Vintage Synth Explorer Forums

Just a quick question: is it possible to sustain a note indefinitely on an ARP Solina String Ensemble? i.e. with a sustain pedal?

The reason I ask is because I'm researching Richard Wright's keyboard rig from '75, and versions of the Shine On intro at the time have Rick holding a chord on the Hammond, a high G note on the Solina, and playing a Minimoog melody all at once. Last time I checked, Rick didn't have three arms.

Looking at pics on the web I see an "expression pedal" jack on the Solina but no sustain pedal. But then, come to think of it, implementing a sustain pedal on a divide-down synth would be a rather complex undertaking. Think of trying to wire a sustain pedal to a Hammond organ to get my drift.

If this was a studio recording, he probably did it in separate takes. If live, either there was a 2nd keyboard player or he taped some keys down.

Thanks, Synthaholic.

Yes, it's the live version from '75 I'm referring to. Based on that, my assumption now is that Wright probably played the Hammond and Minimoog, and got Roger Waters to play the ARP (Roger's not necessarily a great keyboardist, but all he would have had to do was hold one note for a while.)