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WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MELLOTRON???

#61
lowendfriend said:
The mellotron was in fact a bunch of tape loops, so they were an electromechanical nightmare....reliability must've been a real challenge and preventive maintenance was probably high.
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Not to pick nits, but many of you are talking about tape loops, but they weren't loops, they were about 8 seconds of linear tape with a weight on the end to "rewind" it when you let up on the key. That's one of the things that made them sound so distinctive - the recorded attack at the beginning of every note.
 
#62
ggunn said:
Not to pick nits, but many of you are talking about tape loops, but they weren't loops, they were about 8 seconds of linear tape with a weight on the end to "rewind" it when you let up on the key. That's one of the things that made them sound so distinctive - the recorded attack at the beginning of every note.
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I did not know that. Zany!

You know, something just occurred to me: The name of this thread suggests that someone had a Mellotron, and they then misplaced it... or perhaps crushed it...

"HEY MAN! What happened to the mellowtron!!!???"

:D
 
#64
bassbrad said:
One would hope, how much$?
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New ones are pricy... there are currently two legitimate manufacturers, Streetly Electronics, and Mellotron...

Streetly's M4000 goes for something like $8500

Mellotron's MkVI in basic white finish: $6800

Mellotron's MkVII (double manual) in hardwood: $14500

Mellotron's M4000D (digital/synth) goes for around $2000 I think... It's all digital but made with the same care and craftsmanship as the tape Mellotrons...

If I won the lottery tomorrow, one of the very first things I would buy would be a new M4000D.
 
#66
In the '70s, the typical keyboard player had to schlep the following:

Hammond B-3 (two guys AT LEAST, to lift/move)
Fender Rhodes (again, two guys - maybe more if it was a "Suitecase Rhodes)
Mini Moog / ARP Odyssey (okay, one guy could carry that)
Amp
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Don't forget the Yamaha Electric Grand.

yamaha-CP70B_1x470w.png


And throw a clavinet on top.

hohner-d6-clavinet-530-85.jpg
 
#68
I have a Memotron. A cool keyboard that's based on the Mellotron. Same number of keys, same 8 second rule. It's made by Manniken in Germany. [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

I've always loved the sounds from a Mellotron! Cool thread.

Cheers,
Jim
 
#69
Oh, I love a good mellotron discussion! John Paul Jones had such great comments about the instrument and how difficult it was for him to take one on the road.

SPS: Back to the instruments for a second. You always complained about the Mellotron. I always hear, "Oh, that Mellotron." [laughs]

JPJ: I mean, it sounded great when it worked.

SPS: You used it every year from ’72 to ’77.

JPJ: But I had no choice! I had no choice!

SPS: There wasn’t much else out?

JPJ: There was nothing else! Nothing else! No string machines and… It was the only thing you could get that had strings and flutes on it. When we used to start "The Rain Song," I had one foot on the volume control and one had like a tuning control. So I used to have to come in [quickly hums the guitar intro] just at the start of the guitar, and I’d play [imitates the Mellotron] and I’d try and tune it [makes a tuning noise] before it got too loud. Oh, awful. ’Cause you’d set it up and tune it, and then the crowd would come in. Basically, their heat would make the tapes stretch, and so you simply didn’t know what it would be. We hated each other.

SPS: You and the Mellotron?

JPJ: But it was great. As I said, once you got going it was fine, but at that first intro… [People would say to me,] "Oh, the Moody Blues can do it." Because it could work for them. He was constantly rebuilding his Mellotron [inaudible]. He was a Mellotron technician and was constantly rebuilding it [inaudible]. Oh, it was hell. And the day that I managed to replace it, I did, and that was the GX-1. ...
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#70
There was a guy I knew years ago at my old job, and he was really into the Optigan. It was a keyboard that was similar to a Mellotron, but used optical discs instead of tapes. It was built and marketed by Mattell, so it had a cheap, toyish quality. I tried it once when I visited him, it was pretty cool to play, but it seemed flimsy as hell. I sure wouldn't gig with it!

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#71
Anyone remember the Guitorgan?

It was an electric guitar with electronic organ circuitry also built into it. IIRC, its frets and strings were wired in a matrix so that fretting the strings was like pressing down the corresponding organ keys.
 
#72
bassbrad said:
Don't forget all the other forgotten keyboard all-stars like Crumar, RMI and those awful but cool Hohner clavinet, harpsichords & pianets and those cheezy old Yamaha Electric Organs.
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Yep, Keyboardist I played with back in the day had Crumar, a Clavinet D6(?), Suitcase Rhodes and a MiniMoog. We had an agreement, I would help him schlep his Rhodes and he would help me with my pair of 2x15s
 
#73
Q: What were the fundamental differences between the Mellotron and Birotron?
A: The mellotron was a great sounding instrument that was a nightmare to play, never stayed in tune, broke down all the time and the notes only played for 8 seconds. The birotron was a great sounding instrument that was a nightmare to play, never stayed in tune, broke down all the time but the notes played for 8 minutes.


The Birotron was an instrument that Rick invested in as a improvement/replacement for the Mellotron. As you can guess, it never really worked.

I worked as stage hand for a show last year where we had to set up and test a real B3. I was the only one that knew the proper way to turn it on.:rolleyes:
 
#75
As the Mellotron is a basic form of sampling it isn't difficult to emulate one authentically using modern technology.

As has been mentioned GForce Software released the M-Tron which is excellent and will not need servicing.:smug:

If I was after some vintage keyboard/synth the Mellotron would come low down on my list and I would prefer something that is harder to emulate such as a Solina, or something that is just mad fun like a VCS3.
 
#76
stratovani said:
There was a guy I knew years ago at my old job, and he was really into the Optigan. It was a keyboard that was similar to a Mellotron, but used optical discs instead of tapes. It was built and marketed by Mattell, so it had a cheap, toyish quality. I tried it once when I visited him, it was pretty cool to play, but it seemed flimsy as hell. I sure wouldn't gig with it!
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Wasn't the Vako Orchestron a "professional" (sic) version of the Optigon? Or am I confusing my obscure proto-samplers?
 
#78
Passinwind said:
Sure. Kind of a precursor to the Keytar, but way cooler. ;)

At ARP they had an example of every one of these mutant instruments they could get their hands on. I'll bet the senior staff had a lot of fun after hours.
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I used to live in the same town that Electronic Music Labs (EML) was based in and got to visit the company a few times. They had some cool experimental stuff and prototypes. Some of them would've been really cool if they actually worked as intended. ;)
 

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