classic synth violin sound - which synth?

[decypher666]

hi,
got two questions regarding the synth violin solo sound on this excerpt

1. which original synth is this? (I know that guy uses tons of the classic stuff, just haven't figured out which one exactly THIS sound is)

2. of course: any vsti that imitates it?

thanks a lot!

yours,
japanese prog rules

[dharmawan]

i dont know but it sounds horrible

[snooky]

eek...progressive rock.

[apflaum]

no idea, what the name of the group?

[ChamomileShark]

ok, trying to be helpful here..I'd guess something like a MiniMoog because that was a common performance synth in the days of yore..I have a feeling that most of the old monosynths could make this sort of sound, even my old Roland SH2.

[decypher666]

@apflaum: Gerard
@ChamomilesShark: thx, I'll have a look
@fractalism:
@dharmawan: I like it

yours,
bad taste

[shamann]

That might be a monosynth, strikes me more like one of those a) Jan Hammer widdly synths that you hold like a guitar, or b) one of those electrified violin jobbies from the early 80s.

Suppose any monosynth might do. Check out Ensembler from ConcreteFX or the string synth that Tim C/Dr. Ambient put out (prolly called String synth, their company is Algomusic or some such). Both are free, both are string synths, suppose more of the Ultravox variety, but can't hurt to try.

[Sepheritoh]

Damn, I thought it sounded like a guitar

[McLilith]

I happen to think it's a real violin. There's so much going on in that clip, that it's hard to tell. Do you have another clip of the same song, where the "violin" is much more prominent and separated from the other instruments?

take care,
McLilith

[GruvSyco]

Sounds like and ancient guitar sample to me... appears to have a very hard attack... perhaps some outboard processing too like distortion and reverb. You could probably get something very similar with any general midi soundfont set. It sounds ALOT like Roland LA synthesis (D50, D110) actually.

[WhiteNoise]

You're sure it's not a real violin?

[ChamomileShark]

ok, done a bit of research here. Is this the Gerard that was the Japanese band? What I've seen on the net about them says it's synth, there are mentions of Rick Wakeman, Eddie Jobson and ELP. There was a bit of a cult in Japan to copy certain players, down to the same instrumentation. I still think it's a MiniMoog but it might be something from Yamaha, one of the monosynths or even a CS80. I actually have lots of old albums, covered with these kinds of sounds, I think Colliseum II had a very similar sound, as did Patrick Moraz for lead lines. As I say, I was able to come up with something similar so I think people used all sorts of things to create this sound, saw tooth, fiddle with the filter, some glide and pitch bending.

[McLilith]

...fiddle with the filter...

How appropriate, that comment about synthesizing a violin timbre.

Are you sure it isn't a real violin? I think it is. On my headphones, it certainly seems like the sound of a real violin buried under several other instruments. I can also hear some organ that is blurring with some of the violin sound, and making the violin seem more synthetic. Maybe that's what some of you are hearing, thinking it's a single instrument?


Take care,
McLilith

[ianweb123]

You might find that the key-triggering on my EZ-Poly (esspecially in mono mode)would lend itself to that sort of widdley-widdley stuff

[projectdan]

I think its a real violin (or some real instrument sounds like a violin),no way its a keyboard if the track was done before physical modelling and giga sampler, the articulation is to real.
There is an amp like sound to it in parts which make it sound sort of like an electric guitar.