Mellotron question.

[Martin Czech]

> 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.

As far as I understand it is

a) nonstable rotation in case of key press (brake effect),
   later models have servo control, but this will also take
   some time to stabilize rotation speed.
   The more keys are pressed, the more "pitch envelope".

b) limited bandwidth

c) tape and preamp noise

d) no loops, ie. no sampler looping effect. The tapes
   are not endless, when the key is released the tape zippes
   back into the container. There is a maximum sound
   length.

e) key pressure modulates head/tape distance, thereby volume
   and maybe frequency filtering

f) tape/head/preamp distortion.

> What were original sounds recorded on mellotron tapes?
> string ensemble and choirs?

I think the standard set was flute, strings, choir...
BUT most artistst ordered custom tapes, with all kinds
of stuff, percusion , what you like.
This is a sound feature that cannot be emulatet, if you don't
have the original tapes, even if you buy a mellotron.

m.c.