String synthesizer

Dedicated string synthesizers occupied a specific musical instrument niche between electronic organs and general-purpose synthesizers in the 1970s and early 1980s, until advances in digital signal processing technology allowed the production of inexpensive general-purpose polyphonic synthesizers and samplers, which made the existence of a separate type of instrument unnecessary.

[1] The development of the string synthesizer was originally motivated by the need for a cheaper and more portable alternative to the Mellotron, which was itself a cheaper alternative to human string ensembles.

To keep costs down, string synthesizers typically used a frequency divider architecture similar to that of electronic organs, with the addition of specialized in-built vibrato and chorus effects to mimic the ensemble effect of multiple string instruments playing at once.

Classic string synthesizers included the Freeman String Symphonizer, Eminent 310,[3] Logan String Melody, Roland RS-101, Roland RS-202,[4][5] Korg Polyphonic Ensemble S, Crumar Orchestrator (Multiman-S), Elka Rhapsody, ARP String Ensemble,[1] Moog Opus 3 and the Vox String Thing (a rebranded version of the budget Jen SM2007 String Machine) and the Roland VP-330.

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