The Mellotrons that were sampled for the original M-Tron weren't in the best of shape, so the samples tend to be muddy and some notes were duplicated and pitch-changed for some reason or another. I personally think my samples are better, but the original M-Tron samples are certainly useable and there are several unique sounds.evilantal wrote:taijiguy, how would you rate your own set of Mellotron samples in relation to this and the original M-Tron Pro library?taijiguy wrote:M-Tron Pro with the Streetly sample set is by far the best commercial Tron VST. Best free VST is Redtron, especially the SE version.
My M400 had the headblock azimuth realigned by Streetly Electronics, then the entire machine was stripped down to every individual part, which were then cleaned and polished, cabinet rebuilt and squared, reassembled and new tapes acquired before I began sampling it. All of the samples are from tapes that were no more than a few months old.
Since I sampled my Tron, I've replaced the pinch rollers, which were getting a bit dried out. This really improved the playback. I've also learned to properly adjust the keyboard so it plays like butter. You can do really fast runs on it now with very little effort. If I resampled my M400 now, the samples would be improved, but still wouldn't sound as good as the Streetly Tapes.
The Streetly Tapes for M-Tron Pro were sampled from the output of the Skellotron, which is Streetly's pristinely maintained demo machine. These are the folks who developed the Mellotron and nobody has a better understanding of them.
Even after all these years, most Mellotronists haven't learned how to properly maintain their machines, hence the undeserved rap they get for being unreliable (they really need no more maintenance than a guitar). In fact, I'm still learning about the inner workings of both of my Trons, which are vastly different from each other.
You'll notice a smoothness in the Streetly Tapes that you won't find in other sample sets. There is virtually no wow/flutter.
