The Mellotron Group

Dave -

You're quite right. It was all a figment of my imagination. Playing a 
Birotron was the highlight of my entire life and was an experience so 
intense I'd happily give up food and oxygen for a week just to re-live. 
Indeed, I'd happily crawl for 100 miles over broken glass just to wank 
over the shadow of a Birotron, dreaming of its lightning fast Pratt and 
Reade keyboard action. I will further add that all the clattering from 
the arse end of the Birotron doesn't happen and that in fact the 
mechanism is so silent it stilled the myriad chattering voices in my 
head that made me think I was playing the thing when it's obvious that I 
was not.

Thanks for clearing all this up.

Mike

will davis wrote:
>
>
> Mike....I have played a pipe organ and I have played a Birotron and I 
> can safely say that you obviously never actually played a 
> Birotron.....why are you lying about it ?   The key action was 
> lightning fast; it was made by Pratt and Reade, the same company that 
> made keyboards for Moog and many others.  If you did indeed play one 
> and maybe you are just prejudiced for some reason, Id be curious to 
> know exactly when, where and who owned it !  dave
>  
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     *From:* Mike Dickson <mailto:mike.dickson@gmail.com>
>     *To:* newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com
>     <mailto:newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com>
>     *Sent:* Monday, April 13, 2009 5:42 AM
>     *Subject:* Re: [newmellotrongroup] Birotron on ebay
>
>     Played it, hated it.
>
>     The keyboard is heavier than a direct action pipe organ, thanks to
>     the
>     keys being sprung with something that could have been used to
>     catapult
>     boulders over a castle wall 600 years ago. Worse than that is the
>     noise
>     from the mechanics of the machine. Dear god...all those little 8
>     track
>     cartridges clattering away constantly. I never thought much of the
>     fidelity either, although that may have had something to do with the
>     state of the recordings.
>
>     Even worse though is that it all works on tape loops, thereby losing
>     that characteristic attack that actually signals what a sound
>     is.Without
>     it (say) a solo cello and a solo voice sound amazingly similar,
>     although
>     with the reproduction problems the Birotron had it's amazing it
>     sounded
>     like anything at all. It's better than the Orchestron (which seems to
>     have a library of sine waves, clicks and white noise) but not by much.
>
>     tronbros@aol.com <mailto:tronbros%40aol.com> wrote:
>     >
>     >
>     > It's the one we restored about 7 years ago!
>     >
>     > M
>     >
>     > *Streetly Electronics - All Things Mellotronic
>     > www.mellotronics.com <http://www.mellotronics.com/
>     <http://www.mellotronics.com/>>*
>     > US Sales East: Jimmy Moore JMoore6397@aol.com
>     <mailto:JMoore6397%40aol.com> <http://JMoore6397@aol.com/
>     <http://JMoore6397@aol.com/>>
>     > US Sales West: Paul Cox pjc56@earthlink <mailto:pjc56@earthlink>
>     >
>     >
>
>     -- 
>     Mike Dickson, Edinburgh
>
>     Free Music Project: http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
>     <http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson>
>     Or http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/ <http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/>
>
> 

-- 
Mike Dickson, Edinburgh

Free Music Project: http://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Dickson
Or http://www.mikedickson.org.uk/