Behringer Shares Sneak Preview Of Its Solina String Ensemble Knockoff, But Not Availability Date

Behringer today shared this preview of their upcoming Solina String Ensemble, a Euro format knockoff of the classic Eminent Solina String Ensemble.

The original Eminent Solina is a 49-note keyboard string ensemble synth from 1974. Its classic sound has been used iconically by Pink Floyd, Tangerine Dream, Joy Division and others.

Here’s what Behringer has to say about their version:

“SOLINA faithfully delivers the classic string machine sound that we all know and love.

By staying loyal to its unique circuitry, our Engineers have not only managed to deliver the purest revival of SOLINA, but also by including highly demanded features including a built-in phaser (based on the classic 1970s Small-Stone), External Modulation/Patching connectivity, 5-Pin, and USB MIDI, all whilst in a form factor that works within modern-day setups.

There is truly nothing else on the market today that comes close to the character of this extremely sought-after instrument. We are extremely proud to soon open the experience of SOLINA to you all, once we have the required chips to put it into full-scale production.”

Pricing and Availability:

Behringer is targeting the street price for the Solina to be $359 USD. Unfortunately, their Solina is another one of their ‘hardvaporware’ introductions, because they they can’t get the parts to put it into production.

Check out the demo and share your thoughts on how accurately captures the originals’ sound in the comments!

46 thoughts on “Behringer Shares Sneak Preview Of Its Solina String Ensemble Knockoff, But Not Availability Date

  1. Using your own words and definition, posted on this very same news regurgitating site from a while back, it can’t be a ‘knockoff’ if it adds functionality or features, so with the addition of midi, usb and a phaser, it looks like you’ve forgotten your own ‘rules’ in your haste to carry on with the unprofessional smear campaign.
    Why you so mad, bro? lol

    1. I replace many electromechanical part’s where the difference matters – after that I have no complaints with Behringer; from a hardware engineers perspective, they do the right thing to reduce costs, it’s easy to fix, they mostly follow the original designs so original service manuals are very useful. it’s a modders delight. stringers are not my thing though.

  2. Although I definitely preferred my Univox Stringman back in the day, I have to say that in this video the Solina sounds even better than I remember it (especially with the phaser). This is a lot closer to what a 70s string machine sounded like in the 70s than I ever got the Waldorf Streichfett to sound in the six months, or so , that I had one in my studio. If Behringer ever releases it, especially at the price advertised, I’ll immediately snarf one up.

    1. If you don’t need the additional features of a TI, and you don’t mind using a real Virus-C as a synth plugin (what you end up with is a real Virus-C with possibly better audio from the converters in your system), then you can download the Virus-C shell and the contents of the Access ROMs and roll your own Virus-C. I have it running flawlessly on an older Windows 7 computer as well as a Mac Mini M1. Best thing is that it is free! I doubt that Behringer would do a Virus when there is just so, so, so much more to be made with a Moog One that costs in the $2000 range (and, oddly, I’d trust Uli to actually get it correct the first time)

      1. Thanks for the mentioning the Access Virus emulator. I had no idea that it had progressed so far, excited to get my hands on it.

      2. Thanks, I did try installing the ROM version using Windows 7 as well. I followed the directions carefully, but kept getting the same error message, so I gave up. That was awhile ago, so perhaps I should try again after drinking the right amount of coffee…which is a lot;)

        1. Seriously, it only took me a about a minute to get it working the first time once I determined what was required (i.e., the Shell program and the ROM s file need to be in the same directory, and the whole directory gets put inside the directory that gets scanned for the VSTs). From there, on the Windows 7 machine, the VSTs were correctly loaded first pass by Cakewalk, Ableton Live Studio, Studio One, and Mixcraft 9 (although Mixcraft didn’t work the first time but has been reliable since).

      1. riiiiiiight, and everyone else creates brand new unique products that never existed before. it’s like that “foxnews of the music industry” guy; fucker carlson.

  3. Reviving this amazing classic is a good idea. I wonder how it compares to the Waldorf Streichfett which is at 300 euros and more versatile.

    1. the streichfett is very thin sounding, digital and fully midi/usb controllable but anyway i think i will get bored very quickly with this one too. too big and ugly for the little it does.

