Soviet Solaris Estradin 314 demo proj3

Published on Jan 11, 2018 Paul Curreri

Update: this one is currently for sale on Reverb here. Pics captured here.

"A bit of a meander through this fascinating and wild analog poly / organ.

As you can see, it’s in excellent cosmetic condition. Sliders all slide fairly smoothly. A proper power cable was professionally installed, as the one it came with didn’t fit snugly. It still uses 220V though, so a converter is required.

Now, much as I love it, I can’t say for certain that this Soviet-Era instrument is functioning 100% optimally. After all, I don't speak Russian, and I've never encountered another! You can probably hear the slight hum -- though the signal-to-noise ratio easily masks that when playing. Perhaps it could use a tune-up?

I’ve always found the unit perpetually intriguing. One minute it’s a 60s compact organ (w. a filter!), the next a 70s string machine, then a growling 80s analog synth bass, and then blammo: a rocket ship. I mean, c’mon.

If your path in life leads you to encounter a Solaris Estradin 314, maybe bring it home?
Thanks for watching.

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Wonderful description from the web:

Vintage rare soviet analog polyphonic synthesizer - SOLARIS Estradin-314. Produced in the USSR on "Estradin" factory in Zhitomir city (famous for its Estradin-230 & Altair-231 synths) in 1988.

SOLARIS uses organ style drawbars to create the basic tone, and has a analog filtering as well. Inside it has 12 voice boards that correspond to each key in an octave, and then uses a divide down system to get to the other octaves. The filter is really extreme and sounds fantastic, as well the envelope is really punchy, so you get great synth stabs, sweeps and percussive organy sounds.

If you use the envelope and filter sections carefully you can get great moogy leads out of it, warm organ sounds, flying ambient textures, in the high resisters it can sound like a string machine, or even a theremin if you crank the resonance.It has tons of character and can sounds amazing!"