Mellotronists

I'd love to see something akin to Justin Mayer's J-Tron (in appearance anyway)....sleek, 
state of the art circuitry, 16 track tape, built in digital efx & EQ, and industrial strength 
motors...combining the best assets of both the Chamberlin and Mellotron designs.
 I mean really, how far can you take the concept of a keyboard activated/pinch roller 
moving a tape across a head? The Mellotron 4-Track was a good idea that didn't take 
off...separate outs for each track etc. The selling points of the M4000 will be the sound 
quality and stability.
  Unfortunately, and this is just my opinion, nowadays there probably aren't a whole lot of 
folks who give a rat's ass about a new machine like this...just the hard core "enlightened" 
few like those here who know. Is Joe Public really going to care whether or not Fiona Apple 
is using samples or an M4000? Will any amount of technical improvements or innovation 
talk Mike Pinder out of using samples?