Crumar Musical Instruments User Group.

I recently realized that I have an unusual fetish for "unwanted" Italian
synthesizers/organs/pianos. Many people laugh at crumar keyboards and think
that they are worthless and this and that, I however, disagree. During my
never ending search for Crumar information, I kept hearing about a company
named Elka, and that they were in Italy, as well. I decided to search E-Bay
for Elka and I found the Rhapsody and one of their pianos, If you look on
E-Bay right now, there is another Rhapsody on there, and I'm not bidding on
it, hehe. I haven't gotten my Rhapsody yet, and I kind of excited about it,
and I hope it works. So far, nearly every single keyboard I have purchased
from E-Bay was not in working order and I have had to repair them myself so
that they do play. I just bought a Roland TR-77 and it doesn't work, and I
am fixing it right at this moment.

As far as the Elka, I was reading a review of the Elka Rhapsody 490 (the
model I bid on) and people said the sound was like "bees swarming in a jar".
I don't know if this is a good thing, or a bad thing. They also said that it
didn't sound as good as the crumar performer, I hope it just has a different
sound.  When I get it, I will play some stuff and record it and I could send
you a sample via e-mail, if you want.

Did your friend say that all Elka Rhapsody's were poor man's mellotrons, or
just a certain model? The model that is on e-bay right now sort of reminds
me of a crumar orchestrator. I see it has piano and strings, and I think
brass. But, it looks much different.

If I were you, i'd try to pick up a crumar orchestrator, and make sure it
has the brass filter and volume swell pedals. With the brass filter pedal,
you can do filter sweeps with your foot and it sounds like a wah wah synth.
I used that on a few songs and it's quite impressive. I think the piano
sound on the Orchestrator is much better than the piano sound on the Road
runner II. I have the road runner II, and I like the keyboard's action, but,
the sounds aren't too good. The bass on the road runner is better than the
bass on the orchestrator, though.

My next Crumar desire is a Crumar DS-2. I really want one of those.

Thanks for not out bidding me. That was kind of you. There are an awful lot
of people who do that bid sniping thing. It's vicious. If you have any
questions about crumar stuff, or cheesy keyboards, I might be able to help
you out.

jason


Message: 7
   Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 01:44:57 -0000

   From: toddhomer@...
Subject: HEY  THERE JAYZON  yeah you

I happen to have been told recently by a sax-player friend that the
ELKA Rapsody was indeed the poor man's Melotron. So OFCOARSE I notice
the next day your on a bay auction for one! I thought about bid
snipping you, but decided it cheaper to be a gentelman and ask you
how it really sounds.. And compared ofcoarse to the Holy Performer...
 Please let me know after you get it! -Homer

Your welcome I saw your name and knew it was a guy
from this chat room.  You got a good price, and I
would have bid had you not been on it, but thought I'd
let you take it and tell us all how it compares. Yeah
I'm one of those vicious "Bid snipers" but that's how
you have to get the good shit somwtimes. And I want a
ds2 as well, you've been warned sorry. My "sax playing
friend" said the Rhapsody was the poor man's melotron.
He is strictly a reed man, he plays Jazz, W/ all sizes
of saxophones and clarinets, so what does he know
about synth's, or organs, he's never even head of
Crumar and I think its most important player would be
the late great Jazzman; 
SUN RA... Moment of silence.....not some geek in Duran
Duran. The sax dude plays jazz and free jazz I use'd
to play a huge 7/8 scale string bass in his band in
the early 90's. eugh! never again. I just can't
imagine the rhapsody sounding like much after seeing
yours on ebay 'cause it has no modultion. So the
orchestrator is a good one? What can it do that the
performer can't? other than the foot pedal stuff you
mentioned. A good working one went for a 100 on ebay
last week.. And a used shop here in LA has 2 of 'em
for 350 each. I'll check and see if this shop guy has
the pedals. Except for my performer I've gotten 2
other synths that worked fine from ebay; a minikorg
univox that is mono. and a Ensoniq esq1 that is hybrid
analog didgi. and has a sequencer but this thing is so
complicated the manual is like 90 pages and I just
want pull my hair out. I'm not going to buy anything
like that again, knobs only! this is all in the last 6
months that I got synth fever. I'm really a string man
since the late 70's; Guitar, bass, autoharp, banjo,
and all electric! I record Psychedelic rock(see
previous attachment) but allways loved to listen to
synthesizers. -Todd Homer

--- Jason Zastrow <bonovox9@...> wrote:

> I recently realized that I have an unusual fetish
> for "unwanted" Italian
> synthesizers/organs/pianos. Many people laugh at
> crumar keyboards and think
> that they are worthless and this and that, I
> however, disagree. During my
> never ending search for Crumar information, I kept
> hearing about a company
> named Elka, and that they were in Italy, as well. I
> decided to search E-Bay
> for Elka and I found the Rhapsody and one of their
> pianos, If you look on
> E-Bay right now, there is another Rhapsody on there,
> and I'm not bidding on
> it, hehe. I haven't gotten my Rhapsody yet, and I
> kind of excited about it,
> and I hope it works. So far, nearly every single
> keyboard I have purchased
> from E-Bay was not in working order and I have had
> to repair them myself so
> that they do play. I just bought a Roland TR-77 and
> it doesn't work, and I
> am fixing it right at this moment.
> 
> As far as the Elka, I was reading a review of the
> Elka Rhapsody 490 (the
> model I bid on) and people said the sound was like
> "bees swarming in a jar".
> I don't know if this is a good thing, or a bad
> thing. They also said that it
> didn't sound as good as the crumar performer, I hope
> it just has a different
> sound.  When I get it, I will play some stuff and
> record it and I could send
> you a sample via e-mail, if you want.
> 
> Did your friend say that all Elka Rhapsody's were
> poor man's mellotrons, or
> just a certain model? The model that is on e-bay
> right now sort of reminds
> me of a crumar orchestrator. I see it has piano and
> strings, and I think
> brass. But, it looks much different.
> 
> If I were you, i'd try to pick up a crumar
> orchestrator, and make sure it
> has the brass filter and volume swell pedals. With
> the brass filter pedal,
> you can do filter sweeps with your foot and it
> sounds like a wah wah synth.
> I used that on a few songs and it's quite
> impressive. I think the piano
> sound on the Orchestrator is much better than the
> piano sound on the Road
> runner II. I have the road runner II, and I like the
> keyboard's action, but,
> the sounds aren't too good. The bass on the road
> runner is better than the
> bass on the orchestrator, though.
> 
> My next Crumar desire is a Crumar DS-2. I really
> want one of those.
> 
> Thanks for not out bidding me. That was kind of you.
> There are an awful lot
> of people who do that bid sniping thing. It's
> vicious. If you have any
> questions about crumar stuff, or cheesy keyboards, I
> might be able to help
> you out.
> 
> jason
> 
> 
> Message: 7
>    Date: Mon, 30 Oct 2000 01:44:57 -0000
>    From: toddhomer@...
> Subject: HEY  THERE JAYZON  yeah you
> 
> I happen to have been told recently by a sax-player
> friend that the
> ELKA Rapsody was indeed the poor man's Melotron. So
> OFCOARSE I notice
> the next day your on a bay auction for one! I
> thought about bid
> snipping you, but decided it cheaper to be a
> gentelman and ask you
> how it really sounds.. And compared ofcoarse to the
> Holy Performer...
>  Please let me know after you get it! -Homer
> 
>