Just when you thought I'd shut up-
Isn't part of the way that the '3 violins/8voice choir/flute' become the "standard" Mellotron lexicon the fact that they were for the most part,offered as original standard equipment? It seems to me that aside of firing up bigtime production making a couple thousand new machines loaded with tapes of new sounds, the best way to inspire the use of new Mellotron sounds is to create a NEW classic set - maybe something along the lines of what I was thinking of earlier, perhaps a 'mixed strings/Russian choir/Ian McDonald flute' set, and offer them at a steep discount to all of the known Mellotronists in the world in order to be able to pump a lot of them into circulation in a short period of time. Put enough of them in circulation reasonably simultaneously, and you have formed a new standard soundset, and also educate a lot of people to the concept that the Mellotron is a SAMPLE PLAYBACK unit, not just a retro sound generator. By keeping to timbres somewhat reminiscent of the primary set, people will be able to substitute new sounds for the traditional soundset in already existing music, and it will certainly spark an abundance of late-night creativity with the new soundset. It would also encourage more Mellotronists to be more open to a new mindset, that of using an M400 for more than just three sounds.
Just a thought...
...but if you use it, I expect a free frame!