The Performer is a polyphonic analog Strings and Brass machine produced at the end of the 1970's by the Italian synth company. It is slightly compact with just 49 keys. But it is fully polyphonic - you can play all 49 notes simultaneously! Programming is simple and clearly laid-out with just 15 sliders and a few buttons. A solid black chassis and wood end-cheeks round out this classic and often overlooked string machine.

The Performer is best remembered for its Strings. A simple 3-band equalizer with high, mid and low sliders can be used to give the strings shimmering sparkle or moody dark timbres. The Strings section uses two oscillators per voice with 8' and 16' settings. Simple Attack and Sustain sliders give you some control of your string's envelope settings.

The Brass section is less exciting. It uses a single oscillator with just a square wave to generate a weak Brass sound. It has a low-pass voltage-controlled filter with resonance, but it too is pretty weak. Simple Attack and Decay sliders control its limited envelope settings too.

The LFO is pretty nice, with delay length, rate and depth control. It can modulate both Brass and String sections and can be routed either to the VCF or pitch. There are three outputs on the back: main output, brass output and signal output (for external processing) as well as CV and Gate connections. It has been used by Duran Duran.

LammerGyer

October 11, 2010 @ 3:53 pm

This was in my first rig with a Hammond L-100 and Yamaha CP-10. Everybody wanted to borrow this thing from me cause it was a great string synth and you could get brass out of it for solos with some tweaking. It mixed in well with the rest of the band and was more than adequate. A pipe burst above it in the studio basement and rained on it then I got a DSS-1. I miss it but thank God for busted pipes.

Rafael Carrasquillo

May 25, 2010 @ 10:18 pm

This is one great instrument. Classic 70's strings and one excellent brass section. If interested, you can listen to my Performer performances here: myspace.com/greenelectric.
Cheers to all!!!

RhodesDurran

January 5, 2010 @ 9:47 pm

3 stars, yah right....probably some of the most unique string sounds ever from the late 70's to 80's. These comments couldnt be more true, either you get them for free from someone who doesnt know what it is or you gotta shed $1000 USD from someone who does...someone meet me in the middle and sell me theirs for $600! PLEASE!

Big Chris

November 4, 2009 @ 5:07 am

Like Paul Brown, I picked one of these up for a very little money, in my case from a junk shop for £25. The wooden end panels had seen better days, but everything seemed to be working. I agree with the review that the string sounds are the best thing about the Performer, comparable to the best sounds you can get from the legendary ARP Omni. Thanks to being a hard up student at the time, I sold the Performer after a couple of months. No real regrets, but if I saw another one for a decent price I'd definitely snap it up.

Paul Brown

September 24, 2009 @ 9:05 am

I was lucky enough to pick one of these up on a carboot (garage) sale for £15!! Wow! I love this thing! Its a great alrounder!! It sweeps gurggles and soars with the best of them. it will never squeal like a 303 or hit the rich depths of an ARP but for that strong middle sound it's perfect! Underused and underrated.
I have a love hate relationship with looks of this thing though. Just wish it had knobs instead of those fragile sliders. I love the big ugly Crummar logo on the back though!

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