Digital Mellotron

singemonkey

Mellotron has released a digital version of their famous keyboard - the source of famous signature sounds in such songs as Strawberry Fields Forever and Zeppelin's The Rain Song.

This keyboard worked on recordings of instruments on magnetic tape - one loop per note. When you hit the key, the tape head contacted the tape and you got a recording of the note. I've always marveled at how realistic this sounded compared to other synthesisers I've heard.

The problem was obvious. Scores of tape loops whose motors could malfunction and whose tapes could stretch. Mellotrons were insanely difficult to maintain in working order. Now, a Mellotron employee has digitised all of the original recordings and put them in a package that duplicates the control layout of the original - except this time, no breakdowns.

I don't play keyboards, but I have some serious GAS just hearing this sucker:

I don't understand why it sounds better, it just seems to. Very cool piece of kit.

AlanRatcliffe

The Mellotron did have a particular tonality, but was notoriously unreliable and made the player adopt a very specific playing style. I don't see the point of an accurate hardware emulation unless you absolutely have to have it to cover things like Knights in White Satin or Strawberry Fields perfectly.

The GForce M-Tron is a great sample-based software emulation of the Mellotron. The Tweakbench Tapeworm is a decent freeware emulation.

singemonkey

Ok. I'm deeply ignorant of keyboards and their strange ways ?. Software does seem the way to go. Thanks for the links, Allan.