Behringer SOLINA STRING ENSEMBLE Classic Analog String Ensemble Synthesizer with 49-Voice Polyphony, BBD

I am assembling a keyboard rig that makes the kinds of sounds found in prog rock bands of the 1970s. I have the Hammond clone. I have the Moog. What I lacked was the string ensemble - the kind of keyboard that made the distinctively cheesy background washes one associates with Pink Floyd, among others. You can buy them secondhand, but they are expensive, and, after half a century, fragile. The king of the string ensemble was the ARP Solina. But these days they are rarer than hens' teeth. Yes, there is an iPad app, but it doesn't quite have that distinctive smell of wet afghan coats and patchouli oil and being thrown out of the Marquee Club at 2 am..Behringer obviously felt this need with a unit that reproduces the Solina in a compact Analog MIDI module. It's simplicity itself. Contrabass and cello sounds are in the left hand with separate volume. Viola, violin, trumpet and horn are in the right hand (the horn only works if the trumpet is already engaged). There is a control for overall tuning, and sliders for 'crescendo' (attack time), 'sustain' (release time), and overall volume. It's fully polyphonic. The killer feature is the ensemble (a modulation effect that's either on or off). An addition is a phaser (supposedly the guts of a classic 'Small Stone') that has two present depths and a rate switch. The MIDI 'in' socket is conveniently on the front panel. On the back there are all sorts of sockets for this and that, including for a computer; a MIDI thru; on-off switch, mono audio out (there's a separate mini-jack for headphones) and a socket for the supplied mains adapter.Now, all these sounds are almost (but not quite) entirely unlike the instruments they are meant to emulate -- but who cares? Nowadays we have sample libraries for that. The contrabass is authentically squelchy, but apart from that each sound on its own is rather weedy. The thing to do is engage all the sounds at once and kick in the modulation, and you're RIGHT THERE, shining on like a crazy diamond.Overall -- this is a highly specialised product. But if, like me, you're looking for THAT SOUND, and are frustrated by the expense and unreliability of secondhand units, there really is no other choice. There is obviously someone at Behringer who's an old prog-head, as the company is putting out good-value clones of all sorts of classic keyboards, from Minimoogs to Prophets. My question is -- when will they do their own version of a Mellotron? Watch the skies....

It never fails to bring a smile to my face, bringing out my inner Jean-Michel Jarre. It sounds so good just holding down random notes. I plug it into an Arturia keystep 37 via midi. If you want that classic string sound I highly recommend it.

I had to write this as the only other review was 1 star, without any writing (enough said)Rest assured if your thinking of getting one of these for that authentic string machine sound then just go for it. It really is excellent with a decent analogue phaser built in. It might not be a genuine Solina, but it still sounds better than many 70s string machines and of course beats any emulation. It swirls and sizzles just like an analogue string machine should.

It sounds fantastic and is really simple to use. Very good replication of the real thing at a fraction of the cost. Highly recommended if you want clockwork orange or Jean-Michel Jarre! Behringer are becoming legendary!!