The Mellotron Group

Tape certainly does kick-ass.  It makes no sense for my day to day work, but for musical endeavors of a more relaxed and in depth nature, it's a wonderful medium.

One sample library I recently acquired is LA StudioStrings by AudioBro.  It is actually usable as a playable realtime alternative to real strings or tron....alternative, NOT replacement.  It's full of quirks, imperfections and lovely out-of-tuneness.  Check out the online demo, pretty sweet!

fritz

 

 


 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Dickson <mike.dickson@gmail.com>
To: newmellotrongroup <newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, Nov 7, 2010 4:48 am
Subject: Re: [newmellotrongroup] New Sounds In General


  
    
                  
        On 06/11/2010 23:03, Rick Blechta wrote:
    
    
      
        
          
                          Case in point: the Ian            McDonald flute. It is an incredibly flexible, utterly            delightful voice. Why? Because the person who created it            understands what a mellotron is. 
        
      
    
    
    Good point, that. However, played through a sampler would it make it    any different? I still maintain a lot of what makes samplers and    Mellotron's 'different' is that in the former case people with no    sense of musicality or timbre make all kinds of business decisions    about the tunings, the attacks, noise reduction, gain etc so that it    totally ruins the effect. I have sampled #996's first frame    (strings/choir/flute) and made absolutely no attempt to do anything    to the sounds other than chop them up and apply them to a sampler.    In all candour, you'd never know the difference other than the fact    that the sounds are very consistent. I still think the M-Tron is one    of the biggest abortions I've heard in ages. Not only can I tell a    real Mellotron a mile off, I can also tell when someone has been    using that particular library. 
    
    Another example is Steve Hackett's guitar. I'd never have believed    it possible that a sustained guitar would be so much fun to play. 
    
    Ian's flute has something in common with the Wilden Pipe Organ, the    new oboe/cor anglais and (to some extent) the new cello and viola    sounds too. They are all recorded with attention paid to the attack.    Most sampler libraries do not have that kind of attention to detail    and expect the sound to be full on the second the key is depressed.    Sadly, that was also a 'mistake' made with some of the old sounds    too. The Mk II brass has to be one of the worst, with no real    attention paid to balance, to attack and none to the blend used.    (Sax? Why not French Horn?!) But it sounds like a Mellotron.    So people will buy it. It's a pity we don't have enough new sounds    to put together a new brass section. I'll bet it will sound good. I    also bet hardly anyone would buy it. 
    
    
      
        
          
            
It seems to me that you're living in the past. You're              trying to turn this instrument into a museum. 
          
        
      
    
    
    Good point also. I see the whole sound library as an organic entity,    which grows according to need. Or I did, anyway. But now I am    wondering just how many of these sounds are finding their way    anywhere beyond my web site. Or are people wanting the Mellotron for    the strings/choir/flute/brass/cello axis alone?
    
    
      
        
          
            
Case in point: when my old band from the '70s got              together in 2001 to just "do a gig for the hell of it", I              was equipped with a full 36-voice FX console. They'd been              used to the same instrument, but with 400 tapes in it (6              sounds). At our first rehearsal, we were farting around              with some of the cover songs we'd decided to play for our              first set. One was "In the Court of the Crimson King". I              used the MkII violins until the end of the song, then              cycled to Les Bradley's "Orchestra" mix. The band stopped              dead in their tracks. The singer looked at me and asked,              "Holy shit! Have you been feeding that thing, steroids?" 
          
        
      
    
    
    Kind of. The orchestra is (if I am not mistaken) Mk II brass, string    section and woodwind, which are all old sounds. It will still sound    'like a Mellotron' because the sounds are all still based on things    you'd have heard from the past. 
    
    
      
        
          
            
Maybe Mike did too good a job with his recording of the              new pipe organ voice. It does sound incredibly real, but              that's probably what he was going for. 
          
        
      
    
    
    Sure. The sounds are doubled (to make it sound more like a pipe    organ) and the bottom end borrows a bass pedal from elsewhere. It    sounds very real.
    
    
      
        
          
            
For some reason, throw a bunch of magnetic tape on one              of these ridiculous machines and something magical              happens. That's what I love about them -- and I'm sure I'm              not alone.
          
        
      
    
    
    You're not. I find magnetic tape to be continually fascinating    stuff. It does things to sounds that nothing else can. 
    
    Mike