's. The management for the band I was in had a Crumar string machine and an Arp Axxe. I can still feel the excitement of running that thing through my MXR Phase 90. Life was simpler then.
@@AlexBallMusic I really felt like I was the sh!t. They were a great compliment to the CDX (white elephant) 0652, Wurlitzer M 200 piano, and Minimoog I already had. I was a kid and still a pretty green player with a killer setup. I couldn't imagine carrying all that crap around with me now.
Yeah, that's the kind of setup that would be great in a studio now, but entirely impractical live. I've interviewed some guys who lugged massive modular synths around in the 70s. Seems bonkers now.
I love the paraphonic sound of 70s string machines, as well as synths like the Korg Poly-800 which is also paraphonic. Great explanation Alex. Instant charming demo track as well. Cheers! :)
Yeah, it's the combination of the divide down thing, paraphony, those waveshapers and bbd delays. Nothing else sounds quite like that. Poly-800 - had to look that up as I was surprised. Looks like discrete oscillators run through one filter, but there's individual envelopes for amplitude. So it becomes variophonic by Marc Doty's suggestion. Mmm, very interesting.
@@AlexBallMusic The Poly-800 and I go back a long time and it's one of my favorite synths ever. It's ability to mimic those old string synths are well known even if it's internal electronics are very different. They way it indeed shares it's filter between voices, but at the same time has an analog master clock is somewhat unique and no other synth sounds quite like it. A bit of trivia last here, it was my attempt at making a video of the 800 that started my whole channel here. ;-)
You really have to appreciate what synth heads of the 70's had to go through. What did a string synth cost back then? And then to have that sound work well in certain applications. So if you wanted real string sounds you needed to pony up for a Mellotron. Great video, as always.
Have two price lists from they day that advertise the Multiman for £465. That's about £3,300 in today's money, but when you consider what poly synths (or even monosynths) cost at the time that was peanuts.
I had a few old keyboards from that era. A Roland RS 202 string machine that was fun. I also had a Crumar Orranizer clone wheel at the same time. Later on I bought a weird little Crumar synth called a DS2.
The strings and brass sound identical to my Performer. I was scratching my head trying to figure how this differs at all...then BOOM! “Piano! Clavichord! Bass!”
No doubt the same circuitry. The strings and brass are the best bits to be honest. The other sounds are just bonuses but not particularly useful. Does the Performer have the individual outs like the Multiman?
Great video! Wasn't aware of the technical limitations that led to them. I actually love the sounds even that piano that makes a DX7 sound like a priceless Steinway, lol!
Although the piano sound doesn’t sound like a proper piano (of course), it has a “character “that brings me back the old memories of those days synth electronic keyboards era. I love the strings sounds. I used to have a crumar electric piano DS-50 left somewhere down in Italy.
👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌 The Italian synths are all so musical and poetic. I laughed at your Italian hand gesture because I was watching Michael Portilo in Sicily last night and he was practicing all the different hand gestures with the locals!
You visited a whole museum of them right? Really interesting collection of instruments. Much like the Russian synths (or RusKeys as they're jokingly called). Be interested to delve more into those Euro synths.
@@AlexBallMusic I did, it was an exhibition held in old tunnels in Macerata, and everything was plugged in and playable...Hey, I didn't say working! 🤣 I've never played a RusKey, but I just think evil-sounding and communist.
@@ReubenSound I've only seen the Polivoks, but when I've asked around the dealers and collectors I know avoid them as they're a bugger to repair unless you have specific knowledge. Maciek at analogia seems to be the guy. I've heard similar things about Italian synths. Built like Ladas. 😂
@@AlexBallMusic I must admit the Polivoks looks so cool. All the Italian synths I have came damaged in transit from Italy, but to be fair, if you know how to pack a synth you can avoid a lot of the damage.
Thanks. Never heard Laser / Laser, but just checked it out and it's almost exactly the same bass line. Guess there's only five notes to use in a pentatonic riff and the cliché is chords i, vi and v so, perhaps that was inevitable.
You missed the Yamaha SK-15. I know because that’s the string machine I own and it’s actually quite lovely. I definitely enjoy it’s ensemble (chorus) option on the String and Synth sections (simultaneously). It actually compares somewhat favorably with the ARP Omni.
