Mellotron question.

[Roman Sowa]

forgive my stupid question, but...
what makes mellotron so great sounding?
is it some circuitry, or the speakers, or something else?
It is a bunch of tape players after all...
or as we would say today - a sampler with too much memory.
What were original sounds recorded on mellotron tapes?
string ensemble and choirs?

Roman

> Oryginalna wiadomość-----
> Od:	Ingo Debus [SMTP:debus at cityweb.de]
> Wysłano:	30 listopada 1998 10:17
> Do:	synth-diy at mailhost.bpa.nl
> Temat:	Re: AW: AW: Mellotron/sample/wave type question.
> 
> Haible Juergen wrote:
> > I never listened to a solo mellotron, it was always in a mix (;->).
> 
> I played one once, but that was more than 15 years ago, and I never
> could do a dierct compare between a real Mellotron and Mellotron
> samples. 
> 
> > I cannot imagine how you would play things like King Crimson's
> > "In the Wake Of Poseidon" or Genesis' "Watcher Of The Skies"
> > with a multisample and no one notice it. You're not done with
> > a separate sample for each note; you will need separate samples
> [...]
> 
> Sure. It's certainly not a good idea to expect a perfect emulation of
> any instrument from a sampler. But Mellotron samples can sound very
> expressive anyway, even if it doesn't sound like a real Mellotron at
> all. I use them quite often.
> 
> Ingo
>