Crumar Seven User's Manual PHYSICAL MODELING ELECTRIC PIANO Works like digital, feels like analog.
Crumar Seven User's Manual Dear Customer, thank you for purchasing a Crumar Seven, a high quality instrument that was entirely conceived, developed and built in Italy with premium quality parts. This instrument is the the result of years of research in sound design and quality electronics, and has been assembled with first class craftsmanship. We wish you many years of enjoyment and good music with your new Crumar Seven, and, if we may give you a small advice... you guessed it...
Crumar Seven User's Manual ABOUT THIS MANUAL This is not only an instruction manual that just explains how the instrument works and how to use it. This manual also explains why the Crumar Seven is so special and what makes it differ from other instruments that might look or seem similar at a first glance. Also, we hope that you find some interesting informations about how the sound synthesis works and how to get the best out of your new keyboard.
Crumar Seven User's Manual TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. INTRODUCTION WARRANTY NOTICE WHAT IS PHYSICAL MODELING, EXACTLY? ADVANTAGES OF MODELING AND/OR SYNTHESIS vs. THE OLD TECHNIQUE OF SAMPLING ABOUT POLYPHONY, VOICES vs.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. The Crumar Seven is not just another digital piano, it's a whole new thing with an old look. As you can see, it is built into a wooden carrying case and has a shape that is reminiscent of some of the most famous electric pianos of the early seventies.
Crumar Seven User's Manual Crumar Seven main features: Nine synthesis engines: Effects: Other features: 1. Tine Electric Piano - Effect slot 1: Tremolo, auto-panner, LFO Wha-Wha and Pedal Wha-Wha - built into a solid wooden case with handle 2. Reed Electric Piano - metal legs with carrying bag 3. Electric Baby Grand - Effect slot 2: Chorus, Phaser, Flanger, Delay - sustain and expression pedal inputs (all stereo effects) 4. Clavi E.P.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 2. WARRANTY NOTICE. Crumar Seven is covered under 12 months manufacturer's warranty. Warranty extensions are at the discretion of the retailer. Damages caused by misuse, improper maintenance or transportation are not covered by this warranty. During the warranty period, the customer is entitled to repair or replacement of any parts considered defective at no charge. The possible replacement of the entire product is at the manufacturer's discretion.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 3. WHAT IS PHYSICAL MODELING, EXACTLY? If you look into the literature available on the internet, one of the most accurate definitions of “Physical Modeling”, when applied to sound generation, is: “Physical modeling synthesis refers to sound synthesis methods in which the waveform of the sound to be generated is computed using a mathematical model, a set of equations and algorithms to simulate a physical source of sound ”.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 4. ADVANTAGES OF MODELING AND/OR SYNTHESIS VS. THE OLD TECHNIQUE OF SAMPLING. In many examples a sampled sound can be compared to a photograph, but we'd like to make a different example that better explains the difference between playing samples or playing a real-time synthesizer. Video games.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 5. ABOUT POLYPHONY, VOICES VS. NOTES, HOW VOICES ARE ALLOCATED IN DIFFERENT SYNTHESIS MODELS. Ever wondered why some digital piano, despite having just 88 notes, offer a total polyphony of 128, 256 or even more voices? Here's the answer. First, there's a difference between a note and a voice.
Crumar Seven User's Manual We said that a physical model mimics the behavior of a mechanical instrument trying to replicate each and every element that generates the sound... and that's exactly what the Crumar Seven does. This also affects how the polyphony functions. The following table shows the synthesis model, the note range, the polyphony limit and the voice allocation system used for each synthesis engine.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 5.1. VOICE ALLOCATION: MODELING. This is common to all physical modeling engines, meaning that each single note is like a complete synthesizer on its own and plays independently from all other voices. Thus, each note is equivalent to a voice - exactly like in the real instrument - leaving no need for extra voices. The only correlation between notes is the generation of sympathetic resonances, but this is a different topic that will be discussed later in this manual.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 6. THE ADVANTAGES OF A MODELED PIANO OVER A SAMPLED ONE. So, after all this talking about modeling vs. sampling and various polyphonic models, what are the real advantages of a physical modeling piano instrument over a sampled piano? Polyphony.
Crumar Seven User's Manual Dynamics. The MIDI system used in most keyboards since the early eighties allows a maximum of 127 velocity levels for each note, but most sample-based instruments are usually limited to just 3 or 4 levels, 8 at best. Some of the modern sample libraries, those that require many Gigabytes worth of hard disk space and that can only be played on a full featured computer, can go up to 12, 16, or even 24 samples for each note, resulting in a huge waste of disk space for just one sound.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 7. CONTROL PANEL: HAVING COLORED ENDLESS ENCODERS INSTEAD OF POTENTIOMETERS. When we at Crumar designed the Seven we had to make a choice: normal potentiometers or endless encoders? Since the Seven can store and recall presets, we wanted to find a solution to the problem when potentiometers' physical positions do not reflect what has been stored into presets.