Crumar Strings are the most melancholic. Love it.
Haunting and beautiful.
Yes dark, and a bit of funeral feeel😁
@@lookapi Heheh and then they say Italy's the country of the sun. No, we can make you cry and shiver in horror plus... it's raining! AT LAST! ;) Oh, and I live not far from a cemetery, more than one now that I think about it... enter creepy stringmachine & pipe organ intro ;)
@@DarkSideofSynth ✌✌😁
It sure is, as the Logan machines. @Alex Ball I'd like to hear what you can get from these machines.
I love your compositions.
After hearing a Retrosound demo I searched very long for a Performer and then one popped up on eBay in mint condition and I scored it for a very reasonable price. Hearing it live in real life is like heaven, nothing compares to it ❤️ These sounds always remind me of low budget 70s Italian horror movies and make me realize how important music is for cinema.
🙌
@@retrosound72 hahaha. You've cost me a lot of money lol
@@reneotten7376 fantastic. 😁
Money is overrated.😄
@@retrosound72 Yessss
Gotta love Retrosound for straight up (headless) demos. Lost many an evening scrolling through them.
There really is nothing quite like that divide-down sound. Oddly enchanting. Great vid, thanks.
"Enchanting" is the word!
Love the old school Italian disco vibes at the end. Killer.
Secret Weapon. BRASS filter is a transistor based filter designed by Bob Moog himself, that was consultant for Crumar in the late 70's
ma anche il polifonico Trilogy ha transistor di Moog?
A childhood friend of mine had one of these he asked me to fix in the mid 80's, I was able to hang on to it for several months after the fix and fell in love with it. On a pure nostalgia trip, I bought one a few years ago, still as lovely as it ever was. Though for some reason mine doesn't sound as good as yours...oh hang on, I play air guitar out of tune....that could be the reason :D
"air guitar out of tune" - haha. Gave me a chuckle.
Have you tried using the multi outs and panning yours? That's when it comes alive.
@@AlexBallMusic I must admit, though I have been tempted I havent yet but my excuse is that it would require me to learn to play with more than one finger to see any benefit :D
another great time travel flashback vid! Instantly took me back to circa 79 or so, my Elka Rhapsody permanently plugged thru a Small Stone phaser. Most all of its plastic slider caps snapped off and replaced with big paper clips' tips heated over a flame to glowing; plowed those pups right down into the remaining plastic stems, yikes. Perfectly chintzy replacement parts for a cheap Italian string machine, but nothin' but good memories with that Elka. Thnks for the trip Alex.
I was at the Mosfilm museum, the largest Soviet film studio, and there I learned that one such instrument was in their tone studio, the music in many Soviet films of the 70s-80s was written in Crumar. The soundtrack to The Three Musketeers immediately comes to mind.
Alex, can’t tell you how much I love your videos!!! Whenever a new one comes up I find myself sucked back into your old videos! I recently started doing small dance compositions, but I have no formal training..... so I think it could use some help, but I’m glad to have people inspiring me such as your self!! :)
Thanks Richard, that's really pleasant to hear.
These old synths are probably the closest we have at the moment to a time machine. Back to the future indeed!!
Time capsules for sure. Lovely that they're still around.
I love how at the end you often put together a little something for us so we can can get a real idea of how the device or instrument is applied practically.
I love the unique sounds these sorts of 70's and early 80's equipment produce, makes me think a lot about sci-fi around the time.
Thanks. Yes, I'm always interested in the contextual stuff too.
The Crumar sits well in the mix like a swirly pad. Very lovely sound.
Grazie a te, Alex, bellissimo video!
Italian electronic instrument of that era have such a great character!
2:25 I laughed way too hard. Giorgio Moroder would be proud of this piece.
Sometimes you can have too much polyphony. 😉
I laughed so much I had to rewind 10+ seconds to recap what I missed after that scene.
The sudden transition from informative to downright silly :D.
Make a spoof of that instant or an ear rape of it lol
your videos make me happy
2:24 Lovely. Now I want one, too. I can already imagine my neighbours congratulating me on my virtuosity and asking me to turn up the volume.
