Vintage string sounds

Ken Williams · Post by **Ken Williams** » 29 Jan 2003 12:50 pm

In your opinion, what vintage or new synthesizer has the most realistic "strings" sound? Arp and DX7 come to mind. I mention vintage because I can't afford any of this new high dollar stuff?

Ken

Michael Holland · Post by **Michael Holland** » 29 Jan 2003 6:37 pm

Hi Ken,

Both of the vintage instruments you mentioned use a different method of 'synthesis'. The ARP is an analog waveform synth. These type of synths can create lush 'string' sounds which work great when layered with other instruments. Oberheim made some of the best of these types of synths, although they are notorious for tuning problems. The the industry standard for analog synthesizers was the Sequential Circuits Prophet 5. The Yamaha DX7 uses frequency modulation as its engine and is more suited for percussive sounds.

You might want to consider a keyboard that plays looping samples of instruments. For string samples the Kurzweil is well respected, and the new keyboards from Korg, Roland and Yamaha are incredible. Really the best way to simulate strings is to layer several instruments together by sequencing or multi-tracking.

Dave Boothroyd · Post by **Dave Boothroyd** » 30 Jan 2003 12:29 am

Mellotron- good grief!
A lot of modern sound modules will actually have the characteristic sound of mellotron strings as totally distinct from "real" strings.
I have always found the reallest sounding strings are on the Emu sound modules, and I have used one which is actually a dedicated orchestra module.
With all the dance music about now, I don't think they make them any more, but you could look on ebay for something like an Emu Pro FX.
Your alternative would be to use a standalone sampler like an Akai or a software one like Gigasampler and get a good string sample disk.
Cheers
Dave

Michael Brebes · Post by **Michael Brebes** » 31 Jan 2003 3:03 pm

Emu Proteus 2 is an orchestral sampler with very good string sounds. It has anything you would find in an orchestra. Module only. You should be able to get one for $150-250.

James Quackenbush · Post by **James Quackenbush** » 1 Feb 2003 6:37 am

Actually the older analog modules will cost you more money !!...The newer digital modules have more convincing string sections if you are looking for "realistic" sounding strings..
Roland modules have good string sections, and so do Emu modules...They can be had for $100 or more....Samplers can give you the most realistic sounding strings, but they are more involved and more expensive....Jim

Alan Kirk · Post by **Alan Kirk** » 1 Feb 2003 8:50 am

I have a DX7. I wouldn't say the string sounds are particularly great.

The original string sound synth, I think, was an ARP machine (the "String something" or the Odyssey?). Of course that's probably "vintage" by now and would cost you an arm and a leg. (I have an Oberheim 2-voice synth from the mid-70s that I bought for about $2K back then, it dropped in value over the years to about $100, and now it's back up to between $1K and $1.5K.)

You might be able to get some real good string sounds from a very cheap synth that you could buy new today. Actually, the best string sounds probably would come from a sample-based synth.

One of the tricks the early string-synth people used was to record a bunch of tracks with the synth, then hire a real fiddler to come and double the tracks, then mix him in just enough to give the synth track a little life. It's the live-person attack and dynamics that made the synths sound more real.
<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Alan Kirk on 01 February 2003 at 08:51 AM.]</p></FONT>