The Mellotron Group

I know most of you are fortunate enough to OWN one of these great
instruments but since I don't at the moment own one myself I would
like to get the next best thing in the form of a sample library.

The thought of using a sample library instead of the real thing
might sound Blasphemous to any Mellotron owner/purist but not all of
us are lucky enough to own a piece of musical history and since I
truly love the unique characteristic sound of a Mellotron and would
like to be able to employ it in some of my sequenced compositions, a
sample library is the only way I will be able to get even close for
now.

Anyway, I would really like an opinion from anyone in the group on
Emu's Mellotron (Vintage X Pro Vol 2) sample library if anyone is
familiar with it. Or, if there is a suggestion for a better sample
library than Emu's for use with Emulator X which can read most
sample formats.

So please, I am asking the group of folks most likely to be able to
render a truly expert opinion. What would you suggest? (Be gentle)

Sincerely,
Rawl

Though I have no personal experience with them (I've heard a couple of
the voices and they sounded pretty good), the general consensus of the
list is that the best commercially available samples of the mellotron
are contained on the Mike Pinder Presents CD. The CD contains full
length note for note Samples of a wide variety of Mellotron and
Chamberlin tapesets and is available from Mellotron Archives - I think
it runs something like $200.
Best,
john barrick
1407

Rawl wrote:

>
> I know most of you are fortunate enough to OWN one of these great
> instruments but since I don't at the moment own one myself I would
> like to get the next best thing in the form of a sample library.
>
> The thought of using a sample library instead of the real thing
> might sound Blasphemous to any Mellotron owner/purist but not all of
> us are lucky enough to own a piece of musical history and since I
> truly love the unique characteristic sound of a Mellotron and would
> like to be able to employ it in some of my sequenced compositions, a
> sample library is the only way I will be able to get even close for
> now.
>
> Anyway, I would really like an opinion from anyone in the group on
> Emu's Mellotron (Vintage X Pro Vol 2) sample library if anyone is
> familiar with it. Or, if there is a suggestion for a better sample
> library than Emu's for use with Emulator X which can read most
> sample formats.
>
> So please, I am asking the group of folks most likely to be able to
> render a truly expert opinion. What would you suggest? (Be gentle)
>
> Sincerely,
> Rawl
>
>

On Tue, 4 Dec 2007, john barrick wrote:

> Though I have no personal experience with them (I've heard a couple of
> the voices and they sounded pretty good), the general consensus of the
> list is that the best commercially available samples of the mellotron
> are contained on the Mike Pinder Presents CD. The CD contains full
> length note for note Samples of a wide variety of Mellotron and
> Chamberlin tapesets and is available from Mellotron Archives - I think
> it runs something like $200.
> Best,
> john barrick
> 1407

i second that recommendation, as i'm sure many others will.
when it's inconvenient to use the real thing, it's the next
best thing. no need to apologize for looking for an alternative.

note that the CDROM is n akai format.
[not just the sounds, but the disc format itself.]
i don't know if the software you plan on using supports that
format or not - it's up to you to figure that out, though
there are a few translation apps around, notably cdxtract:

http://www.cdxtract.com/cdxtract.php

i have another CD of mellotron sounds and it's A W F U L !
i think it's called "the legendary m400" or something like
that. someone gave it to me. it's not even worth the space
it takes up.

best,
jeff

Squids Tron Collection is allegedly very good, although I've never
tried it. It has Mellotron, Chamberlin and some other instruments as
well.

Bernie

--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, "Hessel Herder"
<hessel@...> wrote:

>
> Hi Rawl,
>
> IMHO there's nothing wrong with using samples if you don't have

one of these

> beast in your studio ;agreed, not the same as the real thing,
> but the most logical alternative.
>
> Samplecollections come in all sizes and shapes, from great ( "Mike

Pinder

> Presents..." from Mellotron Archives ) to reasonable ( "M-Tron" )
> to awful ( "Legendary M400 CDrom" ).
>
> I've used an EMU vintage keys unit during gigs and recordings.Not

too crazy

> about the sound.I think they stretch 1 ( looped ) sample over

three keys or

> something.Even more, it's stretched beyong the natural range of

the Tron.