Love the outro. Your tracks are always killer. And you go into depth on all these old machines like no other. Thanks!
How you don’t have 500k+ subs is beyond me. This was awesome, like all of your vids...
Guess I make quite niche videos. Might be able to reach 100k at some point.
Thanks for watching!
Oh my God the outro song is a masterpiece 😱
For the first three chords, I thought you were playing the intro to Michael Jacksons' Thriller! lol!
A superb string machine from the seventies! Very Moroderesque outro disco song. Thanks for this fine review!
Jean-Michel Jackson? 😉
Yeah, was going for the Moroder vibe. The Crumar makes that very easy.
@@AlexBallMusic Now that we're on string machines, is there by any chance you could do the korg trident?
@@AlexBallMusic "My name is Giovanni Giorgio, but everyone calls me Giorgio."
@@theshyguy1580 Outside chance I can borrow a Trident, yes. If so then I absolutely will cover it. It's on the bucket list with other Korg polys.
You made it sound fantastic Alex. I love the music at the end.
Thanks Markus. Glad I did it justice. 🙂
The sounds from this and other machines remind me of Italian Zombie/Horror films. I love this sound. As usual your creative piece at the end was brilliant. I learned some new things from this too, thanks Alex. I will keep my RS-09 (now 30 years old) just to be able to produce this flagship sound!
Yeah, I'm told they were used in horror films. Guess it was a cheap way to get "strings" for your score. I prefer the pop and disco sounds they make, so nostalgic.
RS-09 - fun little synth. A bit thin sounding compared to the other stringers but has its charms.
💎 Or 🦃?
The moment I saw the last bit of this video was labeled "Outro Disco Bonanza", I knew I was in for a treat.
The Waldorf Streichfett does a pretty good job of emulating most of these sounds including built in phaser and reverb effects.
Not tried that. I have the GForce VSM that's excellent. It has the Multiman in it funnily enough.
I think the Streichfett has its own sound, but it’s more digital and not exactly like a 70s stringer.
I do like the 'Fett. It's such a fun thing to play.
And if you run it through a chain with tiny randomised pitch mod / filter and phaser you can get really close to an analog unit.
The Waldorf doesn't even come close to even the worst stringer.
I just watched a video where they compared several analog string machines + a waldorf strichfett, and the waldorf sounded absolutely pathetic in comparison to the real ones IMO
Sound of the future, yesteryear and today, all in one.
Great video! I like the Crumar stuff... love my Crumar Performer and my Multiman-S, they sound very different.
Would love to try the Performer at some point. Really liked the Multiman.
I forgot about the BRASS section on Crumars. Very cool.
Super cool video. This was my dad's main keyboard in the late 70's, along with an Elka X55 organ. The Elka is still home, but the Multiman was sadly stolen some years later.
He knows a bit of english (we're italian) so I'll send it to him. As usual, top notch Alex Ball quality.
So he got it new? Must have been very cool for the time.
I'm amazed somebody managed to steal it, it's so heavy. Was that from the house?
@@AlexBallMusic I don't remember the exact details but it was in a rehearsal space along with other things, I'm guessing it was street level
He bought the Elka in 1978, so I guess the Multiman S came not long after, he used it well into the early 80s
Very interesting, thanks for the info.
@@AlexBallMusic Thank you again for the video!
Absolutely brilliant! A perfect mix of technical and historical information along with demonstration of the capabilities and sounds of the Multiman. I really like that you opened with a playing demo, and closed with the playing demo using the instruments that were contemporary with the Crumar. Why haven't I stumbled on your channel before? Subscription - check!
I was amazed when Roland did not include their RS-505 Paraphonic in their comprehensive timeline of synthesizer products. I felt proud to have owned such a rare instrument that even the manufacturer would forget about it. Roland, however, informed me that they did not consider this string synth to be an actual synthesizer.
Which list was that?
I'm surprised as it contains a synthesizer section as well as strings and brass.
@@AlexBallMusic, aha, now I see they have updated their information to include the RS-505 (perhaps due to my inquiry). www.rolandus.com/blog/2014/02/19/roland-synth-chronicle-1973-through-2013/
RS 505 is one of the greatest synths ever made.
Lol man that Italian 6:34! it was good! Excellent in-depth video guys!
