Mellotronists

--- In Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com, Nic Lewis <nic@t...> wrote:
> Hi All,
> At 21:55 14/10/03 -0400, Chris Dale wrote:
> 
> >According to an April 1981 interview, Edgar Froese bought one of 
the first
> >Birotrons for a Paris tour
> 
> We (Birotronics) actually shipped 3 to them, I'm not sure if any 
were ever 
> paid for.
> 
> >  and found the 8 track cartridges to be
> >problematic.
> 
> They'd have been fine if the design had stuck to Dave Biro's 
original prototype
> but someone had the 'brilliant' idea to make the machine more 
compact by
> mounting the cartridges on their side and using a common drive and 
head bar.
> 
> Sadly no-one had checked the working specs for 8 track cartridges 
(well
> documented in both US standards and British Standards). They are 
not intended
> to be used vertically, and due to being a loop of tape the action 
of the 
> pulling of
> tape from the middle of the loop makes the tape wander when in the 
vertical
> position. When used horizontally gravity keeps the tape relatively 
flat.
> 
> Sadly this was not the only problem with them but that's for 
another time.
> 
> Ho hum. Don't you just love hindsight?
> 
> 
> >That and their interest in "electronic envelopes" from
> >synthesizers at the time made them (Froese/Franke) lose interest 
in both the
> >Birotron and Mellotron.
> 
> I think the developments in synths at the time was the death knell 
for the
> Birotron, but the Mellotron had (has?) a much longer history and 
better
> pedigree and seems to have succeeded in retaining a place in 
contemporary
> music.
> 
> Hope this OT stuff doesn't offend anyone
> 
> 
>  From an occasional poster.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Nic

 I always suspected the machine might've worked better if the tapes 
were horizontal.Didn't Mr.Biro actually use trons to make the tape 
loops(2 400s if I recall)? I listened to TORMATO and CRIMINAL RECORD 
intently the other day and they still don't cut through enough to get 
a decent opinion.I have Dave Kean's tune on the tron CD as well but 
it's mixed in with trons and Chamberlin so who can tell what's doing 
what? Maybe I should just loop the Pinder CD samples in my E4K and 
get a close approximation(endless tron notes).