Freeman string symphonizer

The Freeman String Symphonizer was a 5 octave synthesizer of the mid 1970s. It was manufactured by the Chicago Musical Instrument Co. and was also known as the Cordovox CSS. Its sound was similar to that of the Arp String Ensemble - cool glassy sounding strings. It had multiple oscillators (one TOS and two master/divider) per key, so it had no restrictions on how many notes could be played at once, unlike most synthesizers at the time, which were often monophonic.

The Freeman had a built in spring reverb which gave the synthesizer a deeper sound. One could chose 'cello' (16'), and 'violin' (8') tones. There was a 'touch' (delayed) vibrato setting, and a 'glide' switch on the foot volume pedal (found also on many Lowery home organs), which dropped the pitch one-half step. It was a heavy machine - about 70 lbs - and was rather durable except for the removable keyboard cover which LOOKED like it hinged up, but rather pulled straight out... resulting in many cracked lid assemblies.

It was used by The Who, Jan Hammer, Chick Corea, Elton John, and Peter Sinfield.

Recently, it has been emulated in software by GForce, with their Virtual String Machine software.

References

• Ken Freeman & The Birth Of String Synthesis, Sound On Sound, February 2007