The Mellotron Group

--- In newmellotrongroup@yahoogroups.com, Chris Dale <unobtainiumkeys@...> wrote:

> I'm not going to add to what appears to be an argument, so I'll just say my
> personal experience and knowledge of the Birotron is this:

Lots of good info; thanks, Chris.

A coulple of things occurred to me while reading this though, and I'm surprised it hasn't come up before in discussions regarding this instrument, unless I managed to miss it. Perhaps you could address them for me.

1/ How long are the loops in a BiroTron cartridge?

2/ What happens at the loop point? Subsidiary question: Is the physical loop point the same as the recorded one? Even with a perfect splice there will have to be a noticeable change somewhere.

The second question relates to what I perceive as a major flaw in the playability of this instrument: If one is playing a sustained note when the recorded loop point passes, is there an audible clunk as though the note were being started from the beginning? While this would be bad enough with a single note, I can't even imagine the kind of train-wreck that would occur when playing a chord.

As has been mentioned with regard to the Mellotron, it is the attack at the beginning of a note that defines the "instrument" being played. If this happens part-way through, the result would sound, to put it bluntly, rather stupid I would think.

Please let me know, so that I can sleep peacefully in my bed tonight (or wherever I end up).

Jim Bailey