The raw Crumar Bit in a proper suit
I am starting this new blog spantaneously with a short praise of one 80s DCO polysynth which is commonly regarded as the ugly grey duckling: the Bit family by Crumar. I think the main reason for the lack of popularity today is the bad user control, i.e. typical mid 80s parameter select-and-change that you also find on the DX7, JX8P, SX240 and many more. And - with the notable exception of the Juno series - DCO synths are in general regarded as less interesting (musically and as collectibles) compared to VCO synths. Is there a development branch of new DCO polysynths for the high end synth buyer? I think DCO is cool and my shining example is the Bit as a kind of poor man's version of the ELKA Synthex. Its DCO architecture is something worth coming back to for exploration. It is special and a lot different from other DCO synths. It is such that it makes the Bit a characterful instrument rather than a piece of precision electronics. To be concrete: the pitch ...