(Warning: this is a really long post. Sorry about that.)
This relates to my previous post about that strings ensemble sound, (st-98:string-1-dw), but that post was too vague (now I found [what I believe to be] the oldest mods to have this sound) and I have since learned more about mods with this sound. But I can't figure out what synthesizer this sound is from. I looked through other ST-XX packs, other mods, and even listened to presets from some old synthesizers (Roland D-50, Korg M1, etc.) but I couldn't figure out what record or synthesizer this strings sound was sampled from. Anyways, the reason I want to know what this sound is from is because I feel that it sounds interesting, I like the really deep, windy sound of it. So, on .mod sample master (what a GREAT resource! really useful!) I looked for mods with this sample, and the oldest mod I found (that had this sample) was Mad Freak's 1991 mod "3ddemo.mod" (on Mod Archive at
https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=60960) with a little bit more beginning (you'll see what I mean a few sentences from now) at sample slot 1, with sample name "made by mad freak (c)" (people used to put comments in sample text) and in ST-A0, there is an "swtense2" sample that I found out was taken from Mantronix's 1992 "The Sweat Shop" (this is also on the Mod Archive, at
https://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=62394), and this version of the sample has the beginning cut off, but a few more samples at the end, and at sample slot 2, with sample name "# of phenomena. from". But then, I noticed that ST-60 has a strikingly similar sample, titled "dtrap-chord". So, I looked up Anco's 1990 amiga game "Death Trap" on YouTube, and sure enough, I see that the sample is in the opening music. It says the composer is Charles Deenan, a Dutch (the netherlands) computer musician. I decided to read some interviews of him, no indication of synths he used to use. I looked at some pictures of him and his studio, I saw a Roland A-80 in a picture, but I don't personally own an A-80, and I couldn't find much about it online, so I couldn't listen to the A-80 presets and compare samples. What a nice day to check out ST-98. Ooh, what is this "String-1-dw"? Oh, look, its the sound! Wait, why is there a scratchy electronic "rip" noise at the beginning? None of the other samples seem to have that (this ST-98 one is the longest out of all the variations I mentioned). Hold on, the Mad Freak 3d demo version of the sample seems to have been ripped from this. But then what record or synth were all these samples recorded from? Now thats my question! So, in summary, there are many version of this sample (the oldest version [that I could find] being from 1990) and I am wondering what record or synth the sample is from. Wait....1990? That was 33 years ago! That means that the record or synth we're looking for is really old! Probably late 1980s or sometime earlier in 1990. Can you please help me figure out what record or synth or whatever that this sample (well, many variations of this sample) was sampled from? I have linked all the versions of the sample [that I could find] here, in a zip folder. If you found the source of this sound, then thank you so much for that!