This is why I've resisted picking up a vintage one (especially at the prices they go for now + huge) - a little cheap Behringer box is exactly what a string machine is worth for my uses. The other Behringer stringer is very good but a bit too '80s.
@@mvsr990 I got couple years ago (before string synths hype started happening) a very nice Logan String Melody II and since then im using it all the time (for all possible genres). Its more similar to original Eminent since it has per key envolopes (not global like on Solina string ensemble). Whenever I start it, I instanly get into mood, such lovely charming sound.
@@josephwright5921 Streichfett is kinda nice (but really sounds more like VST plugin in box), I was tempted by it while ago, but then real deal (as mentioned above) happened and there was no going back at that point. :-)
As an owner of an original, this is actually quite appealing and sounds like they've really nailed the sound. The addition of MIDI and the phaser are welcome and the compact size a boon as the Eminent Solina String Ensemble weighs an absolute tonne and isn't the sturdiest traveler. It's crazt to think that a top-octave divider string machine is being mass produced in 2023, but nothing else quite captures that effect.
The original Solina String Ensemble had a single high-frequency master oscillator. This went through a divide-down circuit to generate the top 12 semitones, which then went through more divide down circuits to generate a tone for each individual key. Each of those was transformed into a sawtooth wave so you literally have full polyphony - every key can play at once, there is literally one hardware voice per key. One of the best parts about this design is that as long as the master oscillator is in tune, the entire instrument is always in tune - every key/voice. The various "instruments" were done with fixed filters that were switched in and out. I don't know if the Behringer version works the same way, but I would be surprised if it didn't.
Saw is "stair-saw" - multiple octaves mixed in in descending proportions. This is the reason top-most notes sound so... punchy. Square-like punchy. I never used Solina, but I've used Elektronika EM04 which is VERY CLOSE. A clone probably. I instantly recognized THAT ensemble sound. Very unique, though cannot be layer too much, as each new track with this effect creates dirt and more modulation, whereas chord with this effect gets glued together. Though it has sliders for each voice and some sort of Moog filter on brass. It weights about 25 kg. I sampled it once, then it went into storage. Can't think of any bad thing about the synth in review. Its a string machine with midi, what else would you want from life?
@@erlannderrantem6972 The master oscillator is a high frequency (well above the highest note) and a chip was used that divides it down using counters to get the 12 semitones. I don’t know if these chips are still made or maybe Behringer cloned it, or recreated it using a DSP, microcontroller, or maybe a FPGA but once you have that top octave, the lower octaves are simply divide-by-2 circuits cascaded on each note of the top octave.
That's brilliant. It sounds just like the 70s stringers. Built in phaser and in/outs is well thought through, too. Nice contrasting thing to have in your arsenal and whilst I love originals, they are comically large and heavy.
I ended up selling the Streichfett and getting a Solina, so I can kind of answer my own question here. In retrospect, the Streichfett is more flexible, with the way you can continuously blend the different sounds rather than just on/off buttons, and with the onboard reverb, you can get a variety of sounds bigger and broader than a basic string synth. However, if you have a nice reverb or delay you can get those bigger sounds anyway. The Solina is easier to dial in "that sound" that you're looking for from the 70s, and that's what I'm mainly interested in, so for me the Solina works better. The one thing I really miss from the Streichfett is stereo output from the modulation. Yes you can add stereo effects to widen up the sound, but there's nothing quite like having the different components of the modulation effect separated in stereo. I wonder if it's possible to mod the Solina for stereo modulation?
Nice one! If Behringer could also clone the Korg Trident, Lamdba ES-50 and Sigma KP-30 it would be amazing! String-Synthesizers are extremely underrated IMHO
Starsky, I just just wanna say *THANK-YOU* for mentioning Parliament and Stevie Wonder among the users of the original ARP/Solina String Ensemble. You are the first and only I have seen do so. (Now if we can just get Ohio Players in there. 🤣 Check out their _HONEY_ album. ) Excellent review as always... 👋👋👋👋👋
I'll buy it, for sure 😍. This sound is in my memory since the 70s. You should have mentioned Jean Michel Jarre in the introduction, because, with the phaser, it's his signature (even if he uses an Eminent which is the elder brother of the Solina).
I knew the sound from this thing is classic, and videos like this prepared me for the real deal, but it still just about knocked my socks off when I got one and switched it on through an amp.
@@josephwright5921 none available in Europe 3 weeks after you posted your comment. Maybe Behringer’s concept of ‘very soon’ is comparing their distribution to tectonic plate shifts?
"Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders. And then, a bird of like rarest spun heavenmetal, or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now, came the violin solo above all the other strings, and those strings were like a cage of silk round my bed. Then flute and oboe bored, like worms of like platinum, into the thick thick toffee gold and silver. I was in such bliss, my brothers."
I have to say, Behringer really makes great String Machines. There are a few "obscure" string machines that i would love to see on the market. Finger crossed for the Crumar Performer (it was used on the last Depeche Mode record).
@@jrodohio So what, I'd rather see great recreations of classic musical apparatuses than some stupid electronic sequencer passin' itself off as a keyboard based synth.
Thank you so much for your feedback and good news! Bright, joyful and sad timbre... Perhaps this is a turning point in the creation of modern music, when technology has eaten techno, and ambient is like noodles hanging from our ears. The space opera is back!
It's awesome they included I/O for the chorus effect. That effect would make anything sound amazing. I'm curious what it would sound like to plug a mic into it and "Solinafy" your voice.
spot on it does have a clockwork orange vibe that sound.... i did write this synth off when i saw it but having watched this i reckon theres actually tonnes of practical stuff you could use it on unlike a lot of synths
I remember having a conversation with a music shop employee in the early 90s about string machines- the dude was convinced they were "obsolete" as string machines don't have envelopes and filters for every key. I said to him that he just didn't get it- string machines have their own sound, their own vibe. The French Duo Air proved me right a few years later on Moon Safari.
@@lundsweden Exactly. You’re spot on. I had a Korg Delta in the 80s. it was so limited but also so brilliant in the range of what it could deliver. this solina is even better, IMHO.
As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I knew exact what the sound you were referring to. This is a nice sounding machine but I think I miss my Waldorf Streichfett, what I paid new for it and sold it for the same will be the same as the Solina. Just feel that you get more from a Streichfett even though it's VA. I sold mine due to having been a little heavy handed in my tracks with it, meaning that suddenly I was using it too much, but now I miss it too much. Can never win lol. Thx for the upload, still sounds great.
Thought New Order used the ARP Omni. As for Eno, he may have used it in the 70s though it wasn't like him to use preset stuff like that, but come the DX7 I don't think he would have used a Solina in the 80s. Prove me wrong!
Edge apart, I love your ,channel. Second time I listen to this video. Thank to show how you extinct the 'table top' illness about putting rear connectors despite we buy expanders because we have plenty of keyboards, and they get semi modular, so, never we have a table to let them every day. I have a deepmind 12D, no manner to put it near my other 19" in eurorack, as using corned connectors. Amazing making such an error as the instrument is fine. I will buy it. You tittle is accurate, but space for me is in music as Classic, this hability to render space with strings and of course our listening is culturally adapted to imagine the church space for an organ. In birds singing, you have also this wet sound Giving a dynamic to the space created. That's why so talented musicians used such an instrument, not to imitate Bach or Beethoven, but by having studied how sound culture works, how our ear listening to the space around. I fave on my Jupiter 50 sounds like that, but this is not the same , as listening on a video nothing can replace harmonics from real oscillators and analogic solutions. So, Behringer is able for the best as the vomiting things. Hope the pro 800 will be Son of this race🙏💚🧡👍
Thanks for the memories. I had a Solina and this sounds like it. The Solina was built like a tank and weighed about as much as one. You wouldn't want to gig with it (although, I occasionally did).
Sounds awesome! I hope to get one. I guess I have been mispronouncing it in my head for decades whenever I read gear credits on classic albums. I always thought it was a “So-Lean-ah.” Great job on the proper demo! Behringer should just hire you to do ALL THEIR DEMOS. Some of their product demos by third parties have been rushed and terrible.
Good Lordy, it's alive!!! I've always had a soft-spot in my heart for vintage string machines, so this I most certainly will purchase as soon as it becomes available. Enjoyed your presentation very much. Thank you!!!
Cool to see the Finnish disco dance moves of the lehendary, late Åke Blomqvist get some international recognition! But seriously, I had somehow missed Behringer has cloned Solina as well. Gotta check on it!
Cheers.. it’s unlisted as it’s not it public yet.. it’s in the queue. I schedule stuff and check for errors etc. coming soon (at some point) How did you find it?
Sorry man, I didn’t get a notification for this! Yeah?? I was looking through your synth reviews playlist and it was in there! There were two uploads of it in there.
