Cherry Audio DS-2

Digital Control, Analog Soul

Cherry Audio's Crumar DS-2 synthesizer faithfully replicates the unique digital/analog sound of the ahead-of-its-time hardware synth from 1978. This latest collaboration with our friends at Crumar Instruments not only captures the distinctive tone and multitimbral capabilities of the original but also enhances them, offering an impressive combination of innovation and authenticity.

Synth Anatomy says: "It’s commendable and very welcome that Cherry Audio also creates emulations of synths that are weirder, odd and less famous... another great-sounding, characterful synthesizer that reflects both the original features and the sound design workflow, plus major refinements over the original Italian hardware from 1978."

The original Crumar DS-2 featured a monophonic synth engine paired with a 44-note fully polyphonic (paraphonic) companion section, creating a unique musical experience when utilized together. "DS" stood for "Digital Synthesizer," and it was indeed an early hybrid synth with two Digitally-Controlled Oscillators (DCOs), and analog LFOs, VCFs, VCA, and EGs. But these weren't the same kind of DCOs we would become familiar with in later polyphonic synthesizers. To avoid the tuning problems of traditional analog synthesizers, Crumar employed a cutting-edge concept in the Synth section to create oscillators that wouldn’t drift. The resulting waveforms, however, were completely stair-stepped, producing a gritty tone and wild harmonics.

The Poly section was paraphonic, with a single filter (with highpass and lowpass knobs) and its own VCA. It generated unique 'sawtooth' waveforms by combining divide-down square waves with resistors and high-pass filtering. The cutoff, resonance, and modulation settings of the Synth section also applied to the paraphonic poly filter.

As a result, the timbres produced by the DS-2 are distinct from both the smooth, polished sounds of most digital synthesizers and the warm, buttery tones associated with classic analog designs. Instead, the DS-2 has a jagged, harmonically edgy quality and a gritty character that sets it apart. 

Artists who used the Crumar DS-2 included a diverse array of performers, such as Cirrus, The Cardigans, Alan St. Jon (from the Billy Squier band), Tambourine Studio, Ernesto Ghezzi, Dr. Bill Rhodes, Giancarlo Toniutti, Ian Hunter/Mick Ronson, Hainbach, Legowelt, Mahjongg, Jexus, and Sun Ra.