Detroit Strings

More of a historical question this one. What kind of equipment were the original Detroit guys using to get their string/pad/stab sounds? On a lot of old techno records the strings have this really synthetic yet at the same time organic quality...they remind me of some of the strings you heard in 80s soul/funk records, which makes a lot of sense I suppose (using the same equipment etc).

Are there any modern plug-ins (e.g. Reaktor ensambles) that achieve a good approximation of this sound (I'm shit at synth programming, so this is part of the reason I'm asking...but I'm interested from a historical perspective too).

Cheers guys and gals

well from what I know

they used a lot of Casio keyboards for Bass(same goes for dub/reggae producers)

as for the pads things like Yamaha SY Series(believe it or not)
& Rolands-Juno's,JX10,3,8 ETC...

& weird stuff like the ensoniq sq-80 & dx7

Then there's the Korg kboards(poly 800,ms20,etc),which are/were dirt cheap & great at all those techno sounds.

They never used expensive equipment,sequenced on a 909 or mmt8's & recorded to tape & even did mad splicing tricks on that.

No big secret,except that the guys put in a ton of work to get the sounds they programmed with the little equipment they had.

No big secret,except that the guys put in a ton of work to get the sounds they programmed with the little equipment they had.

Yeah, yeah for real. Thankyou kind sir

I am messing about with some 125 bpm rhythms atm...I love the swing you can get on those beats. Theres also something appealing about disciplining yourself to work with minimal equipment to produce something soulful.