Mellotronists

At 04:39 PM 10/29/2002 +0000, charel196 wrote:
>I have been listening to THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS by Jan Hammer which is
>due out as a remastered CD shortly...just wanted to state that I think
>this is a fantastic piece of work and the Mark V Jan uses sounds
>amazing.He also used a Freeman String Symphoniser...what a rarity.I
>had read long ago that he ran the tron and the Freeman thru a Moog
>String Filter to get a more wooden acoustic quality.Jan's use of
>female voices is really nice as well.They don't sound like the stock
>female tape.
>  Made me wonder just who had Mark Vs...there weren't that many
>made.There was Jan,T.Dream,Moraz,McCartney,Pinder,Klaus Schulze I
>believe had one,Neil Diamond's band,who else?Anyone?
>   Anyone in this group have or ever owned a Freeman?It had a nice
>smooth tone compared to all the other string synths...wondered about
>reliability stories or comments.                      Charles

I've always been a big fan of the Freeman String Symphoniser.
Bought my first one new in 1978 ($1100  !!).
A great place to hear one (without processing through the Moog String Filter)
is on Pete Sinfield's first solo album, "Still".  Now available on CD and 
called
"Stillusions".  It has such a nice smooth sound, as compared to the
chunky, churning sound of the ARP & Solina string ensembles.

However, I do believe I am going to sell my 2 Freeman String Symphonisers -
have to cut down on the clutter.

Am looking forward to the release of THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS on CD -
will be great to hear that again.

I believe Jan got one of the first, if not the first Moog String Filters 
from Bob,
and it was particularly for use with the Freeman, if I recall.

As far as Mk.V's go, there were 29 total.  Pinder had 2, Moraz, McCartney,
Hammer, Schulze, didn't T.Dream have 1 or 2 besides Schulze?
I seem to recall someone saying they had Joni Mitchell's Mk.V at some point.
Wakeman had an ersatz "Mk.V" made from putting 2 M400s together.
Geoff Downes perhaps?
Probably a couple of studios.


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Mark S. Glinsky  -  Arlington, TX
Email -  glinskym@...
http://www.markglinsky.com/ManualManor.html
"Be Seeing You...." - No. 6
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