Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists
Subject: Re: [Mellotronists] Re:what if someone built...?
From: kenmerb@...
Date: 2002-11-23
In a message dated 11/22/02 6:17:11 PM Eastern Standard Time, bdubbe@... writes:
The average listener could not tell the difference so what's the
big deal? Regards Charles
Charles!
That's the whole point
Great line!
I liken the appeal of the Mellotron to a dog whistle.
Most people don't hear it, we purists tilt our heads and say "Woof?"
I own a MKII and a state-of-the-art Kurzweil 2600 XS workstation (similar to Klaus' MEGATRON setup whack KL mentioned) w/ Pinder CDROM . If I ever play live, it will be with the Kurzweil, for ease of transport, reliability and flexibility reasons. If I ever record, it will be with the MKII , totally for sound reasons. I like the Kurzweil for many things, and it has some of the best sounds I have ever heard in a digital keyboard, but it will never be a true Mellotron substitute. For me, the "best of both worlds" (analog & digital) requires me to have two keyboards, not one.
The feel of the Mellotron keyboard allows for more control of the music than the sterile feel of the weighted keyboard in my Kurzweil. Also, I think that the interaction of the keys, tape mechanism and tapes in a Mellotron create a unique sort of a delay type effect in the Mellotron sound that I haven't heard recreated in any sampler. KL has an A/B comparison on his website which is an eye (ear) opener.
Having said that, I guess we shouldn't overlook the fact that the famous "RIME" CD apparently has as many Mellotron samples on it as it does real Mellotron notes. I'm sure that not many people on this list of purists realized that before Martin Smith 'fessed up, in a rare moment ;-). So, I can argue both points here, I guess.
Ken M.