I bought one of thesse for 60$ in a PAWN SHAWP in my cornfield hometown. Was worth its weight in dollars (it was heavy).
No idea what I did with it :) I remember playing it on acid with my friend at like 3am tho.
was called the "crumar orchestrator" when I'd come across it or something though
I'm a much bigger fan of the Orchestrator which was sold in Europe as the Crumar Multiman-S. I've got a Soviet clone called the TOM-1501 which delivers the most deliciously dirty strings I've ever heard. Excellent soundtrack machine for Gus and Sid.
Excellent video! great sounds! great synth...nostalgia.....;)
Thank you!
Molto simpatico! And very nice video with this Crumar synth of my dreams
Thanks that was a really great summary of where the technology fitted in - I sort of understood string v synths but you filled in a lot of gaps in my understanding and the paraphonic demo was extremely well done. More of a fan of the crumar performer ( due to early Duran Duran ) but this sounded excellent!
A bit like Drum Synths that occupied a window until drum machines came along, the string synths are very distinctive.
I bet people couldn't wait to see the back of them once poly synths (as we now know them) arrived.
Absolutely beautiful, I can definitely see how something like this would work for people who couldn't afford an actual polysynth at the time.
Nice! Reminds me of my Elka Rhapsody
Fun fact, Elka and Crumar were established by the same individuals. Perhaps this might be the reason why the Elka Rhapsody 490/610 and the Crumar Orchestrator sound almost identical. Strangely, this Crumar synth also sounds very identical to the ARP Solina and the Logan String Melody in my opinion.
That last song reminds me of Cerrone's Supernature, good stuff!
I'm born on these vibes... I remember/feel it... Awesome video... More please!
Akai just added a VM Solina to its MPC range. CZcams searches 'Alex Ball Strings' Nice result, thank you.
you're the best my friend 👍 bravissimo 😎
Oh wow, a synth from Italy? Now that's fascinating! I really really like the song at the end too - great work!
Yeah, there's quite a few Italian synths. There was also a considerable Russian synth offering.
Worlds to explore at some point.
@@AlexBallMusic OH!! I'd love to see what you can do with Russian synths, I've heard of what the Polyvox can do and it's a really beastly, gritty thing!
@@MelonadeM Yeah, the Polivox is probably the most famous, but I had a quick look and discovered it's an entire world with all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Not sure what I could ever get my hands on, but that would be a really fascinating project.
@@AlexBallMusic Absolutely! I'm eager to see what you'd do with any of these should you get your hands on one, keep up the good work as always!!
The Crumar was my first 'synth'. I remember lugging this beast to band practice when I was in my first band. Even did a few gigs with it.
With an effect pedal or two, you could get some great sounds out of the Crumar. Well, I say great. It's all relative. ;) Then I bought a Juno 60 with inheritance money. Used them both for a time. The Crumar (with lid), the Juno in a flight case and a big keyboard combo amp resulted in me getting free workouts every gig and band practice. ;)
Thanks for this trip down memory lane! Great video.
So my inclusion of a Juno with the Crumar was very personal then!
Yeah, that Multiman is a back breaker! Reminds me a bit of lifting a Fender Rhodes.
I keep looking at these on used sites, amazing sound, so tempting.
If you can find one cheap it's worth it. Collection is best as they're so heavy. I was lucky that this was down the road.
Really enjoyed that - what a fun (and oddly endearing) keyboard! Thanks for posting.
"oddly endearing" is a good description.
I really love your videos Alex. Thank you for making them!
Bravo! Bravo! Molto buono signore.
3:37 perfect hand movement for an Italian synth
thanks for making this demo vid
That play out track was just absolutely gorgeous, good grief!
Ahhh the good old Multiman! I had a Hohner Stringer which sounded similar
ALEX!!! THAT DISCO BONANZA SOUNDS EXACTLY LIKE MODERN TALKING'S "YOU CAN WIN IF YOU WANT" ❤!!!!!!!
Thanks Alex. Lovely instrument and a superb demo to show it off.
bravo, amazing video
Whenever I see one of your vids in my subbox I know I'm in for a good time, and a whole lotta jealousy. God some of these instruments are just unbelievably gorgeous
Thanks very much. Yeah, very rose tinted sound to this beauty.