>
> Cheers, H
>
> _____
>
> From: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
> [mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Rawl
> Sent: woensdag 5 december 2007 0:09
> To: newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [newmellotrongroup] Blasphemous Request for an opinion
>
>
>
> I know most of you are fortunate enough to OWN one of these great
> instruments but since I don't at the moment own one myself I would
> like to get the next best thing in the form of a sample library.
>
> The thought of using a sample library instead of the real thing
> might sound Blasphemous to any Mellotron owner/purist but not all

of

> us are lucky enough to own a piece of musical history and since I
> truly love the unique characteristic sound of a Mellotron and

would

> like to be able to employ it in some of my sequenced compositions,

a

> sample library is the only way I will be able to get even close

for

> now.
>
> Anyway, I would really like an opinion from anyone in the group on
> Emu's Mellotron (Vintage X Pro Vol 2) sample library if anyone is
> familiar with it. Or, if there is a suggestion for a better sample
> library than Emu's for use with Emulator X which can read most
> sample formats.
>
> So please, I am asking the group of folks most likely to be able

to

> render a truly expert opinion. What would you suggest? (Be gentle)
>
> Sincerely,
> Rawl
>

--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, "Rawl" <rawl@...> wrote:

>
> I know most of you are fortunate enough to OWN one of these great
> instruments but since I don't at the moment own one myself I would
> like to get the next best thing in the form of a sample library.

I've used a combination of M-Tron and the Mike Pinder Presents (Mellotron Archives -
www.mellotron.com) samples in my own stuff, and it is (to my ears, at least, as a fellow
non-tronner) acceptable.

In both cases the ranges are fixed to that of the Mellotron, although I have on good
authority (this little lot) that some of the M-Tron's samples have been tweaked to get rid
of some of the more dodgy notes that featured on the original Mellotron. Generally M-
Tron has a softer sound than MP Presents, but I trust MP Presents as a more accurate
sound source.

So I'm afraid yet another with no opinion of Vintage X Pro! Sorry!

Owen

--
http://www.thinking-aloud.co.uk/

As another tronless member, I think M-tron is better
than nothing, you can produce some quite nice sounds
but definitely something missing. The choirs and
clarinet are quite good, the flutes pretty poor and
all the string samples rather disappointing. Still
it's cheap I reckon including the VST host it costs
about 2% of what a mellotron would cost.

Mark

Still saving for one all the same!

--- thinkingalouduk <owen@thinking-aloud.co.uk> wrote:

> --- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, "Rawl"
> <rawl@...> wrote:
> >
> > I know most of you are fortunate enough to OWN one
> of these great
> > instruments but since I don't at the moment own
> one myself I would
> > like to get the next best thing in the form of a
> sample library.
>
> I've used a combination of M-Tron and the Mike
> Pinder Presents (Mellotron Archives -
> www.mellotron.com) samples in my own stuff, and it
> is (to my ears, at least, as a fellow
> non-tronner) acceptable.
>
> In both cases the ranges are fixed to that of the
> Mellotron, although I have on good
> authority (this little lot) that some of the
> M-Tron's samples have been tweaked to get rid
> of some of the more dodgy notes that featured on the
> original Mellotron. Generally M-
> Tron has a softer sound than MP Presents, but I
> trust MP Presents as a more accurate
> sound source.
>
> So I'm afraid yet another with no opinion of Vintage
> X Pro! Sorry!
>
> Owen
>
> --
> http://www.thinking-aloud.co.uk/
>
>
>
>

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Hi Rawl,

I, like you, would love to have a real Tron.
Unfortunately.....can't afford one, so I have the "Blasphemous M-Tron."

I tried "Squids Tron Collection."
IMHO, it didn't come close to the M-Tron.
The quality of the sounds were just unusable.
However, the folks at "IK" gave me a discount on their Miroslav CE
collection, which has very nice samples.....no Trons though.

Hope that helps.

Fretless