...this invariably happens when I have guests over and they want a mellotron demo. Not in tune with any other keyboards,nor with each other (I have 2) yet yesterday everything was fine (mellotronically speaking).
Dan
--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Mark <markpringnz@...> wrote:
>
> I assume you haven't got CM10 in your tron, mine is never ever in tune, I
> mainly use mine these days for "ambient atonal crap" where it works just
> fine. Still love it.
>
> Mark
>
> On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 8:59 AM, Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@...> wrote:
>
> > ∗∗
> >
> >
> > ..and this was most definitely ∗one of those days∗.
> >
> > I got home quickly enough because I had the germ of a musical good idea
> > going on in my head and needed to get it down quickly so I wouldn't lose
> > it. All it would need is piano and Mellotron and that's it. After that I
> > could take it easy.
> >
> > However.
> >
> > First the Mellotron was flat on all counts. Tuning it up made no
> > difference. So tune it ∗way∗ up and then back it down. Now it's sharp
> > all round, even when it was wound down beneath where the pitch control was
> > before. Then I get it to approximate with the piano...just about. Then I
> > start. Then I stop. It's flat again. Repeat as above. Great Start
> > again. Now it's about a quarter-tone sharp, despite being where it was on
> > the dial when it was flat before. Then it went flat as I played. Then it
> > was tuned up. Then it went sharp. Notice that ∗at no time∗ did the
> > bastard thing ever pass through correct tuning; it went from Sharpville to
> > Flatborough without even passing anywhere close to what I was after.
> >
> > Okay..screw this. Try the flutes. Never has there been a worse idea, not
> > even when Archduke Franz Ferdinand said ∗'to hell with the
> > expense...let's go on holiday to Sarajevo...'∗. If the strings are bad
> > then the flutes are going to be worse. I mean way worse. I mean it didn't
> > even sound like C#1 was playing the same note any more than once every five
> > minutes.
> >
> > Walked away. Let it run. Must be a temperature thing. Yes...that's it.
> >
> > ∗The fuck it was. ∗I came back to find the strings were flat and they
> > were staying that way, always ∗suggesting∗ that they were in tune when in
> > fact they were about as out of tune as those wailing high notes on ∗'I
> > Will Always Love You'∗ just before the vibrato mercifully kicks in.
> > Repeat as above. Sharp. Then flat. Then sharp ∗and∗ flat. The
> > probably neither. Then musical limbo.
> >
> > I suspect the M400 was trying to tell me that my ∗germ of a musical good
> > idea∗ was actually garbage.
> >
> > You'll just never know. Sat down. Played Angry Birds. Forgot.
> >
> > --
> > Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
> >
> >
> >
>