It’s been 40 years since a latecomer entered the stage of the mono synthesizer world. Of course 1983 was not the very best year to launch a “monophonic analog”! And the story is so well known: The Crumar SPIRIT flopped (Bob Moog’s glamorous name notwithstanding), selling modestly. Which, however, may have been only partly due to its late and inauspicious year of release …
Certainly, those interested in testing the Crumar SPIRIT in the store were not fully convinced of the attractiveness and quality of the Italian synthesizer by the complex user interface, by some unusual designations in the signal path as well as by the mediocre hardware.
Thus, most of the faders exhibited a strange characteristic: When actuated, at first hardly any sound changes took place, but then the recall of the entire value range happened on a short distance, often on a few millimeters! This made the exact programming of the (vintage) Crumar SPIRIT very difficult or even impossible.
MIDI was only available as a labeled (and covered) hole, but not with content … and because of the strange architecture, a subsequent MIDIfication could only be implemented in a few cases and by very experienced technicians.
But the sound was – and is (!) – 1A. The filters of the Crumar SPIRIT are first class (Formant here a real specialty), the modulation possibilities highly interesting, ring modulator, multiple audio paths, 3 (!) Wheels – two of them freely assignable, arpeggiator, good CV inputs, everything there!
Reason enough to re-release the Crumar SPIRIT anno 2023 in a new edition. 100 units are now to be built again! Basically with unchanged synth-architecture, but with improved / reliable hardware (better faders, better contacts between the boards) and with MIDI. A glory moment for synth enthusiasts!
The new Crumar SPIRIT costs 3,990 Euros including shipping. Preliminary payment is 2,000 Euros, first deliveries are scheduled for December 2023. We added 20 minutes of sound samples of the (vintage) Crumar SPIRIT for orientation and sonic classification (see appendix), as well as a free SoundSheet for download (DIN A4, as PDF and JPG).
x
Enclosed our audio material from the vintage Crumar SPIRIT. We sincerely hope that the sound of the reissue model comes as close to the original as possible …
Crumar SPIRIT (2023)
Monophonic Analog Synthesizer
Reissue with MIDI
Website Manufacturer:
www.crumar.it
Price:
3.990 Euros
Download / Open:
Crumar SPIRIT SoundSheet DIN A4 (PDF)
Crumar SPIRIT SoundSheet DIN A4 (JPG)
x