Love that end demo! Killing it, as always. Nice work, man.
That was really good - very authentic flavours - much love to you 🌞
Cheers Paul
This is as old as I am... who of us are keeping up appearances better? ;)
This one is pretty battered and crummy. So...the synth. 😉
Alex Ball LOL! 😘 Very nice Midnight Express-inspired song btw! Full homage to Mr. Moroder! 💖
I owned one of these in the 80s and gave it a way when I went to University, honest - I gave it away...I could cry....
Oh no! Well I guess it was out of fashion, heavy and didn't have any connectivity like midi or sync. So I imagine you're not the only one to give an instrument like this away.
I love the talk and presentation of the history, functions, looks etc that ends up in a song in the style from it's time. Solid 10! (Or 11, spinaltap!)
Thanks. Still experimenting with the way I do things so that's nice to hear.
@@AlexBallMusic Keep on trying new things. If you get fixed on a script it will eventually get boring for the viewer. Just don't try to hard reinventing yourself.. so easy to burn out!
Vermona made a bunch of these type of synths too and they were awesome
Yes, they did. I've not played any of them (or even seen them). Have you got any?
@@AlexBallMusic I had one like 10 years ago, but one key didn't work so I gave it away to a guy who'd repair and use it. It was a vermona et-3 which was more like organ sounds - it had 4 drawbars...
Just Googled that one. Love the design, looks proper retro.
Another really informative video. had one of these about 20 years ago. Weighed a ton! I think I sold it for about £200
Greetings from the land of Crumar! Very good work!
I had the Multiman S for years on top of a fender roads and a Jupiter 4 , I loved it , but one night in the middle of a concert in Denmark it sat on fire with Heavy smoke and I went hysteric and it was the end of Crumar Multi M S 😊
Oh wow, that's a horror story!
Did the Rhodes and Jupiter-4 survive?
Alex Ball
The Roads and especially the Jupiter went on for years after that terrible incident , Roland stuff from that age where build like tanks , and I guess some of the new Produkts like Fantom are to ...
Ah glad to hear!
Great video, probably one of my favourite of yours!
Thanks for letting me know. Much appreciated.
This outro song is one of your best
Always amazing 🤘🚀 - that end tune really nailed it.
The music at the end is glorious!
Sounds super modern!!
Ha! I played one of these in the early 80's. The management for the band I was in had a Crumar string machine and an Arp Axxe. I can still feel the excitement of running that thing through my MXR Phase 90. Life was simpler then.
Crumar for the pads and the Axxe for bass?
Classic combo.
Bet that swelled beautifully through the MXR!
@@AlexBallMusic I really felt like I was the sh!t. They were a great compliment to the CDX (white elephant) 0652, Wurlitzer M 200 piano, and Minimoog I already had. I was a kid and still a pretty green player with a killer setup. I couldn't imagine carrying all that crap around with me now.
Yeah, that's the kind of setup that would be great in a studio now, but entirely impractical live.
I've interviewed some guys who lugged massive modular synths around in the 70s. Seems bonkers now.
I love the paraphonic sound of 70s string machines, as well as synths like the Korg Poly-800 which is also paraphonic. Great explanation Alex. Instant charming demo track as well. Cheers! :)
Yeah, it's the combination of the divide down thing, paraphony, those waveshapers and bbd delays. Nothing else sounds quite like that.
Poly-800 - had to look that up as I was surprised. Looks like discrete oscillators run through one filter, but there's individual envelopes for amplitude. So it becomes variophonic by Marc Doty's suggestion. Mmm, very interesting.
@@AlexBallMusic The Poly-800 and I go back a long time and it's one of my favorite synths ever. It's ability to mimic those old string synths are well known even if it's internal electronics are very different. They way it indeed shares it's filter between voices, but at the same time has an analog master clock is somewhat unique and no other synth sounds quite like it. A bit of trivia last here, it was my attempt at making a video of the 800 that started my whole channel here. ;-)
Sounds thick! I like the filters on this!
i once had a moog opus 3 and loved to put both arms on the keyboard - ey, all the notes!
A friend has the Opus and I had a quick go. Sounds very cool.
