Nomad Factory and NUSofting have announced that they are collaborating to create a new range of "top-of-the-line" virtual instruments. The first fruit of this collaboration is the Analog Strings Station, an advanced emulation of vintage electronic keyboards.

Analog Strings Station (ASS) is an advanced emulation of the vintage electronic keyboards known as "String Ensemble Synthesizers " or "String Machines", which where invented around 1970 and became a huge success with the introduction of the Eminent Solina String Ensemble. The ASS project started at NUSofting as a digital model of the Solina and was then extended to a versatile polyphonic synthesizer but still retaining the warm core sound of the vintage string synthesizers.

Differently to other string machine emulations available as virtual instruments, the ASS doesn't use samples recorded from the original hardware keyboards, NUSofting developed a native emulation of the "octave divider" circuitry that is the essential technology of the vintage polyphonic synthesizers. The ASS digital "octave divider" can reproduce the same "phase synced" sound of the original Solina, Crumar Performer and similar vintage keyboards.

The ASS digital "octave divider", in Nomad Factory's opinion, better serves the reproduction of the chords played with a real "String Synthesizers" compared to the usual sampling technology which first splits and then reassembles the sound key by key, not mentioning that the ASS only use 20 MB of your drive space.

Another essential sounding element of the "String Machines" is the so called Ensemble effect, the ASS Ensemble effect was also modeled after the original Solina circuitry and extended with more parameters and wider ranges for these, allowing the ASS user to many more sublime chorus effects suitable to the original string machine sound.

The Analog Strings Station is a must have for all musicians who recognize the power of a sound that as marked an era and still looks to the future. The sound of string machines is heard in works from artists like Vangelis, Genesis, Jean Michel Jarre, Pink Floyd, Ultravox, Air David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Goldfrapp, Beck and many more.

Priced at $189, Analog Strings Station is "coming soon" for Windows and Mac OS X in VST, AU and RTAS formats.