"Crumar multiman s3. This is a wonderful machine with a more than inimitable sound. String section, synth section, bass section, piano section, effects section, a real pleasure. String and polysynth to be the envy of arp solina !! excellent functional condition. State-of-the-art synthetic stringmachine
beautifully fat sound.
Just overhauled and fully functional.
Four fader caps are not original, found some really similar caps that fits"
"Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator vintage analog string synthesizer review & demo. In this video I cover the features of the Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator string synth, play some sounds, and conclude with my final thoughts.
Timecodes ------------------ 00:00 - Intro 01:01 - Overview 02:56 - Left-hand instruments - Bass, Brass, Piano, Clavichord, Cello, Violin 06:17 - Right-hand instruments - Brass, Piano, Clavichord, Cello, Violin 07:51 - Vibrato 08:37 - Sustain 09:00 - All instruments together 09:54 - String timbre (bright to dark) 11:05 - All instruments together again 12:03 - Pitch control 12:48 - Final thoughts / conclusion
Released in 1977, the Crumar Multiman-S (also known as the Crumar Orchestrator) is a 49-key vintage string synthesizer, with 6 sounds and volume control for each instrument on the front panel. It is split in the middle and allows you to play different sounds with the left hand vs the right hand.
The 6 instruments on the Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator are bass, brass, piano, clavichord, cello and violin. You can enable or disable each of the sounds and adjust the volume levels independently to suit your needs as you play.
The brass section features a dedicated filter and envelope with attack and decay, and the filter has cutoff and resonance controls. It can also self oscillate for some quirky sounds. In the middle of the Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator is a slider for strings timbre which can be adjusted from dark to bright. In addition, there is onboard vibrato with speed and depth, and sustain control for the entire synth to enable big chords and pads.
The Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator is physically large and built into its own tolex case, which is quite rugged and heavy. There are also a few pedals available for this string synth including 13-note (G-G) Foot Pedal Board, Sustain Pedal, and a Foot Expression Pedal controller for the filter cutoff. In addition, there are audio outputs for piano/bass and brass, plus mix out.
Overall the Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator is an interesting and nice sounding vintage string synth from a renowned Italian synthesizer company at the time. The independent mixer control for each of the instruments allows you to craft your sound as you play, or have completely different sounds on one side of the keyboard vs the other. The self resonant brass filter also gives it a unique flavor.
The Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator can be found on the second hand market for decent prices still, and it is great for big symphonic patches, pads, strings and funky brass. If you are in the market for a vintage string synthesizer, keep your eyes out for the Crumar Multiman-S / Orchestrator as it has its own charm."
"This is a 1970s Italian-made Crumar Orchestrator / Multiman. It's a truly unique piece with some cool features. It's basically an entire orchestra at your fingertips. It's sort of the Italian answer to the Polymoog.
First off, all the SOUNDS!
The FAT AF ANALOG BRASS. You can control the filter sweep with a normal attack curve or use the foot pedal to control it manually for some super rad retro sci-fi sounds.
The SWEET STRINGS. They're very reminiscent of the Solina string sound. Independent cello, violin sections for both the bass and treble side.
The MEDIOCRE PIANO & CLAVINET sounds. They're...kinda neat.
The SUPER DEEP AND PUNCHY BASS. This is only on the bottom part of the keyboard. It also has an independent output just for the bass and it is dreamy for filling out the low end
In addition to the brass swell pedal, there's also a volume pedal. Both work well!
This synth as 4 outputs : MAIN, PIANO/BASS, STRINGS, & BRASS. You can either use the main output and make it a big mono synth or process each section independently! Very useful if you want to mix the parts with different effects later on.
They keyboard is naturally split between bass & treble so you can set each side to use a different set of sounds (exempli gratia, low brass + bass, high violins & cello).
I recently opened up this synth and gave it a very thorough servicing. All connections are strong, all the circuits got cleaned and the pots are as clean as I can make them. The sliders work well and are generally free of scratchiness.
The issues :
+ Although the sliders all work well, there's a few missing slider caps.
+ The middle C violin sound is quiet so you can't use it in isolation. Not really noticeable in normal use.
+ No MIDI control on this beast. This was from the Before Times.
That's it! Everything else works great. The only thing that would really kick this up to 1000% is the set of exceedingly rare bass pedals.