Back in the 80s and 90s I would dream about having a Solina on top of my Rhodes along with an ARP Odyssey or ProSoloist... I loved all those jazz funk disco tunes from bands like T Connection, Lonnie Liston Smith, Azymuth et al and the music I was making was in that realm. Finally found an original Solina in 2000s just wonderful... very heavy and I was alway worried something would happen to it so sold it on... This sounds like a very good recreation but I have no idea how I would use this today in the music I do...
Funk upon a time In the days of the Funkapus The concept of specially-designed Afronauts Capable of funkatizing galaxies Was first laid on man-child But was later repossessed And placed among the secrets of the pyramids Until a more positive attitude Towards this most sacred phenomenon Clone Funk Could be acquired (we want the funk, give up the funk) There in these terrestrial projects It would wait, along with its co-inhabitants of kings and pharaohs Like sleeping beauties with a kiss That would release them to multiply In the image of the chosen one: Dr Funkenstein And funk is its own reward May I frighten you?
Say what you will about Behringer, but nobody else is REALLY putting the effort into conserving classic instruments in this manner. Sure, there are plenty of people archiving samples of antique and obscure instruments as software plugins, but they're going the extra mile to design modern HARDWARE replicas.
Thank you ! Music that gave me sound imprinting as a newborn. Now they illuminate my purchase with your same duet Arturia key and Solina Strings. I don't know if it's a native effect but To get closer to your effect I have some help to ask you. Can you help me understand which Phase module I can buy now?
It basically has one sound, albeit a good one. It’s the granddaddy of string pads. The catch is that its sound is so recognisable that it can easily steal the show. A Rhodes, a Clavinet or a Wurly also have unmistakable sounds, but because they are melodic instruments they’re easier to blend in. I’d buy it as one buys a sound patch.
Brilliantly done review as always- and this is definitely on my Chrimbo list! Bizarrely as a young kid in the 70’s I used to hate this sound; I found it unearthly. Other-worldly and a bit too spacey and scary 😂 👽 👾. Especially @7:18
Great stuff, enjoyed this. The DB4 looks like such a fantastic piece of equipment, I’d love to get one but people seem to moan about outdated drivers and software integration. Is that really a deal breaker? Does it not work with any computer or iPad at all?
What always makes me wonder about the Solina, is how much does the magic sound owe to the 3 way bucket brigade delay effect. For instance, if you send an analog saw wave through that unique effect alone, cloned physically as such wouldn't you arrive at the same place?
I used to listen to The Cure, but ever since they caved in and changed their Albert Camus inspired song "Killing an Arab" to Another, I said F**K them. And that was the end of it for me. 🤥
That actually was on the Yamaha GX-1, I guess you could do it on this, but I think the Yamaha's strings were meant to be somewhat different than the WYWH era Pink Floyd/Gary Wright Dreamweaver strings sound.
I was very surprised when I realized these are mono. The vc340 has stereo outs from the chorus ensemble. The phaser on this honestly sounds thin. Not very useful.
Thanks for the demonstration, Starsky. I sold my original Solina back then. Big mistake. Because now the prices on the used market are exorbitantly high. That's why I'm happy about the Behringer version. Until now I had to make do with the plugin version from Arturia. But I don't like the plugin that much. It sounded flat and not as nasal as the original. I would therefore be interested in a comparison between the Arturia plugin and the Behringer version. Is this possible, Starsky?
I’ve wanted a Solina for YEARS and I’m a huge fan of early Air. This nails the sound and i need it in my life 😭 I am surprised it isnt stereo out, I thought the original was
It wasn‘t. The organs had a stereo headphone output and a three channel amp output. Only the last version from 1983 had a stereo line output, but it did sound a little bit weaker than the mono versions. I can tell, because I own both and an Eminent 2000 GT😅 Greetings from Germany🇩🇪🤝
@@patriciaoudart1508 Hmm, most musicians have used it in this way, but there are also different examples of use as melody instrument. Monsieur Jarre, Michael Garrison or Klaus Wunderlich (he used the Hohner String Melody on his great LP „Dream Concerto“ and later the strings on his Wersi Organs). Or Listen to „Avanti“ from „Cluster“👋
@@jrodohio Thats been their way ever since they started. They litterally copied Mackie mixers and other stuff and sold it for half the price and didn't care about the lawsuits 😂At least with many of their synth products they got a bit smarter as many of those companies do not exist anymore, so most of their copyrights is gone (or ran out), unless some of them got sold before they went belly up. And about their Digital mixers they didn't design those either, they just baught up Midas. But some of their own products is actually pretty cool, they just have way to many ideas and projects that never gets finished or is only half finished when the come out and never gets fixed before they abondon them.
