Mellotron girl wrote:
"It would seem to me also that a new model a bit more versatile (more
sounds at the very least instead of just three) would be a great
idea--yet, keep it mechanical and less technical. I have a friend
who has had for years a TV/VCR/stereo repair shop, and amongst all
the zillions of spare parts scattered about, he could easily build a
toy 'tron from all the cassette tape heads and camcorder motors, and
come up with something totally Mattel or Fisher/Price. Something
totally tinkering mechanical Geppetto with an authentic honest
analog sound; about the size of a little Magnus chord organ. That
would be quite the home shop achievement. Who knows, they might wind
up like Optigans and Pixelvision PXL2000's twenty years down the
road if a "run" were ever produced--just because they are cool
plastic toys."
Wha?
Obviously you don't trust in the Bradley brothers' judgment. They started with a Mark I/II with 36 sounds/ rhythms and two manuals, then decided we would be better of with only one manual and 12 sounds/rythms. Later they realized that we really only needed 3 sounds at any given time. I'm pretty sure that given time they would have become convinced that one sound at a time was just fine... Something Harry Chamberlin realized back around 1956 or so.
Meanwhile, I'm still perfecting my gasoline powered "Bell-o-tron." I'm using a BME 110cc twin cylinder engine from one of my model airplanes. It's got about 10 horsepower and should be good for incredible pitch sweeps. Still only three tracks though.
Frank (Bell-o-tron #1)