Apparently Radiohead loves this synth, and I see why. It's got a haunting, dark tone that matches well with their sound. It's also really well suited to live performance / tracking, as you can use the two pedals to make a very expressive performance. It comes in its own road case!"
Great sounding string synth in excellent condition.
Bought this locally a few years ago sadly never really used it all that much. It has classic string, brass, and "piano" sounds. Fully polyphonic using divide down technique.
It doesn't have the chorus of many of the other more well known string synths, but nothing some outboard effects can't fix.
Slightly noisy on the output, could probably benefit from having the electrolytic caps changed since it's 40 something years old. Besides that, it it's perfect working condition, all keys and sliders and switches work.
"Crumar Multiman S/2 gets sliced up by the modulation section of the Maestro Rhythm King 4, then on to the envelope filter of the other Maestro machine: the Universal Synthesizer System - an early, maybe the very first, multi-effect for guitar.
Spring reverb brought to you by Telefunken Echo Mixer.
The other output of the Multiman gets phased by the Mu-tron phasor.
Steelphon S900 and noise routed to the Binson Echorec."
"It was back in 1979 when the italian company CRUMAR released the Performer. It was a 49 keys compact string machine with a brass section. The idea arrived after the success of the Multiman-S model (Orchestrator in USA). After few years, the company was enough smart to understand that the demand of musicians in 1979 was different and music was evolving differently in those days. Here came the CRUMAR Performer, a compact and more modern keyboard that seems perfect for the music of the upcoming '80a.
Performer uses the famous "TOS" configuration. This was a very common and practical way to achieve polyphony at that time: a high frequency clock drives a "top octave generator chip" which produces all the note frequencies for the top octave as a basic square waves. These square waves can be then be fed to frequency divider to produce a note an octave lower, then to another one to generate an octave below than that, and so on.
Performer used the Mostek MK50240N as a top octave synthesizer and used 12 TDA1008 as dividers to create a logical tonal grid according to which keys are being hit on the brass and 8' and 16' string mixes. From here there's an analog filter/envelope on the brass and EQ and analog delay section based on BBD chips for the string section. Performer had 2 hardware revisions during production years basically with these differences:
Rev.A - First instrument release.
Rev.B - Added an extra transpose switch and boards revision. The brass section was completely redesigned using chips from SSM company (Solid State Micro Technology for Music): one SSM2050 IC as envelope generator and one SSM2040 IC as 4-pole filter. SSM2040 is considered one of the best sounding filters for the way it can add harmonics to the original signal, for its resonance and small amounts of distortion when overdriven.
Brass sound is para-phonic.
After more than 40 years since the release of the CRUMAR Performer keyboard, and after one year of accurate and intensive research on the original instrument, sound, components and schematics and all its variants, we decided to offer the same playing experience with an accurate software, a faithful replica of the original hardware instrument.
Performer is a physical modeling simulation of the original vintage instrument.
Main features:
- Adjustable global and single note tuning. - Fully polyphonic. - Realistic control panel with sliders and buttons like the original. - Accurate simulation of original circuitry. - Selection for Rev.A and Rev.B filter. - Selection for the "sustain modification". - Built-in adjustable reverb and chorus effect. - Simulation of pedals effect section including Graphic EQ, Phaser, Flanger and Analog Delay. - On-screen help tips and readout values. - Very low memory and CPU power needed. - Easy MIDI-Learn feature. - MIDI map import and export feature. - Bank and program import and export feature. - Compatible with Windows and OSX.
"Making good use of the Crumar Multiman S/2 string separate outputs: string section are going through the Mu-Tron phaser, brass and bass sections are going through the Maestro Rhythm Kings' modulation effect : an input in the back of the drum machine will chop up the input signal like a rhythmic tremolo.
From there is goes to the Maestro Universal Synthesizer (?) System, possibly the first multi-effect ever put on the market, triggering the envelope filter and adding some phaser there as well...
The Maestro Kings' drums are processed through the Roland RE-301 for crunch and echo.
The Elka Solist 505 monophonic synthesizer is playing the lead.
We make these videos as a showcase for our studio and for curious vintage heads - and for fun.
We don't dilly-dally too much with production and mixing but it can sound pretty good with headphones on."
"Crumar Multiman string machine with separate outputs: strings are going through the Mu-Tron phaser, brass is going through the Maestro Rhythm Kings' modulation effect, an input in the back of the drum machine will chop up the input signal like a rhythmic tremolo.