Vintage string synths.. they cannot do much. But what they do.. is magical.
Yep, minimal use as a lead instrument, but pure magic for putting atmosphere behind a mix
This is why I've resisted picking up a vintage one (especially at the prices they go for now + huge) - a little cheap Behringer box is exactly what a string machine is worth for my uses. The other Behringer stringer is very good but a bit too '80s.
@@mvsr990 I got couple years ago (before string synths hype started happening) a very nice Logan String Melody II and since then im using it all the time (for all possible genres). Its more similar to original Eminent since it has per key envolopes (not global like on Solina string ensemble). Whenever I start it, I instanly get into mood, such lovely charming sound.
This thing sounds so much sweeter and smoother than the Waldorf Streichfett, which seems to sound nasty in the upper ranges to me.
@@josephwright5921 Streichfett is kinda nice (but really sounds more like VST plugin in box), I was tempted by it while ago, but then real deal (as mentioned above) happened and there was no going back at that point. :-)
As an owner of an original, this is actually quite appealing and sounds like they've really nailed the sound. The addition of MIDI and the phaser are welcome and the compact size a boon as the Eminent Solina String Ensemble weighs an absolute tonne and isn't the sturdiest traveler.
It's crazt to think that a top-octave divider string machine is being mass produced in 2023, but nothing else quite captures that effect.
What i love about you Starsky is you bring a sense of childish fun to the whole thing. Your enthusiasm shines.
As a kid growing up in the 70’s I can’t help but have a deep and abiding love of the sound of the Solina. Thanks Starsky.
The original Solina String Ensemble had a single high-frequency master oscillator. This went through a divide-down circuit to generate the top 12 semitones, which then went through more divide down circuits to generate a tone for each individual key. Each of those was transformed into a sawtooth wave so you literally have full polyphony - every key can play at once, there is literally one hardware voice per key. One of the best parts about this design is that as long as the master oscillator is in tune, the entire instrument is always in tune - every key/voice. The various "instruments" were done with fixed filters that were switched in and out. I don't know if the Behringer version works the same way, but I would be surprised if it didn't.
I was almost right!! Nice info cheers.
It does!
How would that work? Afaik divide down gives you only octaves, so how can you derive the 12 different semitones from that?
Saw is "stair-saw" - multiple octaves mixed in in descending proportions. This is the reason top-most notes sound so... punchy. Square-like punchy. I never used Solina, but I've used Elektronika EM04 which is VERY CLOSE. A clone probably. I instantly recognized THAT ensemble sound. Very unique, though cannot be layer too much, as each new track with this effect creates dirt and more modulation, whereas chord with this effect gets glued together. Though it has sliders for each voice and some sort of Moog filter on brass. It weights about 25 kg. I sampled it once, then it went into storage. Can't think of any bad thing about the synth in review. Its a string machine with midi, what else would you want from life?
@@erlannderrantem6972 The master oscillator is a high frequency (well above the highest note) and a chip was used that divides it down using counters to get the 12 semitones. I don’t know if these chips are still made or maybe Behringer cloned it, or recreated it using a DSP, microcontroller, or maybe a FPGA but once you have that top octave, the lower octaves are simply divide-by-2 circuits cascaded on each note of the top octave.
Love that sound. Thinking about the Sparks. Song No. 1 in heaven for example.
I love the sound of this String machine. To my ear it sounds spot on like a original Solina. Perfect for those 70s strings and Jarre covers!
That's brilliant. It sounds just like the 70s stringers. Built in phaser and in/outs is well thought through, too.
Nice contrasting thing to have in your arsenal and whilst I love originals, they are comically large and heavy.
I hope to see you do a demo with this. Peace
The Alex seal of approval! Good enough for me. I've ordered one :)
Would be interesting to see a comparison against the Streichfett, which I use for this kind of stuff, sounds great but I'm open to switching
I ended up selling the Streichfett and getting a Solina, so I can kind of answer my own question here. In retrospect, the Streichfett is more flexible, with the way you can continuously blend the different sounds rather than just on/off buttons, and with the onboard reverb, you can get a variety of sounds bigger and broader than a basic string synth. However, if you have a nice reverb or delay you can get those bigger sounds anyway. The Solina is easier to dial in "that sound" that you're looking for from the 70s, and that's what I'm mainly interested in, so for me the Solina works better. The one thing I really miss from the Streichfett is stereo output from the modulation. Yes you can add stereo effects to widen up the sound, but there's nothing quite like having the different components of the modulation effect separated in stereo. I wonder if it's possible to mod the Solina for stereo modulation?