Crumar Seven User's Manual One advantage is that all knobs can be immediately updated as soon as a new preset is changed, they can change color or turn completely off according to the parameter values they're displaying. Each single knob is both an input device and an output device. Another advantage is that all knobs also function as a push button, so each knob can be used for two or more parameters at once.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 8. CONTROL PANEL: USING KNOBS AND BUTTONS. In the previous chapter we've learned how the knobs work and what they do, now let's see the rest of the controls. 8.1. CONTROL PANEL: THE PRESETS. As you can see from the above picture, the center section consists of a group of big buttons used to store and recall our presets. There's a BANK button that cycles between 4 banks of 8 presets each, that can be recalled or stored using the 8 numbered buttons.
Crumar Seven User's Manual NUMBER NAME SOUND EFFECTS REMARKS 1 - 1 TINE PIANO TINE PIANO NO EFFECTS DRY TINE PIANO WITH ALL DEFAULT SETTINGS 1 - 2 REED PIANO REED PIANO AMP SIMULATOR, MONO TREMOLO, REVERB AMP SIM IS SET TO SOUND SIMILAR TO AN 200A INTERNAL SPEAKERS 1 - 3 ELECTRIC GRAND PIANO ELECTRIC GRAND PIANO REVERB DRY SOUND WITH JUST REVERB 1 - 4 CLAVI PIANO CLAVI PIANO REVERB TRY TO TURN FX1 ON 1 - 5 DX DIGITAL PIANO DX SYNTH PIANO REVERB TURN FX2 ON FOR A DELAY 1 - 6 MK
Crumar Seven User's Manual 8.2. CONTROL PANEL: THE EFFECT SECTION. As seen in the previous chapter, all effects can be turned on or off by means of a slow push on a knob. The effects sections FX1 and FX2 offer a choice of 4 effects each. To select an effect, push the SEL button and the LED will show which effect has been selected. Effects can also be selected when the FX section is off.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 9. CONTROL PANEL: EXTRA FUNCTIONS. 9.1. CONTROL PANEL: CLAVI TABS. When the Clavi E.P. engine is used in a preset, it is possible to use the preset buttons to switch the filters and the pickup selectors. These are arranged exactly the same as the Clavinet D6, which the Seven's synth engine simulates. The button right below the transpose section is labeled CLAVI TABS, push and hold it to switch the Clavi tabs, the corresponding LEDs will show the current statuses.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 10. THE WI-FI EDITOR WEB-APP. The Crumar Seven, like its cousin the Mojo 61 and its father the GSi Gemini, has an internal Wi-Fi antenna that casts its own local network, along with a private web server that serves the HTML pages for the Editor. This is a modern, innovative and practical method to have a fully featured editor at any time, without having to haul a computer and extra cables.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 10.1. EDITOR HOMEPAGE, GLOBAL OPTIONS. The first page of the editor is dedicated to some global settings and operations such as the firmware update and factory reset. The settings are: Tuning: This accepts a range from A=430 Hz to A=450 Hz, with 440 Hz being the default value. Every time this setting is changed, a reboot is required in order for the new change to take effect. Channel: the MIDI channel used for sending and receiving all messages.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 10.2. VIEW MIDI CC MAP. Access the MIDI Controller Map. All parameters accessible from the physical panel have pre-assigned fixed CC numbers that can't be changed. All other parameters are unassigned by default but can be freely assigned to any CC. This page will only display assignable parameters. The fixed CC numbers are shown in the following table. VOLUME EQ BASS EQ TREBLE EQMIDDLE EQ MID.FREQ.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 10.4. FIRMWARE UPDATE AND FACTORY RESTORE. At the bottom of the home page there are some useful informations that show the firmware release version and exact date, next to that there are a couple of useful links. One is to perform a firmware update, whenever this is released in the future. Firmware updates usually may solve problems or add new functions, new features, etc.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 10.5. PAGE: SELECT PIANO. This page lets you select which piano instrument to use for the current preset. The first 8 instruments are those based on real-time synthesis, either physical modeling or other types of synthesis as seen earlier in this manual, each represented with a graphical icon. The remaining sounds are all sample sets based on the GSP-01 Sample Player, and are represented with a waveform icon. The active sound is highlighted in red.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 11. SOUNDS: TINE ELECTIC PIANO. This is a simulation of the famous Rhodes Electric Piano. It's not specific to a Mark I, Mark II or Mark V model because it can do them all. The parameters you find in the EDIT PIANO page are: TYPE: This lets you select one of the 9 different variations. ATTACK LEVEL: Adjusts the volume of the wooden noises. RELEASE LEVEL: Adjusts the volume of the damper noises you can hear every time a key is released.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 12. SOUNDS: REED ELECTRIC PIANO. This is a simulation of the Wurlitzer 200A electric piano. This particular model also included a built-in amplifier and a couple of oval speakers, however the Seven only simulates the dry piano sound as found at the output jack. To obtain a sound similar to that produced by the piano's internal speakers, the AMP simulator must be turned on.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 13. ELECTRIC GRAND PIANO. This is a simulation of a Yamaha CP80 electric baby grand piano. The original instrument also featured a built-in equalizer with a “Brilliance” lever switch, and a tremolo effect. The Seven reproduces only the sound of the piano as found at the jack output with all EQ knobs at middle position and the brilliance lever on the high position. To obtain more EQ options, just turn on Seven's internal EQ.
