When Behringer first mooted the idea of a Solina String Ensemble clone, it admitted that it didn’t even know if or when it would be built, but more than three years later, it’s here.
Released in 1974 and distributed in the US by ARP Instruments, the original String Ensemble incorporated violin, viola, trumpet, horn, cello and contrabass sounds, along with a built-in chorus effect. Organ-style ‘divide-down’ technology gave the impression of polyphony.
Behringer’s remake (based on the ‘Revision B’ model) adds a phaser (in the style of the Electro-Harmonix Small Stone from the ‘70s), 5-pin/USB MIDI and external modulation/patching connectivity, all in a compact form factor.
Behringer says that recreating the String Ensemble was quite a challenge, but it’s still managed to keep the price down to an anticipated $359. It’ll go into production once the required chips have been sourced.
