Dedicated Solina VSTI [thread from 2009]

[EvilDragon]

it's very hard, as the master pulse osc of which the osc's are divided from has to be tuned to around 2mhz (!)

2 MHz?! Why 2 MHz?

I reckong this would impose problems with samplerate used in VSTi.... Then again, there may be some workarounds, still?

[brok landers]

because that's the frequency of the master osc the divided down oscs are "divided" from ... i assume tuning stability issues and calculation issues for the correct divisions, i could be wrong though ...
i think there are workarounds ... i basically think there has to be a way to actually get the same result (phase synchronised osc voices) in a totally different way ... in digital domain ... and no, the samplerate isn't an issue, rather the cpu usage that would be needed to run the osc in the necessary sample rate, or oversampling ...

[Peter999]

you may also have a look at this one - it's not only solina, but also logan & welson, the best two sounds of each, sampled with high end equipment - check the audio clips and the video:
http://www.sonicprojects.ch/stringer/description.html

[WOK]

It should be an easy VA to model cause it doesn't have a filter. The only challenge is to get the Chorus right.

http://music.service-1.de/html/stringchorus.html

I am working on a string machine, but because of a lack of time it will not be done before the end of april....

[tommy_d]

The only challenge is to get the Chorus right.

by far not. i love stringmachines more than anyone on the planet (at least i assume this ), and there's 2 more hard things to nail in addition, to be able to successfully emulate a stringmachine ...

1. the osc's are by far no normal saw waves
2. the phase locking/syncing of the voices isn't easy to emulate

if those points are not respected, you won't end up with a real stringmachine sound ...

samples _cannot_ match the stringmachine sound, for one reason:
you mostly play chords on a stringmachine. as the modulator is applied to the summ of the voices in a real stringmachine, using a sample would multiply the modulator voices with each note in the chords, thus you end up with a smeared pad sound that won't sound like a stringmachine at all ...

+1

I have a Logan String Melody II. It sounds nothing like real strings, of course, but there's definitely something about the sound...

[Peter999]

I own one too for me it's the best string machine of all, much better than the solina and omni - very fat & rich sound, and separate envelopes for each key (omni has only one for all..)

[tommy_d]

I own one too for me it's the best string machine of all, much better than the solina and omni - very fat & rich sound

Amen

[david.beholder]

it's very hard, as the master pulse osc of which the osc's are divided from has to be tuned to around 2mhz (!)

2 MHz?! Why 2 MHz?

I reckong this would impose problems with samplerate used in VSTi.... Then again, there may be some workarounds, still?

Thanks.

Real world juno 106 dco is also around this rate (tho I could be wrong).

[Aroused by JarJar]

The only challenge is to get the Chorus right.

by far not. i love stringmachines more than anyone on the planet (at least i assume this ), and there's 2 more hard things to nail in addition, to be able to successfully emulate a stringmachine ...

1. the osc's are by far no normal saw waves
2. the phase locking/syncing of the voices isn't easy to emulate

if those points are not respected, you won't end up with a real stringmachine sound ...

samples _cannot_ match the stringmachine sound, for one reason:
you mostly play chords on a stringmachine. as the modulator is applied to the summ of the voices in a real stringmachine, using a sample would multiply the modulator voices with each note in the chords, thus you end up with a smeared pad sound that won't sound like a stringmachine at all ...

+1

I have a Logan String Melody II. It sounds nothing like real strings, of course, but there's definitely something about the sound...

I also have a Logan- a kind of mystery model, as there were apparently a bunch of "inbetween" or prototype? versions, and this one was sold in Germany by Hohner (they just tacked on a Hohner badge without even taking off the Logan badge).

It is this one:

http://till-kopper.de/logan_string_melody.html

but with an additional switch built into the little diamond on the front center, which switches between different chorusing types. It's actually two synthesizers: a divide-down string machine, but with the individual ADs on each key (and a quite irregular only roughly saw-like waveform), and a monophonic bass synth with a percussion setting that is just sick on subwoofers.

30+ years old and still in tune.

Another reason that samples would have some work to do covering a string machine is that they actually have more sounds than first appears- for example, a person probably wouldn't think of "high silvery bells" or "satanic bass" as string machine sounds, but my Logan and my Estradin Solaris do these sounds. And like any analog, these kinds of sounds can be be a matter of millimeters on the knobs/sliders.

The Solaris is paraphonic, you can play all the keys at once but with one envelope and a self-oscillating squealing f**ker of a filter (same one as the Polivoks filter if I'm not mistaken) at the end. Gotta mod an audio input into that someday, of course. And the pulse-like wave especially in the bass is quite sci-fi, does strange psychoacoustic things. That synth isn't going to be virtual anytime soon.

But in my opinion attempts to emulate string machine waves digitally might be very fruitful as far as bitchen sounds, regardless of whether you nailed the original or not. After all, part of the glory and artistic integrity of a string machine is how much it sucks at sounding like actual acoustic strings, but still sounds great.

[phraggle]

So... nobody rates GForce software's VSM, then? Or is it because it uses samples? In that case, I'll get me coat...

http://www.gforcesoftware.com/ins_vsm.php

[Peter999]

And what do you think of the Logan String Melody II String Preset of SonicProjects Stringer?
Logan String Merlody II

[rpc9943]

no one still responded about stringer being out of tune... aaaaanyone?

sigh

RonC

[fceramic]

theres no demo for the Nomad String Studio.

[emdot_ambient]

I'm another lover of these things. I own a now defunked Crumar Performer and a Roland RS-202. From samples I've heard, the Eminent, Freeman String Symphonizer and Logans are probably my favorites overall. They seem to have a sweeter, cleaner tone. Solinas don't quite have the same clarity, but I like them...but I have a great fondness for my old Performer. Its simple 3-band EQ made drastic sonic sculpting really quick and easy. The Roland is good, too, but has a rawer quality and a gritty sound...colder and more aggressive.

I have GMedia's VSM and it's good, no doubt, but its RS-202 samples don't really sound like the actual instrument I have. Makes me wonder how accurate the others are. Some sweet stuff there, for sure...

...but I'm all for non-sample based emulations. I never get enough of these machines. Cheesy, yet extremely useful. I mean, they were used in everything from Mike Oldfield's Hergest Ridge to Parliament/Funkadelic's Flashlight. On their own they tend to sound cheap...in a mix they're magic.

[liqih]

I already made an emulation of Solina and Logan, using virtual divide down oscillators (No samples used), Chorus code has been modelled after the Solina schematics, as soon as I finish the graphics I will release the VSTi for Windows, (Mac later), if you want to hear a demo of the sound give me a MIDI file and I will render to you,

http://www.dashsignature.com/SDS/sds_preview.png