Crumar Seven User's Manual PICKUP COMPRESSION: Adjusts the effect of level compression due to pickup impedance loss when the signal gets hotter. Results in a slower or longer decay according to this parameter's position. RELEASE LENGTH: Adjusts the amount of residual string vibration after each note-off (key is released, damper is off). STRETCH TUNING: Set the amount of stretch tuning. The middle position corresponds to the original tuning table as recommended by the piano manufacturer.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 15. SOUNDS: DX DIGITAL PIANO. This is the reproduction of the famous patch called “E.PIANO 1” of the Yamaha DX7 which probably made that synthesizer very famous during the eighties. That patch wanted to be a replacement of the Rhodes sound using the technology of the time, but turned out being a sound on its own, featured in many pop songs of a whole decade.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 17. SOUNDS: VIBRAPHONE. What does a vibraphone do in a keyboard that simulates piano instruments? Well, even though the vibraphone isn't played with a keyboard, it has that magic appeal of a piano because the bars are arranged exactly like piano notes, but it's played with mallets, so it puts together the fun of playing a percussive instrument with the ease of playing a piano at first glance.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 18. SOUNDS: ACOUSTIC GRAND PIANO. The Crumar Seven also has a physical modeling simulation of an acoustic grand piano. This simulation doesn't point at a specific model, but is based on a well known structure that is common to some of the most used, also most expensive, concert pianos.
Crumar Seven User's Manual STRING DAMPING: Set the amount of damping of all strings, i.e. the loss of higher harmonics during the decay phase. STRING DETUNING: This parameter adjusts the slight detuning between the strings. In a real grand piano, the three strings of a note should have the exact same pitch, which however is impossible to obtain so there will always be a slight detuning between them. This also affects the voicing, adjust it at small steps.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 19. SOUNDS: EXTRA SAMPLED MATERIAL. The last sound engine is the sample player GSP-01. This player can only play back custom Crumar and GSi sample sets, can't import user created samples and other common formats, but can be updated with new sounds whenever these are released.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 20. EFFECTS. The EDIT EFFECTS page of the Web-App Editor shows everything about the effect section of the Seven, including the same parameters that already are accessible from the front panel.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 20.3. EFFECT 2. This corresponds to the FX2 section of the control panel. The choice is between Stereo Chorus, Stereo Phaser, Stereo Flanger and Delay. The DEPTH and RATE parameters are common to all effects in this section, with the exception that when the Delay is used this is actually the TIME parameter. The Phaser and the Delay effects have further parameters that are explained in the following sections. 20.4. PHASER.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 20.7. DIGITAL REVERB. This is a great sounding digital reverberator with plenty of parameters to emulate a wide variation of rooms and other reflecting virtual environments. The knob on the panel adjusts the LEVEL and the DECAY time.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 20.9. EXPRESSION PEDAL. This is definitely not an effect, but serves to control effects. The Crumar Seven features a jack input that can be used to connect an expression pedal, which can be freely assigned to a number of parameters. This section lets you choose what the pedal must be assigned to and in which way it can operate.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 21. CONNECTIONS. The following picture shows the connection panel located at the right of the piano. From top to bottom, left to right: – LEFT/MONO OUTPUT, RIGHT OUTPUT: these are 1/4” TRS Jack sockets for the balanced outputs. – SYSTEM USB: used to accept a USB Thumb Drive to update the firmware and other functions explained later. – OUT LEVEL: Line output level selector. Please see next chapter for more details.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 21.1. USB PORTS. The Seven includes a Type-A “host” USB 2.0 port. This is mainly used for updating the software in case a new release is available. Another interesting use for this port is the possibility to connect a “Class-compliant USB-MIDI device”, i.e. one of the many MIDI devices that don't need special drivers when they are connected to a computer. The Seven will automatically recognize USB-MIDI devices and will use them to control parameters or play notes.
Crumar Seven User's Manual 21.2. ACCESSORY TRAY. Just for the love of symmetry, the right side of the piano features a blank panel with a knob, behind which is an accessory tray. Rotate the knob counterclockwise to unscrew the lock and remove the cover, use this tray for your sustain pedal or your cables. A few recommendations: don't overload it, don't put anything liquid or dangerous, flammable, explosive; don't put anything smaller than a jack cable.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 22. SETTING THE OUTPUT LEVEL CORRECTLY. The Crumar Seven features a pair of balanced TRS jack outputs that also support unbalanced connections. Connect your amplification system to this stereo output and adjust the output level selector according to your needs. Obtaining the best performance from the analog outputs The Seven features a 3-way switch that lets you select the preferred sound level. 1. L = Low = -10 dB.
Crumar Seven User's Manual CHAPTER 23. SPECIFICATIONS.
