Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: Mellotronists

I dream of a six-octave keyboard, G to G. Keys that duplicate as
closely as possible the look and feel of Mellotron keyboards, with
piano-style key lips, keys with a short key dip and a slightly
rubbery key bed feel, and fully-programmable velocity and channel
pressure sensitivity. The instrument has a row of switches and knobs
above the keyboard that duplicates the knobs of a Mark II, and an
additional row of controls on a separate panel above that with
contemporary workstation controls. The instrument is a sample-
playback device with maximum sample quality available today and HIGH
polyphony, at least 120 voices. It contains in ROM every single
Mellotron sound available, full-length samples of each note,
including all of the factory loops and SFX setups. The samples offer
a choice of recorded-direct and also a couple of different mic-ing
options, giving the user the choice of what kind of ambience they
want in their sounds. It likewise contains in ROM every single
Chamberlin sound available, every single Orchestron/Optigan sound
available, and every single Birotron sound available. I'd even like
to see the 360 Systems keyboard sound library implemented. Looped
sound sources would of course require looped samples. It also
contains in ROM a standard set of the typical soundset in most high-
end workstations today like the Triton, Motif, Kurzweil or
equivalents, and provisions for ROM upgrades. The instrument would
have preset "modes" recreating the setups of the Mark II (middle and
top F# keys would be silenced, yielding "two" keyboards of the
correct range) the M300 (non-used keys silenced) M400 (likewise
unused keys silenced) and the same type of emulation of various
Chamberlin models and the other vintage playback units mentioned
above. There would be presets that duplicated the function of a
fully-loaded Mark II, and there would also be user-programmable slots
permitting the user to set up their own "Mellotron" from the various
sound sets available. In additon to all of that, make the instrument
a real workstation with 32-track sequencing, a large modern ROM
soundset and complete "normal" functionality that permitted the user
the customary abilities to control their own splits and layers, tweak
sounds to their heart's content, and mix and match both
the "Mellotron" samples and the modern samples in a more conventional
workstation style. Amp simulations, built-in effects, and all of the
other modern workstation enhancements round out the package.
Expensive? Probably. Worth it? Who knows.