Mellotronists

> Nice review of the M-Tron. Probably too technical for Keyboard
> Magazine though :) Did you demo the combined set of sounds?

I'm not sure - it all comes in one box and seems to have a large number
of sounds. I *think* it's the combined version.

> and volume 1 of additional sounds were recorded from at least one
> M400 (one of which allegedly belonged to an East German spy), at
> least one Chamberlin (model unknown), a Birotron and a Roland VP330+.

Where did they get the Birotron from? At this point I stand up and let
myself be counted as one fo the handful of people who have actually
played a Birotron, thanks to Messrs Smith and Bradley who had one at
Streetly a while back. For a 'tabletop' keyboard it weighs a ludicrous
amount, and although a Mellotron might seem a little noisy when it is
turned on the Biro is absurd, with the whirring (or more likely
clattering) of the cartridges at the back.

The reason I mention this is because the Birotron sounds on the M-Tron
are easily the worst of the lot as far as fidelity is concerned. This
surprised me a great deal, as the Biro is actually not bad sounding at
all and does indeed boast great clarity of sound. Now I admit that I had
played a renovated model with re-recorded tapes and that the old models
wore out cartridges fast due to the playback heads grinding them down
fast, but why did they even bother if the Biro they had access to was as
shagged out as this? When I was previewing the sounds on the M-Tron I
just flicked through them all one after another (the sound selector on
neither of my MIDI keyboards advances the sound selection on the M-Tron,
which seems to be a design fault of theirs) and when I happened upon
B_CHOIR I was wondering (a) why they had bothered with the Orchestron
and (b) why they had not called the sound O-CHOIR. It's that bad.

And while I am on a further series of grips...the solo viola. This one
is the mainstay of the Dickstrings sound. The bottom end is a very
'scratchy' sound and gives the impression it was recorded in a phone
box. The M-Tron has no suchproblems; they use the cello for the bottom
five notes. *Bad idea*.

> The MkII sounds on volume 2 are miked recordings of Klaus Hoffmann-
> Hoock's 1965 MkII.

Oooh. Nasty.

> same jacket, "Similarly, with instruments and tapes acquired from
> musicians such as Tangerine Dream and Frank Zappa, in addition to
> some ultra-rare recordings never previously released on any Tron
> library...".

Tangerine Dream? Interesting. Didn't Radiohead use TD's original tapes
on 'Exit Music'? Try playing this track 'karaoke style' with the centre
position phased out. The choir is shot, like the tape rack was lying
next to an electromagnet for the last ten years. That's not something
I'd be shouting about!

> Volume 3 "contains several layered Mellotron sounds which may upset
> a few purists out there", at least some of which apparently also
> come from Klaus' sample collection. There are also some SFX sound
> effects and new G-Media choirs.

What are the 'new GMedia choirs'? I have an SFX sound, 'Roxy Strings'
(which are really good) and 'Yes Strings' which is string section by any
other name. Myself I'd like them to get the original 'Yes Vocals' tape
set - the one you hear at the end of 'Siberian Khatru'. At least that
would be something quite new!

Mike Dickson (tron@...) M400 #996
The Official Cynic of Streetly Electronics
Streetly Sample Library http://www.blackcat.demon.co.uk/tron/