The Yamaha AN1x Synthesizer mailing list

Jim,

>I thought the old synth the Beatles used on the intro to "Strawberry 
>fields" is interesting, how would you go about getting that sound? (was it 
>a mellotron, or even older synth?..I think I've seen pictures of it)
>
>I would love to hear the thought process you would go through to get in 
>the ballpark and how you would plan to get that sound.

Boy, you could have found an easier first attempt!  :^)  This is a 
deceptive sound, appearing easy to duplicate, but actually possessing a lot 
of subtleties.

The sound on the intro to "Strawberry Fields" is a Mellotron Mark II, using 
the flute recording that was part of the standard tape set.  What makes 
this simulation difficult is the fact that the Mellotron is a sort of 
sampling synthesizer, so you are trying to simulate a synth with another 
synth.  Also, the Mellotron had its own dominant timbre which permeated 
every sound, from violins to choirs to flutes.  And finally, the Mellotron 
was not a chromatically-tuned instrument; the recordings were 
just-intonated, mostly in the key of A major.  In any other key, they tend 
to sound a little off key on one or more of the notes.  The following is 
the way I would approach the sound on ANY synth, AN1x or otherwise --

I would start off by trying to simulate a flute sound, which is mostly a 
sine wave, except for the initial attack, which has a lot of high harmonic 
content, both tonal and atonal in nature.  Start with a 50% duty pulse with 
the Edge at about 115, and set the FEG to a fast attack, fast decay, and a 
relatively low sustain level -- low enough to filter out most of the 
harmonics, but not so low as to mute the sound.  Set the AEG to a similar 
shape, but set the sustain very high, maybe 118 or so.  After some tweaking 
by ear, you should have a flute timbre that sounds good for mellow solos -- 
think soft jazz, not Jethro Tull.  You may find that adding a little noise 
to the mix improves the illusion, but use it sparingly.  One VCO may be 
enough to create the sound; if you want to use the second one, set it to 
the same waveform, make it an octave above the first, about 25% of the 
original volume, with only a very slight fine pitch detune.

Now, you need to "Mellotron-ize" the sound.  First, as you already noted, 
the attack on the Mellotron was never very quick, owing to the nature of 
the tape system used in the instrument.  Back the attack of both the FEG 
and AEG until you have a more calliope-like sound.  If you want a good 
example -- Strawberry Fields is not the best one I can think of -- use the 
Dance of the Puppets section of King Crimson's "The Court of the Crimson 
King," which is actually the same sound on the same instrument.  After 
that, you need to EQ the result to give it that hollow sound that the 
Mellotron was famous for -- add a little boost at 125Hz and 3.8kHz, and 
drop the 1kHz a little.  The effect you're looking for is that of an old 
movie soundtrack.  Then add a little slow flange to the mix, and a little 
PMOD using the same LFO speed, to simulate the wow and flutter that the 
tape drive caused.  Use the pitch modulation sparingly, as the detuning was 
not all that noticeable.

Finally, a little (mis-)tuning simulation is probably in order.  Use one of 
the matrix controls to add a little fine pitch decrease based on key 
tracking, and if the end result causes the whole patch to go flat, 
compensate with the fine pitch controls on the VCOs.


Regards,

-BW

--
Bruce Wahler
Design Consultant
Ashby Solutions"
www.ashbysolutions.com
CloneWheel Support Group moderator
978.386.7389  voice
978.776.0096  fax
bruce@...