which FXs to use on M-Tron for Genesis sound?

[Peter Hampton]

Hi guys!

do you have any clue on how to accomplish that ethereal choir sound like on "Silent Sorrow In Empty Boats" or "Los Endos" (which always gives me the goose bumps BTW!)

I have the M-Tron virtual mellotron, and a couple of reverbs, but I haven´t found any presets or combinations which capture that kind of atmosphere. I believe Tony also used a rotary on the tron, but after trying with B4´s virtual Leslie and Akai´s Rotator, I still don´t nail it.

thanks!

Pete

[Meffy]

Hi yourself! :-)

I can't help with your question, just want to second the opinion of "Los Endos." The fur on the back of my neck always stands on end when that piece comes 'round. It's almost an overture stuck at the end instead of the beginning. (An underture?)

Keep watching those skies!

Meffy

[Mr Arkadin]

Have you got all the extra tape banks? Some of these sounds are from a MarkII which had no line out, and so have to be recorded via the speaker. This is how lots of the early prog stuff was done. So some speaker emu is in order, though Leslies are often used too. Don't necessarily use the rotory effect though, just use it to grunge up the sound a bit (rotary is very distinctive and i don't think it's used on 'Silent Sorrow...' You could even try actually micing a real speaker if you can, and experiment with mic position/distance.

Also, assign volume to an expression pedal to get that fading quality of 'Silent Sorrow...'

[Peter Hampton]

Hi Mr. Arkadin!

Have you got all the extra tape banks? Some of these sounds are from a MarkII which had no line out, and so have to be recorded via the speaker.

Yes, I´m aware of that, but when Tony recorded Lamb... and Trick of the Tail, he already had his M400 model, which had a line output.

Also, assign volume to an expression pedal to get that fading quality of 'Silent Sorrow...'

Yup, I tried that also. But there´s also some kind of reverb that I can´t figure out.

Thanks for replying!

[Mr Arkadin]

but when Tony recorded Lamb... and Trick of the Tail, he already had his M400 model, which had a line output

Doesn't necessarily mean he didn't use a speaker though i'll have a listen to 'Silent Sorrow...' (haven't got Los Endos) later tonight and see if i can hear what's happening, although i'd imagine back then reverb was probably a real room, a giant plate or a spring, so the options would have been limited.

Mr A

[Squids]

Washy reverb. At one point Tony was using a Roland Space Echo which was a tape delay/spring reverb. But, I think a wet reverb will do the trick. The other thing that contributed to it was a volume pedal. But, perhaps you can do automation on the volume to achieve that. I know with our tron sounds in SampleTank you can do all of the above quite easily (even the processing- and there's a spring reverb inside ST as well). But, you have the M-Tron so you can do it with just a little bit of work.

Here, this is for you: www.sonicreality.com/squidscorner/genesisedit.mp3

I wish we played Silent Sorrow though. I love that one.

[Peter Hampton]

Hi Squids!

What do you mean with "Washy reverb"? I own Ultrafunk´s Reverb (an old one) and Sound Forge´s one. Could you give me some ideas on what time, feedback, etc. to use on those to achieve something similar?

[Mr Arkadin]

Listening back to "Silent Sorrow..." it seems as if all the attacks on all the chords are softened, which could mean he recorded the chords separately with volume pedal on each attack then applying reverb/delay to the final track (a tape echo emu might help). You could achieve this using the attack parameter on M-Tron perhaps. Stabbing in the dark a bit here, sorry.

Mr A

PS. It might be worth emailing those tribute guys The Musical Box as they have all the original gear and reproduce all the Genesis sounds exactly.