Published
Sun, Jul 9, 2023, 13:00
- The synth, which was designed by Bob Moog, originally came out in 1983.
Italian brand Crumar is said to be bringing back an old monosynth called the Crumar Spirit.
The instrument, which was first released 40 years ago, was designed by Bob Moog, along with two other former employees of his eponymous company, Jim Scott and Tom Rhea. The reissue will be released later this year, according to Synth Anatomy. Resident Advisor contacted Crumar to confirm the news but did not immediately receive a response.
The Crumar Spirit looks a bit like a Minimoog Model D but has only two oscillators. However, it makes up for that with far more flexibility and some atypical features. It has two discrete signal paths, one that passes through an amp envelope and a second that runs into a ring modulator.
It also has two different filters, one a Moog-style ladder filter and a second that has an overdrive setting and a formant mode. The cutoff of each also interacts with the other in curious, sometimes bizarre ways, especially when self-oscillating. Add to this tons of unconventional modulation options, including something called "Red Noise," and an arpeggiator with a "Leap" mode that jumps up and down in octaves, and you have a lot of unusual sonic possibilities.
Despite all these features, the Spirit was not a success in 1983, especially as versatile new digital keyboards entered the market. Only a few hundred were made, and they remain something of an oddity. Almost no details about the specs of the reissue are known, except that it will have an entirely analogue signal path, like its predecessor, which suggests it will be a fairly faithful reproduction.
Watch a video of an original Crumar Spirit.