You really have to appreciate what synth heads of the 70's had to go through. What did a string synth cost back then? And then to have that sound work well in certain applications. So if you wanted real string sounds you needed to pony up for a Mellotron. Great video, as always.
Have two price lists from they day that advertise the Multiman for £465. That's about £3,300 in today's money, but when you consider what poly synths (or even monosynths) cost at the time that was peanuts.
Thanks so much! This made my day it wan an awesome review! I will watch more of your videos
Thanks very much
sounds great !
I had a few old keyboards from that era. A Roland RS 202 string machine that was fun. I also had a Crumar Orranizer clone wheel at the same time. Later on I bought a weird little Crumar synth called a DS2.
beautiful theme at the end!!! thank you!
Great demo, and amazing song, as usual!
I've got many of them, but still looking for Multiman or Performer. Looking forward to find out one.
Very good Vid, thank you
Very interesting video. Thank you Alex!
Bellissimo!
Grandissimo!
Outro tune is fabulous - thank you Alex!
Thanks very much!
Well done.....
The strings and brass sound identical to my Performer. I was scratching my head trying to figure how this differs at all...then BOOM! “Piano! Clavichord! Bass!”
No doubt the same circuitry. The strings and brass are the best bits to be honest. The other sounds are just bonuses but not particularly useful.
Does the Performer have the individual outs like the Multiman?
Brilliant
Great video! Wasn't aware of the technical limitations that led to them. I actually love the sounds even that piano that makes a DX7 sound like a priceless Steinway, lol!
Yeah, another example where the technical limitations became part of the sound and character.
The piano is horrendous, yeah. 😂
Also in USSR synth named TOM-1501 was made in 80s which very closely resembles this synth.
I had a Crumar Trilogy. Loved it.
Although the piano sound doesn’t sound like a proper piano (of course), it has a “character “that brings me back the old memories of those days synth electronic keyboards era. I love the strings sounds. I used to have a crumar electric piano DS-50 left somewhere down in Italy.
Absolutely, dripping with nostalgia. Played many of those old electric pianos and organs with that sound.
👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌👌
The Italian synths are all so musical and poetic. I laughed at your Italian hand gesture because I was watching Michael Portilo in Sicily last night and he was practicing all the different hand gestures with the locals!
You visited a whole museum of them right? Really interesting collection of instruments.
Much like the Russian synths (or RusKeys as they're jokingly called). Be interested to delve more into those Euro synths.
@@AlexBallMusic I did, it was an exhibition held in old tunnels in Macerata, and everything was plugged in and playable...Hey, I didn't say working! 🤣
I've never played a RusKey, but I just think evil-sounding and communist.
@@ReubenSound I've only seen the Polivoks, but when I've asked around the dealers and collectors I know avoid them as they're a bugger to repair unless you have specific knowledge. Maciek at analogia seems to be the guy.
I've heard similar things about Italian synths. Built like Ladas. 😂
@@AlexBallMusic I must admit the Polivoks looks so cool.
All the Italian synths I have came damaged in transit from Italy, but to be fair, if you know how to pack a synth you can avoid a lot of the damage.
As Italian I really appreciated the "wtf" gesture 🤣 and yes, quegli archi vengono direttamente dal cielo 👌
🇮🇹💪
BRUTSALVADI: SEI PERFETTO MIO FRANELLO.
This is awesome! I love the outro song, the bass riff sounds similar to the italo disco song "Laser" by Laser. Love the videos 🤙🎧🎶
Thanks. Never heard Laser / Laser, but just checked it out and it's almost exactly the same bass line. Guess there's only five notes to use in a pentatonic riff and the cliché is chords i, vi and v so, perhaps that was inevitable.
You missed the Yamaha SK-15. I know because that’s the string machine I own and it’s actually quite lovely. I definitely enjoy it’s ensemble (chorus) option on the String and Synth sections (simultaneously). It actually compares somewhat favorably with the ARP Omni.
Another fantastic video!
I really liked that Italo at the end :)
Lavoro fantastico come al solito, signor Ball!! 🇮🇹👌🏻
Grazie signor synth
Excellent track at the end !
Great as always. LOL great Italian speaking and gesture LOL