| Notes | The Siel Orchestra is an analogue subtractive synthesizer, which was produced by Italian manufacturer Siel from 1979 to 1982. The original Orchestra was very limited but still a very characteristic instrument for its time. It produces its sounds from a divide-down oscillator network and therefore has 49 note (unlimited) polyphony. Although it contains 4 sections of presets (Brass, Strings, Reed and Piano), each which contain two sounds, the only parameters that can be edited are Vibrato (LFO), Brilliance (for the Brass, which also has a separate 'Brass Attack'), Attack and Decay. This ultimately means that the Orchestra cannot produce many different sounds; however because of its Italian origin and its distinctive routing, the Orchestra sound is not matched by any other similar synthesizers.
The Orchestra was later bought by ARP Instruments to be slightly modified, relabeled and then sold as the ARP Quartet. This version replaced the Reed section with an Organ one, however aside from that the synthesizer was almost identical.
The Orchestra 2 was a more flexible version that followed the original and was released in 1983. It still had 4 preset sounds but offered many more sliders and edit parameters. The Brass section received a better filter with cutoff and resonance sliders. The Strings section added Mute and Percussion sounds to the mix. The Reed or organ section offered an Accordion and Musette sound in addition to the traditional church organ sound. And the Piano section added a clavichord sound to its mix.
Polyphony - 49 notes
Oscillators - Brass, Strings, Organ and Piano
LFO - Fixed waveform, speed, depth, delay sliders
Filter - Yes: Brilliance (Orch 1). Freq. Cutoff and Resonance (Orch. 2)
Effects - Animator flange effect (Orch 2)
VCA - Yes, individual attack and decay sliders for strings, brass and piano sections.
Keyboard - 49 keys
Memory - None
Control - None
Date Produced - 1979-1982 (Orch 1); 1983-1986 (Orch 2) |
