Talk:ARP String Ensemble

Paraphonic

Doesn't the "organ style divide-down technology" make this synthesizer paraphonic and not quite "fully polyphonic"? See this article in Sound-on-Sound: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan01/articles/synthsec.asp Jan Erlandsen 131.116.254.199 (talk) 07:42, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

No. Only the base oscillator is divide-dowm. Everything else, such as attack/decay, is fully independent for each key, so it is polyphonic. — Edokter (talk) — 14:29, 17 September 2011 (UTC)

Etymology

This keeps bothering me: does the name Solina perhaps have anything to do with this being the Finnish word for the sound of flowing water? --Trɔpʏliʊm • blah 14:13, 26 August 2019 (UTC)

Actual String Synths

I'm starting to question whether some of the songs mentioned really utilized the Solina. Now don't get me wrong, all string synths nearly sound identical. So I think it's very easy to confuse (say a(n)) ARP/Solina String Ensemble with the "synth strings" from the Crumar Orchestrator and the Elka Rhapsody 490/610 models.

Songs to take into account: -- "Fool To Cry" and "Memory Motel" (The Rolling Stones) - I noticed that some notes that were played for the synth string lines in both songs include notes that normally the original 49-key ARP Solina. In "Fool to Cry", the instance where the chorus ends the song temporarily and then repeats itself again without the drums for 2 times, "and it makes me wonder why.... and she said... OOH! Hoo... daddy you're a fool to cryyy...". In this part of the song I noticed a high note of the synth strings registering a D6 and a D7 together.

The span of notes for the ARP Solina right-hand sounds (Viola, Trumpet/Brass, and Horn) are C2 to C5. For the Violin (since it's essentially the Viola an octave higher), the span is C3 to C6. The left-hand presets (Contrabass and Cello) only reach the low-pitched notes (C1 to G2 and C2 to G3 respectively). The last note (with the Viola + Violin presets turned on) produces a C6 + C7 combined, highest possible combo. Perhaps they used the Solina strings from the Eminent 310 Unique home organ, but I don't know if the synth strings reach past C7. Perhaps they used other soundalikes like the Logan/Hohner String Melody (Mk I or II), which was capable of reaching higher octaves or the rare Italian Elex K2 String Synthesizer (Hohner String Vox K2 in other countries) which had similar capabilities, aside from synth piano and clavichord sounds. If anyone can suggest other possibilities though, I'd be happy to hear it. -- Note: It's possible an ARP Solina was used by the Rolling Stones every time this song was played live. Sources: (Original song) (High D6 + D7 note found at 2:49) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tX-g65P9vZo (ARP Solina Demo) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amYy4aqJrQU

-- "Mary Jane" (Rick James) - another source reported that an ARP Omni was utilized in the making of this song. Although different sources bring conflicting facts. To my ears it sounds like the ARP Solina based on the chorus and vibrato patterns. The ARP Omni's vibrato is a little more pronounced. Sources: (Original song) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuFv-tQNycg (ARP Omni mention) https://forum.vintagesynth.com/viewtopic.php?t=67868

-- "Please Don't Go" (KC & The Sunshine Band) - I'm not to certain if this song included this synth, it was shown at a live concert they played at back in 1979. But it looks like the band was playing with the original track. I would suggest that perhaps an ARP Omni (Mk I or II) was used due to hearing a sound in the recording that sounds a lot like the Omni synth strings set through the "Hollow Waveform" effect. Sources: (Original song) (ARP Omni-esque sound starts off at 0:22 and becomes more apparent at 0:41) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_hBXvvTjvM (Live 1979) (0:18 - 0:33 supposed use of ARP Solina) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFwl-nYS-lU