Why Cherry Audio's Crumar DS-2 Revival Matters to Synth Obsessives

The DS-2: Cherry Audio’s Latest Act of Sonic Archaeology

Let’s be real—nobody needs a software emulation of the Crumar DS-2. The 1978 Italian oddball was a commercial flop, plagued by temperamental hardware and a sound that confused more than it inspired. Yet here we are, with Cherry Audio (the same mad scientists who brought us the GX-80) reviving it as a plugin. Why? Because in 2024, ‘vintage digital’ isn’t an oxymoron—it’s a marketing goldmine.

What Made the Original So… Strange?

• Hybrid Design: Part analog, part digital (a rarity in 1978)
• Bipolar Filters: Could self-oscillate into noise or musicality
• Limited Polyphony: Two whole notes. Yes, two.

As one engineer told me, ‘It was like Ferrari built a synth—beautiful, fast, and completely impractical.’

Why This Revival Works

Cherry Audio’s version fixes the DS-2’s fatal flaws while preserving its quirks:

Original DS-2	Cherry Audio Version
2-note polyphony	Unlimited voices
Prone to overheating	No hardware = no meltdowns
$3,000 in 1978 (~$15k today)	$49

‘We kept the weirdness but removed the suffering,’ says Cherry Audio’s CEO—a line that should be engraved on every vintage synth reissue.

Who Actually Uses This?

According to my sources at Universal Publishing:

• Film composers craving ‘that 70s dystopian sound’
• Techno producers stacking it beneath 909s
• A surprising number of jazz fusion holdouts

The Bigger Picture: Nostalgia as Innovation

This isn’t just about one synth. It’s about how ‘failed’ tech gets rehabilitated—first by collectors, then by plugins. The DS-2 joins the ranks of:

• Fairlight CMI (bankruptcy → industry standard)
• Yamaha GX-1 (‘too expensive’ → $400 plugin)
• ARP 2600 (‘obsolete’ in 1981 → Grammy-winning sounds)

As one A&R exec whispered: ‘We’re all just digging through the same 50 years of gear. The trick is repackaging the past like it’s the future.’