String ensemble keyboard

Illustration — The Solina String Ensemble, an early string synthesizer A string synthesizer or string machine is a synthesizer designed to make sounds similar to those of a string section. 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. 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.

Also recorded as string keyboard · string ensemble