Blog

ARP Solina String Synth


June 3, 2016
by GForce Software


It’s estimated that only 100 of these were made and if that’s true, we wouldn’t be in the least surprised, because whoever had the idea that marrying a Solina String Ensemble and an ARP Explorer Monosynth must have been dropping acid back in the day.


That’s not to say this instrument isn’t exceptionally cool. On the contrary, the ability to put the Contrabass, Cello, Voila, Violin, Horn & Trumpet tones from the String Ensemble through ARP’s infamous infringing ladder filter is excellent. So too is the ability to shape the Filter and Amplitude via an ADSR. Additionally the way you can add a lead sound is a thing of joy, courtesy of the Brass, Hollow, Reed, Fuzz and Noise Waveforms, plus Bass, Tenor, Alto & Soprano ranges…it’s just that it’s all a bit bonkers, especially when you try to use the Synth and the String Ensemble at the same time.

The famous BBD Ensemble is here in abundance and there are four modes of operation:

  1. String Ensemble only
  2. Strings through the Explorer low-pass filter
  3. Explorer voice combined with the lower Solina keyboard (contrabass and cello)
  4. Explorer voice combined with the upper Solina keyboard (viola, violin, trumpet, horn)
A video on the standard Solina.