The ARP String Synthesizer, also known as the ARP Solina String Synthesizer or sometimes the Solina String Synthesizer, is an ARP Instruments, Inc.

ARP Instruments, Inc.

ARP Instruments, Inc. was an American manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. Best known for its line of synthesizers that emerged in the early 1970s, ARP closed its doors in 1981 due to financial difficulties...

 synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

. It is a hybrid model which combined both the ARP String Ensemble

ARP String Ensemble

The ARP String Ensemble, also known as the Solina String Ensemble, is a fully polyphonic multi-orchestral ARP Instruments, Inc. synthesizer with a 49-key keyboard, produced by Solina from 1974 to 1981. The sounds it incorporates are violin, viola, trumpet, horn, cello and contrabass. The keyboard...

 and the ARP Explorer monophonic synthesizer

Synthesizer

A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...

. It was built in Bodegraven

Bodegraven

Bodegraven is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The former municipality covers an area of 38.50 km² of which 1.02 km² is water....

, Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Supposedly only about 100 were ever produced. The addition of the ARP Explorer to the Solina string sounds made for a very powerful combination.

This synth had four keyboard modes:

• Strings Only
• Strings through the Explorer low-pass filter
• Explorer voice combined with the lower Solina keyboard (contrabass and cello)
• Explorer voice combined with the upper Solina keyboard (viola, violin, trumpet, horn)

Variations

The manufacturer of Solina series, Eminent B.V., also shipped a home organ model, named Solina C112 (with "Explore I" logo), which included the ARP String Synthesizer.