The Crumar Intro Page...


C is for: Crumar...		Chase advert from 1984

Founded by Mario Crucianelli, Crumar hailed from an area of Italy well known for its musical instrument makers. (The town of Castelfidardo was home to accordion make Poalo Soprani back in the 19th century.) Crumar produced a long line of electronic pianos, organs and string synthesisers and was one of the most prolific manufacturers in this market in the 1970's. They developed a progressively more sophisticated range of synths, changing their European badge name to "Bit" and Unique in the US to try to loose the budget synth stigma they had gained. They continued up until their demise in the late eighties just at the point they were apparently about to release an "affordable" sampler. Despite their somewhat derided machines, Crumar broke ground with the concept of "Multi-Keyboards" along with some great sounding string machines used by the likes of Duran Duran. They also had a hand in the development of the GDS. The General Development System was a high-end additive synthesis machine with its roots springing from Hal Alles of Bell Labs in the US that featured on the likes of Wendy Carlos' Tron, Klaus Schulze's Dig It and Tangerine Dream's Thief. The GDS was made in the US by Music Technology Inc (then Digital Keyboards Inc) and led to the Synergy. The GDS, though groundbreaking, was very expensive and only sold in single digits.
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