Crumar

Crumar was an Italian electronic musical instrument manufacturer established by Mario Crucianelli in the 1970s, which manufactured synthesizers and keyboards during the 70s and 80s. Its name stands for "CRUcianelli and MARchetti", the names of Crucianelli and business partner Marchetti.

Crumar started out manufacturing electronic pianos and string synthesizers, such as the Compac-piano (1972/1973), Compac-string (1973), Pianoman (1974) and Stringman (1974), the functions of which were combined in 1975 with the Multiman (also known as the Orchestrator), and in 1977 with the Multiman-S. The company was also known for "clonewheel" organs made in the 70's and 80's, such as the Organizer (1974), Organizer T1 (1978) and T1/C (1981), T2 (1978), and T3 (1981).

In 1978, Crumar released their first full-fledged synthesizer, the DS-2, which had one of the earliest digitally controlled oscillators (DCO). Crumar synthesizers are comparable and contemporaneous to Moog synthesizers and other analog synthesizers; in fact, the Crumar Spirit synthesizer (1983) was designed by Bob Moog himself, along with Minimoog co-designer Jim Scott and Tom Rhea (who wrote Moog manuals). In 1984, Crumar began producing polyphonic synthesizers utilizing DCOs under the Bit name (Unique in the US).

In the early '80's, Crumar formed a design/distribution collaborative with New York-based Music Technology (MT) in an effort to commercialize the Bell Labs Digital Synthesizer. Crumar and the MT designers worked in conjunction with some respected names in electronic music to produce the Crumar GDS (General Development System) in 1980, and the Digital keyboards Synergy in 1981. These synthesizers, which used additive synthesis technology and phase modulation, were bulky and cumbersome, but were state-of-the-art at the time. The complexity of this project, along with Japanese competition (notably from the Yamaha DX7) contributed to the company's eventual downfall.

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