=With all the digital stuff available (hardware or software) you can only fake the sound and the response of a real string synth. There's NO way you'll get the envelopes to work in the same way they work on a real string synth. Well, that and other things.
B3 and Mellotron are BIG brand names that were used by major bands. Groove box kids will go for them mostly because of that.
B3 and Mellotron sounds were heavily used in old "Trance", "House" and "Trip-
hop" as well. They are market buzzwords.
Why not string synth?
It never became a "classic" for most people. In fact most people don't even listen to
"Tangerine Dream". When they think of the 70s the think of like ..."The Eagles".
Hence - B3...
It is possible to make and sell a soft OMNI. It's just a matter of marketing. For
example the FM7 by Native Instruments wouldn't really sell if it offered only what the original DX7 did. It's the new features (like improved FM, multiple filter types, flexible use of LFOs and LFO syncing as well as sample import, FX etc ) that made most kids run out and buy one.
So if a soft OMNI was advertised (and made ) as a killer Pad keys, and bass unit with all the bells and whistles, it will do well on the market. I think it's just a matter of time. Soft synth makers will eventually look for ideas besides fake Mellotrons, Wurly Rhodes, B3s and whatever else rocks the market nowadays. Soft string synth is just a matterof time.
-ED-
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A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.
- - - Oscar Wilde