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this is fascinating!

could someone actually give this a try and post the results? there is
currently a "mellotron" patch in one of the patch banks, but not a very
convincing one. and it would be interesting to follow bruce's instructions
and then hear the results. 

cheers, 

chris

At 10:41 PM 3/11/01 -0500, you wrote:
>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@...
>
>
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Christopher Keep
Assistant Professor
Department of English
University College
University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario
Canada
N6A 3K7

Tel.: (519) 661-2111, ext. 85829
Fax:  (519) 661-3776
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