    2. I think how they compare would be determined by what you are trying to do with them. There isn’t any question that the Streichfett is much more versatile. Unfortunately, the one thing that it doesn’t really do well is emulate the sounds of the 70s instruments its main intention was to emulate. It’s also a lot more than a matter of “thinness”. There is something that it, and most of the software emulations of these things lack (except for Gforce String Machine, and maybe the NI Kontakt library, because of their reliance on samples of actual instruments) that just doesn’t sound right to me. For example, to get anything close to a convincing sound out of the Streichfett, I’d have to treat it with both an Orbitron AND a Mikron Orbiter in series. As I said above, the tonality of the sounds in the video shouted realism to me, and I wasn’t even that fond of the Solina in the 70s. Also, I can understand why people may not be as hopeful as I am to see this thing released. It doesn’t appear to be much, and it pretty much is a one trick pony, but my Stringman was a big part of my musical life back in the day, and for nostalgia factors alone, the Behringer clone is very welcome to me.

  4. I find this Solina-thing a tad boring although I used an ARP Omni-2 for years. If they can make a viable Solina and an Oddysey, they have the essential tech needed to make an ARP Quadra – which would be a much more interesting machine to own. Especially if they modernised the memory functions of the synth.

  5. Price too high for this one trick pony, it has to be under 300 bucks for the punters to buy. Behringer will suffer the most from higher prices.

  6. They should had made the Roland rs505.
    Behringer have priced this knock off too high, punters won’t buy it unless it under 300 bucks.

    Behringer suffering the most from price hikes.

  7. “It’s safe to say” has been mentioned twice in the preview.
    Here’s a third: It’s safe to say it’s not available.

  8. I kind of like every other instrument that behringer clones and this is one of them!
    Wish it was more of a collaboration then knockoff.

    Also like their unique products: neutron, proton, deepmind …
    When they clone products that another company has currently in production that is questionable.

  9. its the exact same thing as a youtube video where someone builds there own DIY synth and plays around with it… thats it… just some YouTube “content” – not even close to marketing or press for some corporation

    behringer is like “look at me!!” and everyone is like “wow” or “meh” or whatever

    then they all went home

  10. string machines are too limited and static to be particularly desirable as hardware, in my opinion and certainly in my workflow. as a relatively set-and-forget category of instrument, why bother with the desk space for this sort of thing – let alone if it has the seemingly questionable build quality.
    i suppose it’s nice to have classics rebuilt in a compact format and available again, but… eh.

  11. Behringer’s designers continue to impress with their inability to create something that doesn’t look like a giant turd.

  12. A question of trademarks – a tad confused here. Behringer does not only remake the tech – the patents are no longer viable of course – it’s public domain now. but they are also using the original Solina logo… which I would assume is a trade mark. how is this possible? I don’t think I’ve seen that move before…

    1. Soling is what’s referred to as a zombie brand. The company that made the product no longer exists and any trademarks have lapsed. Behringer has used this approach to register a variety of old trademarks. They got overly aggressive and attempted to register Prophet and Oberheim without success, but we’re successful registering Wasp and Odyssey. Others such as Synthex, Syncussion, Pro-VX and Mini Pops are being reviewed y the USPTO.

  13. We need a new version of the Farfisa Combo Compact with standard, Deluxe, and Duo models. Come on Behringer. You could do this. Make it as beautiful and as close to the original exterior design as possible.

    1. Again, it depends on what you want to do with it. The Arturia version sounds kind of like a vintage string machine, so in a mix nobody would notice or probably care if they did. However, in one-to-one interaction with the instrument (which, of course, none of us here has had), for me it is important that the “emulation” sounds like what it supposed to be emulating. From what I’ve heard, so far, the Behringer DOES sound very much like the Solina. The Arturia, on the other hand, sounds nothing like it.

  14. Synthtopia actually managed to turn me into a Behringer fan. This one sounds really amazing. Definitely going to buy this too.

  15. I just can’t see any sense in Berhinger constantly posting announcements and tasters, of instruments they can’t produce. Or have any idea when they will be able to.
    It’s pointless.
    I’d love one of these. But i was thinking that 2 years ago.

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