Many thanks to Ed for restoring this lovely old string synth.
The RS-202 is all about the stings and was known as "Roland's finest string synth".
It's a forgotten gem that can still be found cheaply.
Introduced by Roland in 1976, it was the successor to the unloved Roland RS-101 which was released in 1975.
It is also known to make the ultimate "disco strings" sounds.
The RS-202 is "polyphonic" and is built into a solid wooden carry case.
Its heavy too.
The synthesizer uses simple sawtooth wave oscillators, which pass through a frequency divider in a similar manner to an electronic organ.
This gives the synth full polyphony across a five-octave keyboard.
The signal was fed through a single envelope shaper.
This this instrument is really paraphonic, not polyphonic.
This this instrument is really paraphonic, not polyphonic.
The front panel had two separate controls for the top and bottom of the keyboard... the bass section & the string section.
Thus it has independent bass & string sounds.
Thus it has independent bass & string sounds.
To achieve a more realistic sound of an ensemble of string players, the output is fed through a chorus This effect uses a number of delay lines triggered by low frequency oscillators.
A side note, there is a early clone called Multivox.
This was manufactured in the USA. Called the MX-202, I think these are pretty rare. I've never heard one.
https://www.elkelektronik.com.au/
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