Nice one! If Behringer could also clone the Korg Trident, Lamdba ES-50 and Sigma KP-30 it would be amazing! String-Synthesizers are extremely underrated IMHO
Starsky, I just just wanna say *THANK-YOU* for mentioning Parliament and Stevie Wonder among the users of the original ARP/Solina String Ensemble. You are the first and only I have seen do so. (Now if we can just get Ohio Players in there. 🤣 Check out their _HONEY_ album. ) Excellent review as always... 👋👋👋👋👋
I'll buy it, for sure 😍.
This sound is in my memory since the 70s.
You should have mentioned Jean Michel Jarre in the introduction, because, with the phaser, it's his signature (even if he uses an Eminent which is the elder brother of the Solina).
He was on my list but I forgot.
@@StarskyCarrUps…😢
That is THE classic sound of the 70's... a musical instrument so ubiquitous, that it almost deserves its own category.
It has it: string machine.
String Machines were quite a thing, until polysynths with patch memory and samplers made them disappear
@@josephwright5921 they never disappeared, they just lurked...
2:45 sounds like Tangerine Dream
Were you playing “In Search of the Unknown Gods” at the beginning? I love that album from the 70’s!
Awesome sounds, I looked for this strings for years, the Behringer Vocoder has also the strings but this one is spot on 🔥🔥🔥
I knew the sound from this thing is classic, and videos like this prepared me for the real deal, but it still just about knocked my socks off when I got one and switched it on through an amp.
I'm soooo getting one of these. Solina soft synth emulations get used in loads of my tunes, but this sounds bang on 😊
Easy purchase for me, what a sound! They nailed this.
Where ? Been looking for a year !
@@librasky My rep says they should be here very soon. They left the factory in China a month or two ago.
@@josephwright5921 none available in Europe 3 weeks after you posted your comment. Maybe Behringer’s concept of ‘very soon’ is comparing their distribution to tectonic plate shifts?
@librasky Mine arrived on Friday. Ordered from Sweetwater in May, I think?
Perfect!
Loving it! Man I soon as I heard it, "Dogs" popped into my head! Totally bang on! Thanks for the great content.
"Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made flesh. The trombones crunched redgold under my bed, and behind my gulliver the trumpets three-wise silverflamed, and there by the door the timps rolling through my guts and out again crunched like candy thunder. Oh, it was wonder of wonders. And then, a bird of like rarest spun heavenmetal, or like silvery wine flowing in a spaceship, gravity all nonsense now, came the violin solo above all the other strings, and those strings were like a cage of silk round my bed. Then flute and oboe bored, like worms of like platinum, into the thick thick toffee gold and silver. I was in such bliss, my brothers."
And I felt all the malenky little hairs on my plott standing endwise. And the shivers crawling up like slow, malenky lizards.
I have to say, Behringer really makes great String Machines. There are a few "obscure" string machines that i would love to see on the market. Finger crossed for the Crumar Performer (it was used on the last Depeche Mode record).
They copy great string machines. They don't innovate.
@@jrodohio So what, I'd rather see great recreations of classic musical apparatuses than some stupid electronic sequencer passin' itself off as a keyboard based synth.
Really a great video of a great instrument. I'm hoping Behringer will do a Crumar Performer Reissue.
I hope so, mine doesn't work right and I'm tired of getting it repaired, but I don't want to sell it so it's gathering dust in a case.
I think I could be happy with nothing but ARP sounds. Each of their synths sounds alive and distinctive.
It's Eminent (Dutch) actually. Arp didn't design this one
Thank you so much for your feedback and good news! Bright, joyful and sad timbre... Perhaps this is a turning point in the creation of modern music, when technology has eaten techno, and ambient is like noodles hanging from our ears. The space opera is back!
It's awesome they included I/O for the chorus effect. That effect would make anything sound amazing. I'm curious what it would sound like to plug a mic into it and "Solinafy" your voice.
I think is not for the chorus, is just for the stone phase fx
@@fjfrancois It has both... mod in is for the chorus effect (called modulation on Solina).
Yes indeed, I just learn that can be used as a pedal effect, chorus or phaser or both 🤘
The one and only Behringer synth that interests me. I look forward to demoing one, thanks for posting!
Kerrist! What a beauty! I’m sold!😍😍😍 Thank you Mr. Carr!
