Crumar Performer
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
I scored a Crumar Performer off Craigslist for almost a yard sale price. How ’bout that? I’m gonna go pick it up tomorrow. I have a soft spot in my heart for string synths. I’ve owned an ARP Omni 2 and a Roland RS09 at various times. Never had a Performer, but I’ve heard good things. We’ll see ’bout that.
But anyways, I religiously look through the Craigslist postings in my area for things like this, but this is the first time it’s actually paid off. I’m quite pleased.
24 comments
Word up on Craigslist. A couple months back I scored a 1970's broadcast radio console for $50. It was pulled working out of the classical station here in Portland when they upgraded to a digital board.
I'm still in the process of hooking it up (I got married last month - amazing how much time that eats up) but once it's all set up I'll be using for a couple mic pres and as an OTB summer.
It's a beautiful beast. Huge old dials and giant vu's. Lots of pics here: http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16276
Man, that's a good score. Anyone else have a good Craigslist find they want to share?
-CR
Huzzah! I love the Peformer. A friend of mine has one. It's got those useless horrid synth brass sounds and those lovely wonderful synth string sounds. Good find.
c.
I picked up a Yamaha CS60 for $350 the first day I looked at Craigslist. : ) Haven't seen any deals that good again, but some close. They were selling it for less because it was modded and not in the original condition. Thing is the mod doubled the OSCs per voice. : ) There's a switch to go between 8 and 4 voices.
I'm on my 3rd Crumar Orchestrator (aka Multiman). Crumar instruments are truly badly built but I love them. Orchestrator is a lot of fun as you can split and layer several sounds freely, and the filter cutoff pedal adds a lot of interest. Did you know that the proprietors of Crumar and Elka were brothers? Bob Moog had some very amusing anecdotes about Crumar from when he consulted for them, such as the owner waking grouchily about the factory unscrewing "unnecessary" light bulbs to save money...
The elka stuff, by the way, is much better constructed. I had a beauty... the X705, sort of a gigantic wannabe space age Electone, hours of fun.
not in the true deal catagory, but I just picked up a Blonde Hammond M3 of the CL. It looks and sounds REALLY good. Anyone want my week old viscount/impeerial/deluxe/intercontinental thing.
I met a guy who was selling some crumar style pianos off CL a few months ago. I went to his place upsate where he had a barn chock full of delicatible gear in not so hot condition (including a symphonizer with a "Jan Hammer Band" log spraypainted on it). He's slowly posting it all on CL as he figures out the value for all of it. crazy stuff. I ended up buying 2 transistor pianos off him and a 17" speaker cabinet to match a 150 Peavy tube head I fished out of the trash here in Queens. 80 bucks total. not bad
Oh another thing of interest he had was a russiam PolyVoks organ that featured an accordian chord style set of buttons. crazy craazy stuff
Nice score!
I've got your trilogy it seems - my "wall of poly" is a Crumar Orchestrator, Roland RS09, Arp Omni 2 and a Juno 6. Recently added a beat-to-hell farfisa compact deluxe too.
Now I need to score a cheap wurli, which is a tougher beast to do in the NYC craigslist postings!
dm - what's your viscount thing?
I love my Performer. Don't believe blinkman about the "horrid" brass section - the brass section is run through a moog-style ladder filter and can sound really, really nice in its own right. Just make sure you play brass _chords_, as it was intended, otherwise you just get a single square wave oscillator and it will sound fairly thin. I like to set the filter envelope to slowly change over several seconds, and play legato so that it doesn't reset often... I'd sample it, but you're about to have one of your own to toy with, so enjoy.
hey i just bought a Roland R8 (w/ electronic card!) from craigslist today for $115. and get this, a GIRL sold it to me! I think she even left some patterns on it....hmmm
she even knew how to Sysex her shit...and that this was like her 4th R8. it's kinda dirty.
craigslist is wild.
p.s. i'm not even sure why i wanted this thing.
I paid $40 earlier this year for what I though would be an ARP 8 mixer, but when I got across town and opened up the case, it was a "Minus" Noise mixer. I bought it anyway, and had a chat with the guy about his 30+ years as a professional drummer. He got pretty excited telling me about all the crap he had amassed over the years and through changing styles. He said something about Syndrums, Simmons, and Synare... so I kept his number and called him again when I had some more cash. Long story short, I picked up a Synare 01 and a Synare 03 for $75. The rubber pads have seen better days, but other then that they are in tip-top shape. He even included the manual with a plethora of patch diagrams from his days in an 80's synth-pop band. Pretty sweet!
