Comparison between two Solina String Ensembles

Published on Dec 28, 2013 The Laboratory of Sound·2 videos

"Several versions of the Solina String Ensemble were made by the Dutch organ building company Eminent (the SSE's were rebranded ARP in the USA). There appears to be quite some discussion about which version of the SSE sounds better. When both an early version (Mk1) and a later version (Mk4) came in at the same time for service, I couldn't resist doing a side by side comparison. The top one is the Mk4 version with LEDs in the push buttons, the bottom one is the Mk1 version. I was just fiddling around a bit, but tried to play the same tunes alternating between the Mk1 and Mk4. At all times, the settings on each unit are identical. At approximately 2:20 the four upper voices are played one by one without the ensemble effect. If you can stand watching the video until the end, you will see in the upper left corner of the video frame some smoke escaping from the Mk4. The smoke was accompanied by a strong smell of burning electronics. As soon as I noticed I switched off the Solina's (you will hear a plopping noise). It turned out that one of the caps in the power supply had burst. After recapping the power supply the unit was in full working order again.
The Solina's were both recorded in mono (the Mk4 can do stereo as well) using an API Channel Strip and Lynx Hilo converters. Despite the conversion for Youtube there are clear differences between the Mk1 and Mk4. Up to you to decide which one you prefer."