Well I can definitely say that this is the one
thing that Richard Chamberlin and Dave Biro have believed to be
true as well.
There *is* more than just the sound on the tape
going on. There is the wow / flutter, adjustment of the azimuth, adjustment of
the pinch rollers, pressure pads, your pressure on the keys, how long the
machine has been turned on, the wear of the tapes, whether the tapes
were done by Mellotronics in London, or Streetly or Sound
Sales etc.
If you don't believe this, you're welcome
to visit. You can try a BBS tape set in an original Streetly
M400, an EMI 400, and the Wakeman double tron (MKV) and you will
find the tapes play and sound different in each machine because of the
above mentioned elements.
The same holds true for the Chamberlins. Each
instrument sounds slightly different even though it's playing the same
sound.
That's why the samples can't be 'all things to
everyone'
Also - if the people making all these software
samples ever laid eyes on the real thing and spent some serious time with the
machine, I think the sounds would be more authentic.
The 'sample' buying market should be getting their
moneys' worth and I'm not convinced they are based on some of the stuff I've
heard. It's a shame.
Another aspect of this Don doesn't mention is
fraudulently passing samples off as the real thing just for 'coolness factor'
/ selling more 'records'.
I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but that lack of
integrity really annoys me if I'm spending some hard earned dosh on
expensive CD's, especially when you can tell the sound is faked, and
one of the reasons you're buying is that you want to hear real mellotrons. And
yes you can tell if you know what to listen for.
A special kudos to Steve Hackett for being honest
with us on his Darktown release (ie mellotron plundering) as he seems to
understand this regardless of how trivial it might be.
I know some people who feel the same way and
have returned to the store everything produced by Dave
Friedmann despite the quality of the music.
That's probably overdoing it, but it's
interesting that there seems to be a bit of a backlash going
on.
I wonder how pervasive that is?
----- Original Message -----
From: tronbros@aol.comTo: don@... ; markstuartwallis@...Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 6:01 PMSubject: Re: [Mellotronists] The Clone Wars (was Memotron etc..)
The mellotron does things! I'm not about to describe in detail but it does things that no sampler has ever done. Unless the person programming understands that the mellotron does things then no sampler, however sophisticated will ever sound like a mellotron. Memotron, Mtron, Akai, Trubshaw 30 or the Grosvenor. It doesn't matter. The mellotron does things and modelling that will always be tricky. It's not just a question of a seemingly familiar timbre...........................it's SO much more.MStreetly Electronics - All Things Mellotronic
www.mellotronics.co.uk
www.mellotronics.com
US Sales East: Jimmy Moore JMoore6397@aol.com
US Sales West: Paul Cox pjc56@earthlink.net