I've been learning the Turkish mey (basically the same thing as the Armenian duduk, Georgian duduki and Azeri balaban) - it has a lot of the same characteristics, though with a lipped reed rather than a windcap. The tone is much mellower than a crumhorn, but getting accurate intonation is a bugger. A crumhorn isn't much harder than an ocarina once you get the hang of always blowing at exactly the same pressure, as if it were a bagpipe.

Crumhorns are a bit old hat nowadays anyway. If you want to surprise your audience, get a carnyx.