Solina String Ensemble guide
Here's a brief guide to Behringer's clone of the Solina String Ensemble. Given the nature of clones, it's probably also a serviceable guide to Solina's original String Ensemble.
The buttons
The leftmost six buttons turn the various different sounds on and off.
The bass sounds (contrabass and cello) only respond to notes C2 (36) — G3 (55).
The other sounds (viola, violin, trumpet, and horn) respond to notes C2 (36) — C6 (84).
The cello and viola both play the requested note, but the viola is much brighter. The contrabass is basically the same sound as the cello, only an octave lower than the requested note. Similarly, the violin is basically the same sound as the viola, only an octave up.
The horn filters the trumpet, it doesn't add a second sound to it. They're both the requested octave.
So if you play a C3, the contrabass will actually play C2, the cello and viola will play C3, the violin will play C4, and the trumpet or horn will play C3.
The rightmost two buttons, "modulation" and "phaser", naturally affect all six sounds. The modulation makes it sound good, and the phaser makes it sound very good.
The sliders
The "volume bass" slider affects the volume of only the bass sounds (contrabass and cello).
The "crescendo" slider is the attack speed for the rising volume of each note's beginning. The trumpet and horn sounds are unaffected, lest it ruin the illusion of the realistic brass.
The "Sustain length" slider, conversely, is the release speed for the falling volume of each note's end. It affects all sounds.
To my ears, the bass sounds always seem pretty quick to fade in and out. This is curious, because the original String Ensemble's service notes have a block diagram showing that, unlike the brass, they don't get any special treatment.
Summary
You basically have three pairs of instruments: low strings, high strings, and high brass, although the two brass sounds are mutually exclusive.
The leftmost slider controls the volume of the low strings. The next controls the attack speed of all four strings, although it's mostly notable on the high pair. The next controls the release speed of everything.
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