The new sounds are just what they are: new sounds. They are trying to add to the "library". Obviously, Mark, you've never played a mellotron with some of these sounds installed, or I think you'd change your rather narrow view. Case in point: the Ian McDonald flute. It is an incredibly flexible, utterly delightful voice. Why? Because the person who created it understands what a mellotron is. I don't want to speak for Fritz or Norm or any of the other people who created some of the new voices, but the ones we did here in Toronto with The Mellotron Recording Society are, in my humble opinion, way more than what you might expect. Yes, they sound much better (more real?) than the old ones, but they're still "mellotron sounding" and respond the same way the very limited selection you have above also respond. They don't sound like samples; they don't sound like the real thing; they have that same indefinable quality that the entire library has.
It seems to me that you're living in the past. You' re trying to turn this instrument into a museum. Case in point: when my old band from the '70s got together in 2001 to just "do a gig for the hell of it", I was equipped with a full 36-voice FX console. They'd been used to the same instrument, but with 400 tapes in it (6 sounds). At our first rehearsal, we were farting around with some of the cover songs we'd decided to play for our first set. One was "In the Court of the Crimson King". I used the MkII violins until the end of the song, then cycled to Les Bradley's "Orchestra" mix. The band stopped dead in their tracks. The singer looked at me and asked, "Holy shit! Have you been feeding that thing, steroids?" They all agreed that it was definitely still a mellotron, but with the new sounds it just widened the whole horizon of the instrument. (I won't tell you the response when I used the Adrian Belew guitar voice at the gig for "Schizoid Man". The guitarist still hasn't forgiven me.) Clay and Chris were at that gig. Ask the m.
Maybe Mike did too good a job with his recording of the new pipe organ voice. It does sound incredibly real, but that's probably what he was going for. With the new sounds you can do that if you want, but you can also do a lot of other things. I, for one, would certainly hate to be limited to just 3-violins and choir -- not when there are all those other sounds available. I've played some of the very expensive samplers, and side-by-side with a mellotron, they do not sound the same. For some reason, throw a bunch of magnetic tape on one of these ridiculous machines and something magical happens. That's what I love about them -- and I'm sure I'm not alone.
I think you need to visit Streetly World Headquarter in Greater Metropolitan Blithbury nr Rugely and experience some of these sounds for yourself. I think you'd change your tune. (You'll also have a hell of a hangover afterwards...)
Respectfully,</ div>
Rick