What is this sound effect in music?

It sounds like synthesized string sounds—fake violins.

Synth. Definitely.

Thanks :) It’s awesome.

Wow, that is a cool song.
Yes, I would agree with @gasman, it sounds like synthed violins to me.

I know what you’re talking about, I love a synthesizer sound that sounds like orchestra or flutes. Like the first minute of this song, I think its just beautiful. Those were the days when using synthesizers was really popular, so Im fairly certain thats the instrument we hear and not a flute. This one is even more beautiful to me, and is definitely a synthesizer but sounds just like a flute (starting at 00:40, its semi-faint and in the background, but its there and its absolutely beautiful to me). Heres a good one too, it has cool abstract sounds going on in the background the whole time, but the sound most related to your sound, is at 2:10.

@chamelopotamus I like all of those songs as well.