My favorite movie. Ima have to snatch this up. HAHA. FOR MY DROOGIES!!!!
spot on it does have a clockwork orange vibe that sound.... i did write this synth off when i saw it but having watched this i reckon theres actually tonnes of practical stuff you could use it on unlike a lot of synths
Always thought it was pronounced "Soleena" but it's Sol-in-a?
I didn’t even realise that’s how I was pronouncing it 😂 in my head it’s soleena
You're right. It's normally pronounced as "Soleena".
@@StarskyCarr great review regardless. Thanks for doing the good work mate.
I remember having a conversation with a music shop employee in the early 90s about string machines- the dude was convinced they were "obsolete" as string machines don't have envelopes and filters for every key.
I said to him that he just didn't get it- string machines have their own sound, their own vibe. The French Duo Air proved me right a few years later on Moon Safari.
Gotta love Moon Safari.
@@lundsweden Exactly. You’re spot on. I had a Korg Delta in the 80s. it was so limited but also so brilliant in the range of what it could deliver. this solina is even better, IMHO.
As soon as I saw the thumbnail, I knew exact what the sound you were referring to.
This is a nice sounding machine but I think I miss my Waldorf Streichfett, what I paid new for it and sold it for the same will be the same as the Solina.
Just feel that you get more from a Streichfett even though it's VA.
I sold mine due to having been a little heavy handed in my tracks with it, meaning that suddenly I was using it too much, but now I miss it too much.
Can never win lol.
Thx for the upload, still sounds great.
This droog will be playing this in the Moloko bar.Great review.Thanks.
This sounds fantastic. Can’t wait to make space disco with it
Gave you a sub in anticipation of the space disco
@@essentialdang Same here!
I produce Space Disco!
Are the modulation and phaser I/O at line-levels, or Eurorack levels?
Thought New Order used the ARP Omni. As for Eno, he may have used it in the 70s though it wasn't like him to use preset stuff like that, but come the DX7 I don't think he would have used a Solina in the 80s. Prove me wrong!
Edge apart, I love your ,channel. Second time I listen to this video. Thank to show how you extinct the 'table top' illness about putting rear connectors despite we buy expanders because we have plenty of keyboards, and they get semi modular, so, never we have a table to let them every day. I have a deepmind 12D, no manner to put it near my other 19" in eurorack, as using corned connectors. Amazing making such an error as the instrument is fine. I will buy it.
You tittle is accurate, but space for me is in music as Classic, this hability to render space with strings and of course our listening is culturally adapted to imagine the church space for an organ. In birds singing, you have also this wet sound Giving a dynamic to the space created. That's why so talented musicians used such an instrument, not to imitate Bach or Beethoven, but by having studied how sound culture works, how our ear listening to the space around. I fave on my Jupiter 50 sounds like that, but this is not the same , as listening on a video nothing can replace harmonics from real oscillators and analogic solutions. So, Behringer is able for the best as the vomiting things. Hope the pro 800 will be Son of this race🙏💚🧡👍
Loved the 70s disco and prog rock covers of Sci-fi movie themes using this synth. (Meco and Neil Norman)
Was Meco's Star Wars one done with a Solina? I love that one.
According to Keyboardest Roger O'Donnell, the sound on Disintegration is a mix of Solina and a string sample from his Prophet 2000.
Interesting, thanks
On the cutting edge as usual Mr Starsky, thank you. Been waiting for this since they announced it, just need somewhere I can preorder it now.
Necromantik 1 seems to have used the original
New Order - Procession and The Cure's - Untitled openings make proud use in the 80s to name but 2.
Great Video as always.👍 Now I want one. They nailed the sound it seems. Solina is one of my alltime favorite synth. Simply a classic.
"Dreamweaver" has a lot of Solina great track....and Jean Michel Jarre's Oxyene &Equinoxe
Three words come to mind: In Search Of. The first gen w/Leonard Nimoy narrating. Takes me back.
I love disintegration! Great album… cheers!
Thanks for the memories. I had a Solina and this sounds like it. The Solina was built like a tank and weighed about as much as one. You wouldn't want to gig with it (although, I occasionally did).
Sounds awesome! I hope to get one. I guess I have been mispronouncing it in my head for decades whenever I read gear credits on classic albums. I always thought it was a “So-Lean-ah.” Great job on the proper demo! Behringer should just hire you to do ALL THEIR DEMOS. Some of their product demos by third parties have been rushed and terrible.
Great video as always. Would love to see a Behringer Solina vs Arturia Solina V some day! 🤞
Gosh, I may buy a Behringer product for the first time ! Love it ! 🙂 This is the fifth time I am listening to this video.
