Synergy

This is the product name of a digital additive synthesizer produced by Crumar under the marketing name of Digital Keyboards. It was descended from research done at Bell Labratories into programmable digital synthesis and the original $27,500 General Development System (GDS). The Synergy was the first to have a 4-track sequencer onboard that allowed users to do overdubs, as well as the first synth that had the ability to control up to four sounds at a time, which is now known as layering. The keyboard also had a sophisticated system that would track a player’s hands up and down the keyboard, plus six floating split zones. Finally, it was the first commercially available synth with 32 programmable digital oscillators, although in most cases, at least two oscillators were used to produce most of the sounds, thus reducing the polyphony to 16 notes. The Synergy was originally introduced in 1982 and eventually discontinued in 1985.