Here's a couple of pics...
http://usera.imagecave.com/thesimulacre/DSC01940.JPG
http://usera.imagecave.com/thesimulacre/DSC01938.JPG
BTW he is willing to give up the Simmons SDS-8 with all 5 triggers and stand for like $200. If anyone wants it, I'll pick it up and send it for that plus the cost of gas and shipping.
p.p.s. i feel kinda sorry for the poor guy who bought my old Arp Omni 2 off craigslist. Yikes, that was a piece of...
Damn, that's tempting, but I have a hard time coming up with something I need _less_ than an SDS-8 system.
-CR
Word up on Craigslist. A couple months back I scored a 1970's broadcast radio console for $50. It was pulled working out of the classical station here in Portland when they upgraded to a digital board.
I'm still in the process of hooking it up (I got married last month - amazing how much time that eats up) but once it's all set up I'll be using for a couple mic pres and as an OTB summer.
It's a beautiful beast. Huge old dials and giant vu's. Lots of pics here: http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16276
most of that simmons stuff is good for one or two useable sounds., tops. i've had both the analog and sampled stuff. their handclap machines are hilarious, though.
the synare stuff, on the other hand, is insane and flexible. i have the simple Synare 3 and would love one of their bigger systems.
I also really like the Crumar Trilogy... it is a Performer style string synth, organ, and standard analog synth in one.
2 months ago I bought a mint Fender Rhodes mark 2 electric piano (needs a tuning) and a mint Juno 60 (with box and manuals) for $350 canadian.
The price was originally $200 for both but he jacked it up after receiving tons of emails. Still reasonable though. (ahahahhhahaha)
Damn, that's a good score too. I'm going to pick up the Performer tonight. We'll see how it turns out. I have to drive more than an hour to get it.
-CR
I can top that...I bought a Fender Rhodes Suitcase Mk1 for $125. Three speakers were blown in the suitcase (but you can take the signal from the FX loop, so I just DI it), and I needed to completely re-adjust half the tines, but thankfully Harold Rhodes designed it so it would be easily fixable. It's a real beaut, sounds like a monster through a fuzz pedal. I don't have room in my current apartment so it's hanging out in my parents' house next to a few busted combo organs, but I will never sell it.
Now if I could only score a Clav...
Is a mark 1 that much better than a mark 2? Mine is also a suitcase.
$350 CDN ($310 US) for a externially perfect Rhodes (the one w/ wooden keys too) and a perfect Juno 60 with original cardboard box and manual.
So I basicially paid $160 US for the Rhodes, while you paid $125, and I got a Juno 60 for $160 US, and you got nothing else, plus you had to fix yours up.
You probably didn't even use craigslist to find it. You top nothing (unless a mark I is that much more valuable, which I doubt).
I got a Parker Nightfly in perfect unplayed condition, still with the plastic on the pickguard and the sticker from Haight st Music that had $1499 written on it (MSRP not actual price) for $500 and it was one of a short run model that had 3 single coils in strat layout. Then there was the Casio CZ-5000 and RZ-1 for $80 total, and a Sek'd/Marian Marc8Midi Soundcard (retails for around $500) which I traded for an Echo Mia.
Crap or find?
Radio Shack MG-1 from a pawnshop in Spokane: $37.
Hohner Clavinet E7 from a pawnshop in Salt Lake: $75
Mosrite Ventures II (Ramones!!!) guitar that had seen better days: $25
someday I'm gonna go back to the US of A for some fleamarket/pawn shop goodness. Even used gear in Tokyo is hideously expensive.
once i went to pick up a TR606 drum machine for $40. I remarked how much it looked like a 303, and the guy says, 'oh i got one of them too'. I wound up with both for $80, then turned around and sold the 303 for $1000. i did the same thing with a 909 more than once, too. one time a blues rock guy sold me a 909 just in time to rescue it from target practice, as the local pawn shop had offered him nothing for it. again $100 magically became $1000, and the landlord was sated.
i have one of the original orchestrators (serial# a/117). the power light goes on, but does not produce sound. it is in "good" shape, quite worn. what do you think? i would like to sell it, what would it be worth?
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