Good Lordy, it's alive!!! I've always had a soft-spot in my heart for vintage string machines, so this I most certainly will purchase as soon as it becomes available. Enjoyed your presentation very much. Thank you!!!
Wonder how the strings dry compare with vc340 string section. I love strings but already have a vc340, and wondering if this is a worthy addition.
Sounds fantastic!!
Cool to see the Finnish disco dance moves of the lehendary, late Åke Blomqvist get some international recognition!
But seriously, I had somehow missed Behringer has cloned Solina as well. Gotta check on it!
German prog trio Triumvirat made excellent use of the Solina. These sounds remind me of their excellent music.
One of the greatest prog bands EVER! ❤️
Sounds great! I still have my Arp Omni 2 since l bought it new in the 70’s!
Wow! Could you demo it for us?
What a magical little box. Might have me listening to ELP today because of this
Damn... I love that.
I make mid-80s pop/rock so not really useful for me, but I really want one nonetheless. Just sounds so classically awesome
Great video as always mate. Don’t know why the algorithm has binned it?! Some really cool sounds out of this little thing!
Cheers.. it’s unlisted as it’s not it public yet.. it’s in the queue. I schedule stuff and check for errors etc. coming soon (at some point) How did you find it?
Is this a review sample or has it actually hit the shops? Been waiting years for this to drop!
@@newtronix it's from a man in the pub... but it's from the manufacturing line so they're imminent. i.e. its not a sample or preproduction unit.
@@StarskyCarr Nice! Blake's 7 incidental music stylee here I come!
Sorry man, I didn’t get a notification for this! Yeah?? I was looking through your synth reviews playlist and it was in there! There were two uploads of it in there.
Back in the 80s and 90s I would dream about having a Solina on top of my Rhodes along with an ARP Odyssey or ProSoloist... I loved all those jazz funk disco tunes from bands like T Connection, Lonnie Liston Smith, Azymuth et al and the music I was making was in that realm.
Finally found an original Solina in 2000s just wonderful... very heavy and I was alway worried something would happen to it so sold it on...
This sounds like a very good recreation but I have no idea how I would use this today in the music I do...
Damn you... another great demo.. Loved this type of sound since playing on a Crumar Performer in the early 90s... one to add to the arsenal for sure
This thing sounds so much sweeter and smoother than the Waldorf Streichfett, which seems to sound nasty in the upper ranges to me.
Funk upon a time
In the days of the Funkapus
The concept of specially-designed Afronauts
Capable of funkatizing galaxies
Was first laid on man-child
But was later repossessed
And placed among the secrets of the pyramids
Until a more positive attitude
Towards this most sacred phenomenon
Clone Funk
Could be acquired
(we want the funk, give up the funk)
There in these terrestrial projects
It would wait, along with its co-inhabitants of kings and pharaohs
Like sleeping beauties with a kiss
That would release them to multiply
In the image of the chosen one:
Dr Funkenstein
And funk is its own reward
May I frighten you?
Funkin’ good comment
Say what you will about Behringer, but nobody else is REALLY putting the effort into conserving classic instruments in this manner. Sure, there are plenty of people archiving samples of antique and obscure instruments as software plugins, but they're going the extra mile to design modern HARDWARE replicas.
This is fantastic❤❤❤❤
Love the sound. Instant Richard Wright for me.
I had the original back in the day, they I got the ARP Omni 2 sounded quite similar.
Thank you ! Music that gave me sound imprinting as a newborn. Now they illuminate my purchase with your same duet Arturia key and Solina Strings. I don't know if it's a native effect but To get closer to your effect I have some help to ask you. Can you help me understand which Phase module I can buy now?
This or Yamaha SK-20 or Behringer VC340?
Just love the sound of a solina , cant wait to buy one
It basically has one sound, albeit a good one. It’s the granddaddy of string pads.
The catch is that its sound is so recognisable that it can easily steal the show. A Rhodes, a Clavinet or a Wurly also have unmistakable sounds, but because they are melodic instruments they’re easier to blend in. I’d buy it as one buys a sound patch.
please, make arturia solina vst vs this one 🙏
🤔 When i hear this gear, I immediately think of Pink Floyd's "Dogs". One of my all time favorites.
When is the release date?
Cannot wait to own one!!! ❤
When are they dropping it tho felt like been waiting forever.
