Cheap and easy Mellotron

stratovani · #1 03-11-2011, 02:10 PM

I didn't want to hijack the Mellotron thread with this, but I'd like to share a little experiment I tried out this afternoon. I've always loved the Mellotron sound, ever since The Moody Blues and King Crimson, and that lush orchestral sound they got out of their Mellotrons. So I decided to try something out. I have one of those cheap Casio keyboards (CTK-700), which actually has a decent synth-strings sound. I set it for a synth setting with a very slight decay at the end (instead of an abrupt stop) and I ran the signal into a chorus pedal, a guitar EQ pedal, and an analog delay pedal. I adjusted the delay settings so that the notes would decay longer, the EQ to give it a deeper tone, and the chorus to give it that lushness. And presto! Instant Mellotron, or as close as I'll get without taking out a second mortgage! I played along to a couple of Moodies tunes, and it sounded pretty realistic! Our band plays a song with strings in it, so I'll be trying it out at our next show.

jazzbo58 · #2 03-11-2011, 02:21 PM

Cool! If you can post some sounds, I'd love to check them out!

Cheers,
Jim

Hoover · #3 03-11-2011, 03:25 PM

Two tricks I've used in the studio to try to get more contemporary synths & samplers to sound more Mellotron-like...based on actual fidelity limitations of the original Mellotron and typical acoutrements back in the Mellotron days respectively:

1) roll off everything above 8kHz. Modern synths & samplers have a vastly extended high frequency response compared to the Mellotron 400D. Treble shelving ftw!

2) play through guitar combo amps with lots of spring reverb. Many of those classic iconic 'tron tracks were recorded through a Fender Twin Reverb.

A third thing, which I've thought about but never employed since it's a bit harder to emulate, is tape warble. I find standard chorusing to be a bit too predictable to work as a substitute for wow & flutter...but judicious (and arbitrary) employment of chorusing + aux send automation -- to randomize the detuning -- might work.

stratovani · #4 03-11-2011, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hoover

Two tricks I've used in the studio to try to get more contemporary synths & samplers to sound more Mellotron-like...based on actual fidelity limitations of the original Mellotron and typical acoutrements back in the Mellotron days respectively:

1) roll off everything above 8kHz. Modern synths & samplers have a vastly extended high frequency response compared to the Mellotron 400D. Treble shelving ftw!

2) play through guitar combo amps with lots of spring reverb. Many of those classic iconic 'tron tracks were recorded through a Fender Twin Reverb.

A third thing, which I've thought about but never employed since it's a bit harder to emulate, is tape warble. I find standard chorusing to be a bit too predictable to work as a substitute for wow & flutter...but judicious (and arbitrary) employment of chorusing + aux send automation -- to randomize the detuning -- might work.

Been gone awhile - auditioning a guitarist tonight, but that's another story.

After reading your post I went to check the EQ pedal, and sure enough I had boosted the bass and rolled off the treble frequencies. The chorus pedal is a Fender Starcaster pedal, and it comes with both a high and low-pass filter. I set the high-pass more to the cut side, and the low-pass more to the flat side. It emulates that "big" sound that Mellotrons had. Don't know what I'll do to simulate the wow & flutter, maybe I'll just leave it as it is.

Thanks for all the info. More knowledge is always a good thing!
I'll see about getting some sound samples up soon.

Dirk Diggler · #5 03-11-2011, 09:14 PM

Why not this:
GForce Software

bgmww · #6 03-11-2011, 09:54 PM

i´ve played a Mellotron. Trust me. There´s no emulator, VST, trick or whatever that would make justice. That instrument is unique.

Bob Lee (QSC) · #7 03-12-2011, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirk Diggler

Why not this:
GForce Software

+1

Imagine if it had a variable "reliability" parameter, with "realistic" at one end and "flawless" at the other.

stratovani · #8 03-12-2011, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgmww

i´ve played a Mellotron. Trust me. There´s no emulator, VST, trick or whatever that would make justice. That instrument is unique.

You're absolutely right. However, I and many others don't have the thousands of dollars needed to buy one. Even finding one in decent condition is a trick unto itself. All I'm doing is showing a way to approximate a Mellotron. It's not really all that close, but it's close enough considering I didn't have to spend any money to achieve it - I already had all the things I needed here at home!

stratovani · #9 03-13-2011, 01:52 PM

Here's a sound sample I uploaded. It's the strings section of one of the songs my band performs. Now don't forget, this will never sound exactly like a Mellotron, but it's not that far off from it. When playing it I had to arpeggiate the chords instead of holding them for a long time, because the 'Tron had an 8-second limit on the sound you could make before the tape had to rewind, owing to the length ot the tapes. Listen to vintage songs featuring 'Trons, like In The Court Of The Crimson King, or Nights In White Satin, and you'll hear the player arpeggiating the chords.

SimMellotron sample