1. WELCOME TO SOLINA V
Arturia would like to thank you for purchasing our modeling synthesizer, Solina V. We're
confident that it will become a valuable addition to your music production studio.
If this is the first Arturia product you have owned, we think you'll find it's an excellent way to
become acquainted with our stuff. If you’ve purchased our products before, you know we
take great pride in recreating the sound and feel of the original instruments – and then we
add 21st Century features these products might have had, if only the technology had been
available at the time!
The Solina, the original instrument upon which this virtual model is based, played an
important part in many hit songs of the 1970s and early 1980s. It was a perfect fit for the
various forms of symphonic rock and pop music that flourished in those days.
Since you obviously appreciate the Solina sound, we thought you might enjoy a brief look
backward at what it took to bring this marvelous instrument to life.
1.1. A History of the Solina
1.1.1. A string section for everyone
In the early days of rock music, having a string ensemble play on your tracks was an
impossible dream for any but the most famous musicians. While there’s something about
the sound of orchestral instruments that can take a sweet love song and turn it into a heart-
rending expression of the human condition, the fact remains that hiring a string section isn't
for everybody – and taking one out to bar gigs isn't for
anybody.
Some venues might have a Hammond organ or a badly-beat-up piano, but most relied on
the keyboardist to bring his own gear: an electric piano, a portable (or not so portable) organ,
and maybe a monophonic synthesizer. There wasn't really room in the van or the budget
for a string section.
But technology has a way of answering musicians' prayers, so various ways to give a
keyboardist orchestral sounds had been in development for a while. The primary solution
in the early 1970s was the
Mellotron
: a keyboard with a strip of recording tape under each
key, that would play whatever was on the tape when the key was pressed. All manner of
recorded sounds could be played back that way (sampling before digital audio!) but the
Mellotron was big, heavy, unreliable, and expensive... a solution but not a great one.
1.1.1.1. From Freeman to Eminent – humble beginnings
The very first string machine was the
Freeman String Symphonizer
, invented by keyboardist
Ken Freeman as a potential alternative to the Mellotron. Freeman experimented with a
Clavioline (an electronic solo instrument available since the 1940s) and a 3-head delay with
different LFOs for each head, and discovered that the delays could make a single voice
sound like an ensemble. Unfortunately, the String Symphonizer never got off the ground for
financial reasons.
The
Eminent 310 Unique
was an organ sold by the Dutch company Eminent Orgelbouw BV
beginning in 1972. It was notable for containing a string ensemble section, somewhat similar
to Freeman's concept, that could be added to the organ sound. This pioneering design was
catapulted into worldwide fame as the foundation for French composer Jean Michel Jarre's
multi-million-selling albums
Oxygène and Équinoxe.
Even before
Oxygène became a worldwide hit in 1976, Eminent realized that the 310's string
section was something worthwhile on its own – it could be made into a standalone keyboard
that could fill a potentially huge market. And so, in 1974, the
Eminent Solina
was born.
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Arturia - User Manual Solina V - Welcome to Solina V
