Trying to find a synth (or keyboard/organ) that I played in Jazz Band in Jr High in the 80’s. The main thing that I can remember about it was that it had these buttons where a fluorescent color would be revealed if pressed down/activated. Apparently because they were too cheap to have buttons that actually lit up with a real LED, so it was a type of faux light-up button.
Essentially the button had tiny doors that would go to the side and reveal this fluorescent-color backing when pressed.
I don’t know what the organ that you’re thinking of was, but I think that I do know what kind of button/switch you’re talking about. Maybe not this exact same form factor but they used this type of low-tech color change power button on 1970’s-ish electronics.
I vaguely remember some that were more like a rocker switch and others that had some kind of tumbling mechanism inside which flip flopped the color side with a black side.
Maybe if you can remember the shape and location (on the body of the instrument like left or right etc) of those color change switches/buttons it will help in identification.
I would say that late 60’s to late 70’s is probably the target time period for this type of switch, maybe into the 80’s but I remember a lot of dimly lit LED stuff in the 80’s and seeing this kind of switch mostly on older electronics.
Could it have been a Crumar? They used to use those button at one time. The Multiman S/2 used them so maybe some of their other models too
The buttons are just above the keys
Super cool, thanks for the pictures. Yes, it was a mechanical movement like that or similar.
Wow, thank you! After searching for Crumars, I think it was the Crumar Multiman S. That Mellow/Bright slider really stands out for me.
Here’s another video. It’s definitely looking very familiar now
At some point this model was also called the Orchestrator if that sounds a little more familiar than Multiman. There are some other Italian made string synths from that era that used those buttons but I think this was one of the more popular ones!
Glad you found what you were looking for! I’ve got a few Crumar’s in the collection including an S/2. They made some pretty interesting instruments in the 70’s/early 80’s.