Starsky! Where is your VC340 review (and comparison)? 🙏🏼 Assuming you still have the Solina?
they should make a clone of farfisa syntorchestra, it's never been done even in software
Brilliantly done review as always- and this is definitely on my Chrimbo list! Bizarrely as a young kid in the 70’s I used to hate this sound; I found it unearthly. Other-worldly and a bit too spacey and scary 😂 👽 👾. Especially @7:18
Great stuff, enjoyed this. The DB4 looks like such a fantastic piece of equipment, I’d love to get one but people seem to moan about outdated drivers and software integration. Is that really a deal breaker? Does it not work with any computer or iPad at all?
What always makes me wonder about the Solina, is how much does the magic sound owe to the 3 way bucket brigade delay effect. For instance, if you send an analog saw wave through that unique effect alone, cloned physically as such wouldn't you arrive at the same place?
Finally! what is your experience with it compared to e.g. solina VST's like the one from Arturia?
Bowie!
I used to listen to The Cure, but ever since they caved in and changed their Albert Camus inspired song "Killing an Arab" to Another, I said F**K them. And that was the end of it for me. 🤥
When I here this, I think... Gary Wright and Bernie Worrell.... I want one!
Which Plugins emulate this?
Arturia have one and Waldorf have a string. machine. It's not this exactly but its a similar sort of thing.
Immediately transports me to 2010 listening to Plastic Beach by Gorillaz
Now I want to play the strings part of Zeppelin's - All of My Love
That actually was on the Yamaha GX-1, I guess you could do it on this, but I think the Yamaha's strings were meant to be somewhat different than the WYWH era Pink Floyd/Gary Wright Dreamweaver strings sound.
I was very surprised when I realized these are mono.
The vc340 has stereo outs from the chorus ensemble.
The phaser on this honestly sounds thin. Not very useful.
sounds a lot better than the arturia plugin version i have!
I'm no a software instrument guy, but I'm happy to hear that it sounds diferent from the plug in.
behringer releases their gear, but only for priviledged and sold "stars".
It's cheaper than a Streichfett and it fills my needs
After hearing this, and the arturia plug, I don't feel so bad about selling my original at 100+ lbs
Holding off on any Beringer purchases as the prices tend to drop significantly later.
Thanks for the demonstration, Starsky. I sold my original Solina back then. Big mistake. Because now the prices on the used market are exorbitantly high. That's why I'm happy about the Behringer version. Until now I had to make do with the plugin version from Arturia. But I don't like the plugin that much. It sounded flat and not as nasal as the original. I would therefore be interested in a comparison between the Arturia plugin and the Behringer version. Is this possible, Starsky?
How does this compare to the Waldorf Streichfett? I know they are different things but both going for thar string thing :)
I’ve wanted a Solina for YEARS and I’m a huge fan of early Air. This nails the sound and i need it in my life 😭 I am surprised it isnt stereo out, I thought the original was
It wasn‘t. The organs had a stereo headphone output and a three channel amp output. Only the last version from 1983 had a stereo line output, but it did sound a little bit weaker than the mono versions. I can tell, because I own both and an Eminent 2000 GT😅 Greetings from Germany🇩🇪🤝
Solina is made for background ensemble, not as a single instrument. So then it's up to you to place it in your stereo mixer field.
@@patriciaoudart1508 Hmm, most musicians have used it in this way, but there are also different examples of use as melody instrument. Monsieur Jarre, Michael Garrison or Klaus Wunderlich (he used the Hohner String Melody on his great LP „Dream Concerto“ and later the strings on his Wersi Organs). Or Listen to „Avanti“ from „Cluster“👋
@@Triplechorus2 oh interesting! Well it won’t be hard to put it through some nice stereo effects 😁
The moog opus was stereo, and sounded extremely similar.
This Scouse Git is Getting one when they become available only bummer no Shinny bits .......
I'm thinking some classic detroit techno strings on this 😊
WOW!! That sounds really good!! I think Behringer got it right!! Thank you for making the video demo!!
Behringer copied it right. Please get it straight.
Behringer resurrected it right. Get it straight. (These things haven’t been produced for decades.)
@@jrodohio Thats been their way ever since they started. They litterally copied Mackie mixers and other stuff and sold it for half the price and didn't care about the lawsuits 😂At least with many of their synth products they got a bit smarter as many of those companies do not exist anymore, so most of their copyrights is gone (or ran out), unless some of them got sold before they went belly up. And about their Digital mixers they didn't design those either, they just baught up Midas. But some of their own products is actually pretty cool, they just have way to many ideas and projects that never gets finished or is only half finished when the come out and never gets fixed before they abondon them.