Crumar Bit 99

Crumar Bit 99 Image

The Bit 99 is one of the first synthesizers from which traditional knobs and sliders have been banned. The edit method is easy to understand. The Bit 99 can produce a wide variety of sounds but bass sounds are the best. With a polyphony of three notes, instead of six normally, you can have two sounds layered! Possibilities are almost unlimited and if the 99 patches are not enough you can save the data to tape and load it when you want! This synth was used by 808 State but the synth sounds a lot like Orbital's "In-sides" album. A rackmount version was also released, called the Bit-01.

8 Visitor comments
jay
February 19, 2013 @ 3:47 pm
They do a great job of sounding like synths that retailed at 5 times the amount these originally cost. I built my own pre sets quite quickly and just kept going back to them and found they were easy to mod. Guess I like playing rather than programming. Not many people mention the split keyboard capability and though it halves's the notes available, with a fat bass and fifth brass across the split I could sound like Kraftwerk all on my own. I often now sample its sounds into VSTs and I am often asked what I made them with when they are heard in a mix. Solid and well underrated.
jon
November 4, 2012 @ 5:17 pm
jimi,
two years later... Thank you!
Analogamabob
April 26, 2012 @ 1:55 pm
I like my Bit99 I don't love it. A synth that hangs around for years and gets used now and then. One that I never quite got around to selling off.

It is a bit restricted, the routing on it is very fixed and modulation ain't great. The oscillators alias, (that's part of its distinctive sound by the way) You do get some odd aliasing sounds along with the sound you want, but it seems to add to the sound it makes not detract from it. For example in bass sounds, you almost always get a higher pitch as well along with them.

I'm not in a hurry to sell it off. It's Good because it's different
Richard
December 15, 2011 @ 4:46 am
I love my Crumar Bit99, it's one of the best looking synths around, but I need the money so have to sell it on. I'd love to use it for more bass sounds, but tend to use it for brighter lighter sounds.
Jimi
November 12, 2010 @ 9:56 am
Jon,
It is quite easy to do.
remove the three screws above the keyboard, and the upper screws on the sides (two on each side) and you can flip up the top panel.
The battery is located in the center part in the top panel. it is a regular cr2032 battery.
 
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  • Specifications
  • Polyphony - 6 voices
  • Oscillators - 2 DCOs per voice
  • LFO - 2 LFOs assignable to VCA, VCF, DCO1, DCO2
  • Filter - VCF: cutoff, resonance, tracking, invert (inverts VCF values), ADSR
  • VCA - ADSR
  • Keyboard - 61 full size keys, slightly weighted
  • Memory - 99 patches (75 single programs and from 76 to 99 for "split" or "double" modes)
  • Control - MIDI
  • Date Produced - 1985 - 86
  • Resources & Credits

  • Images from SynthSite.

    Additional information provided by Telmo J. Portela.

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