untitled

Thom adjusting his modular synthesizer with his left hand, adjusting his Electro-Harmonix 45000 looper (mainly used for vocals) with his right hand, and singing during the live debut of Last I heard (…He was Circling the Drain) (karindgr).

Aside from the massive new display for Tarik’s visuals, the setup used for the new ANIMA DJ tour is mostly identical to the setup for last year’s Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes DJ tour. One notable change is that Thom has replaced his Make Noise Skiff eurorack case with a Tiptop Audio Mantis eurorack case.

The TipTop Audio Mantis has twice as much space as the Skiff, meaning that Thom is using a larger modular setup for this tour. This is not especially surprising after Thom brought a Make Noise Black & Gold Shared System Plus for performances of songs from the Suspiria soundtrack late last year and earlier this year (he also used it on the soundtrack itself). But compared to the Black & Gold Shared System’s 7U eurorack case, the Mantis case is half as heavy and bit smaller while also offering 208hp of rack space for modules (if you ignoring the Make Noise’s 1U row). This makes the Mantis a bit better suited for touring use. It also suggests that Thom is using a mix of modules from other manufacturers in addition to Make Noise, as he did on past DJ tours.

A cropped portion of the cover of Minidisc 117, from MINIDISCS [Hacked]. The third track is a very early demo of Melatonin, listed here as Crumar Song.

One small but notable revelation of the MINIDISCS [Hacked] is that the song Melatonin was initially called “Crumar Song”. The studio recording of Melatonin begins with a stripped-back arrangement of just two string synthesizers panned left and right, and these synths form the foundation of the song. The MINIDISCS version (at 7:19 on track/disc 7) is even more stripped back – just Thom and the string synthesizer. It’s a recording that feels much too personal to listen to, giving a glimpse of Thom shakily throwing down the barest sketch of song to review and refine later on. However, the title lets us know that the particular string synthesizer which Thom used for Melatonin is the band’s Crumar Multiman-S (marketed in the United States as the Crumar “Orchestrator”). If the Crumar was purchased while Nigel was building Radiohead’s studio in 1996, then perhaps Melatonin was inspired by this new bit of gear.

Jonny playing the Crumar Multiman-S with his left hand and a Moog MiniMoog Voyager PE during a performance of Myxomatosis in London on May 26, 2016.

Though Jonny has scored parts for the real string sections since The Bends, Radiohead has kept up an interest in string synthesizers throughout their career. This does not come as too much of a surprise, since songs by Jonny’s favorite band, Magazine, frequently feature string synthesizers, as do later tracks by Joy Division, whose records Thom and Colin passed around when they were at school. In truth, these instruments sound only vaguely like a strings section (especially when their built-in chorus or phaser effects are active), and it’s perhaps better think of them as a different instrument altogether – rather than as a poor replica.

Unlike polyphonic subtractive synthesizers, which have a set number of voices with an oscillator (or more) per voice, string synthesizers make use of a frequency divider architecture. These instruments have a single master oscillator at a high frequency, the output of which is precisely divided to produce every note on the keyboard. This means that all keys can be played simultaneously and will produce sound, as on a piano or organ. However, what really gave these instruments a distinctive sound was the built-in phasor, chorus, and vibrato circuits. These lush effects were meant to better emulate a string section, but they give more of a warm, spacey sound.

In this screenshot from a video of Radiohead recording 2+2=5 at Ocean Way Studio B in September, 2002, the Crumar Multiman-S can be seen on the right, resting on top of the Rhodes piano (youtube). It’s hard to make out the name on the Crumar, but the distinctive spacing of its letters (“C R U M A R”) belies its identity.

Radiohead’s Crumar Multiman-S first appeared in a video of the band recording 2+2=5 at Ocean Way Studio B in September, 2002 (see photo below). It’s unlikely that it was used on that particular song, but it’s very likely that it was at least one of the primary string synths used on Hail To The Thief. The band tried to record that album as a “live” performances as much as possible, making it more likely that the string synth in the room with them is the same one heard on the album (as opposed to an album like Kid A, where heavy overdubbing was used). Almost certainly heard on Myxomatosis (1:09 onwards), and possibly on Where I End and You Begin.

In Rainbows – Disk 2 heavily features string synthesizers on tracks like Go Slowly, Up On The Ladder, and 4 Minute Warning (during the outro section). Live, Jonny and Colin have always played those parts on MIDI controllers connected to samplers, and photos from the recording of In Rainbows mostly show subtractive synths, which made it difficult to identify which string synth was used. However, a screenshot of Radiohead’s Kontakt 3 sampler from the 2008 tour revealed that the Crumar was used for Up On The Ladder. Perhaps the Crumar was used for the other songs as well.

A cropped portion of the screenshoot of Radiohead’s Kontakt 3 sampler, showing the preset titled “UP ON THE LADDER crumar” (pmtonline.co.uk).

Jonny might have been feeling nostalgic in 2016, because Jonny decided to bring the Crumar Orchestrator and his student-model ondes Martenot (instead of his Fatar MIDI keyboard and French Connection) for the band’s tour in support of A Moon Shaped Pool. But in spite of bringing a “string” synthesizer, Jonny more often used guitar, ondes Martenot, and the DSI Prophet 08 to reproduce the London Contemporary Orchestra’s string parts from A Moon Shaped Pool. During the 2016 tour, Jonny played the Crumar on Planet Telex, Street Spirit, Talk Show Host, Climbing Up The Walls, Myxomatosis, Desert Island Disk, and Tinker Tailor.

But although the album is full of string recordings, the heavily-processed “strings” panned left on the recording of Desert Island Disk sound more like a string synthesizer than real strings. Since Jonny brought the Crumar on tour in support of the album, perhaps it was used on the recording of that track.

Radiohead have occasionally performed with other string synthesizers, but only for one-off performances. Jonny used a Solina Strings Ensemble instead of a MIDI keyboard for the 2010 Haiti Benefit show, and Thom and Jonny a brought Korg Poly-Ensemble for their 2010 Glastonbury surprise show.

Some of Jonny’s Crumar settings can be seen in this screenshot of the band’s performance of Talk Show Host at NOS Alive on July 8, 2016. Looks like all sliders are set to 11…

Jonny playing the Crumar whilst adjusting his radio on Climbing Up The Walls in Lyon on June 1, 2016.

Jonny Greenwood and Shye Ben Tzur

Venice’2018 © Greg Williams