From there is goes to the Maestro Universal Synthesizer (?) System, possibly the first multi-effect ever put on the market, triggering the envelope filter and possibly adding some phaser there as well...
The Maestro Kings' drums are processed through the Roland RE-301 for crunch and echo.
The Elka Solist 505 monophonic synthesizer is playing the lead.
We make these videos as a showcase for our studio and for curious vintage heads - and for fun.
We don't dilly-dally too much with production and mixing but it can sound pretty good with headphones on."
"The Roland TR77 Drum machine is going through the Emthree Pulsatron Mixer for crunch.
The Dr. Böhm Solist 78 is playing through a mysterious no-brand phaser "Rotor Monster" (that could be some kind of Vermona product) while the seconds short decay chords go through the Roland RE-301 Space Echo.
The short drum fills comes from the Dr. Böhm Solist 78 as well, with Telefunken Echo Mixer spring reverb.
The Elka Solist 505 is a house favorite, an underdog, monophonic synth with a unique timbre.
The drum machines are not midi-or clock synced, just synced manually.
We make these videos as a showcase for our studio and for curious vintage heads - and for fun.
We don't dilly-dally too much with production and mixing but it can sound pretty good with headphones on."
"A video adventure with TTSH, Crumar Multiman-S, RE-303, TR-808, an
Acorn computer and outer space.
This track was made with the following gear:
- TTSH
- RE-303
- Roland TR-808
- Simmons Digital Claptrap
- Crumar Multiman-S
- Moog Minimoog
- Dynacord VRS-23
- Dynacord PDD-14
- Manley Voxbox
- Manley tube DI's
- ATI 8MX2 mixers
- Revox A77 with RMG911 tape stock"
0:00 - Opening demo
0:35 - The String Synthesizer
2:44 - Paraphony
4:11 - The Crumar Multiman-S
4:32 - Basic Strings Demo
5:42 - Low Strings Ensemble Demo
6:07 - Phased Strings Demo
6:34 - Brass
7:46 - Piano
8:17 - Clavichord
8:31 - Bass
9:01 - The Multiman
10:11 - Outro Disco Bonanza
"Today we take a look at the Crumar Multiman-S, an Italian string synthesizer from 1977.
We also look at the concept of a string synthesizer in general; an instrument that served as a stop gap, but that forged its own identity due the distinctive sound and the records they were used in.
Originally conceived by Ken Freeman, others saw the impending gold rush and got their instruments out. When I say there was a 'string synth heyday', I'm not exaggerating. Here's a list of just some of them:
Never seen one of these before. This is the first one featured on the site.
Playlist:
1. CRUMAR 2003 organ / synthesizer / string / brass ensemble: first startup in years
The Crumar 2003 is a very rare instrument which combines the best Crumar had to offer in the late 1970's. It includes one of the best solid state drawbar organs, a monophonic 1 VCO synth, a brass / piano / string section and the Nerve Centre 15 accompanyment section which produces lot's of spacy stuff. The brass / piano / string combination was also offered in standalone instruments like the Orchestrator and Multiman. Strangely enough these are traded for a lot more money then this combined instrument but then again: It weighs a ton and takes up a lot of real estate. This one is a bit of an old banger but I simply cannot bring myself to getting rid of it. It's simply too rare. For more info on my creative adventures visit www.brassee.com. Have fun!
2. CRUMAR 2003: some general maintenance and startup tips for old organs / synthesizers / keyboards
This is the second video about my rare Crumar 2003 organ. It shows the electronics inside and contains a few general tips about starting up old electronic instruments after years of neglect.
Here's the 3rd video about my old Crumar 2003. It's similar to the startup video but a bit more compact and made with th asssitence of a camera(wo)man. It's just as unproffesional in about every other aspect though but real vintage synthesizer and keyboard fans might still like it. For more about my creative adventures visit: www.brassee.com
"we repaired Crumar Multiman-S and instal midi with cc control trigger lengh for brass secttion. and mod for chorus unit (lfo speed/feedback). mail for question alexey.taber@gmail.com"
"This is a 1970s Italian-made Crumar Orchestrator / Multiman. It's a truly unique piece with some cool features. It's basically an entire orchestra at your fingertips. It's sort of the Italian answer to the Polymoog.
The FAT AF ANALOG BRASS. You can control the filter sweep with a normal attack curve or use the foot pedal to control it manually for some super rad retro sci-fi sounds.
