KVR Audio

MachFront · Post by **MachFront** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:32 am

Well, since all these Mellotron lovers are here now, I guess I can ask a quick question.
I've messed around for quite a bit but still can't seem to find the same tone of the "choir" in 10cc's I'm Not In Love.
Anyone know how it was done? Was it simply effects processing or something other? Or am I just missing something obvious?

duncanparsons · Post by **duncanparsons** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:58 am

10cc didn't use a mellotron... best article ever written on how they got that sound was from a Sound on Sound article here.

DSP

MachFront · Post by **MachFront** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 12:03 pm

duncanparsons wrote:10cc didn't use a mellotron... best article ever written on how they got that sound was from a Sound on Sound article here.

DSP

No??
Damn. All these years.

..off to read the article.
Thanks.

pekadan · Post by **pekadan** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 1:24 pm

A few years ago when I heard some mellotron sounds for the first time (I mean samples, must've heard it in music without even knowing), I just thought "hmm, kinda weird - hardly very useful". Well, the past year I've found myself over and over again tweaking, mixing, detuning and distorting choir, string and organ patches to get dirty, rich and warm sounds for pads and stuff. I realised I was actually trying to achieve mellotron like sounds (and not succeeding). So I listened to some tron samples again recently (and to trons in music) and this time fell totally in love! I got the M-Tron and this baby is one of my absolute favourites now. I use it all the time!

Sorry, I was reading through the thread and felt I just *had* to share. Got carried away by the nice, warm mellotron spirit.

Not very useful contribution I suppose...

kostagem · Post by **kostagem** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 11:41 pm

tweakbench wrote:I spent a good deal of time remastering the Hovercraft samples for Tapeworm. I especially worked on getting the loops to sound smooth, and tried to bring some of the warmth back into the samples without damaging the tone. I'm personally very happy with Tapeworm's sound, and as of today it's broken 24,000 downloads for this year.. so someone surely likes it.

Yes Tapeworm is an excellent value for money for those that can't afford the MTron or the real thing, and it sounds better than the other free mellotron vsts (Mellowsound and Nanotron). Yet it could be definately improved. I have a few ideas that might work...

Anyway, my argument here was that even if someone got Tapeworm (or something as cheap like the samples), maybe added some effects and played it well, few people would be able to tell the difference between cheap and expensive in the final mix. Even fewer would care if the song was inspired and tasteful.

tweakbench · Post by **tweakbench** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 12:55 am

kostagem wrote:...Yet it could be definately improved. I have a few ideas that might work...

what do you have in mind?

kostagem · Post by **kostagem** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 1:27 am

tweakbench wrote: what do you have in mind?

I'll send a lengthy email tomorrow.

mumpcake · Post by **mumpcake** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 9:18 pm

mellotronaut wrote: With a sampletank-player included, this:
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=230

and this, but it's more expensive:
http://www.esoundz.com/details.php?ProductID=220

Does the SampleTank LE that is included with these sets require a dongle?

Spitfire31 · Post by **Spitfire31** » Wed Dec 27, 2006 9:40 pm

mumpcake wrote:Does the SampleTank LE that is included with these sets require a dongle?

No, it doesn't - I just installed it. It has a challenge-response CP scheme that worked without a hitch.

/Joey

kungfujeezus · Post by **kungfujeezus** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 6:39 pm

taijiguy wrote:Pretty shaky keyboard playing, but...

Pinder CD flute: http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... rstraw.wav
CrimeSound flute:http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... dstraw.wav
MTron MkII flute: http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... nstraw.wav (sorry about the distortion, but I'm too lazy to do it over)
Ian McDonald flute sampled from an M400S: http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... 0straw.wav

Taijiguy,
Where did you find a sample of the Ian McDonald mellotron flute, I've been looking for that sample everywhere. As far as I can tell, none of the tron libraries have it.

loachm · Post by **loachm** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:08 pm

...Masterbits Mello Trax - the Wav-Version of Mello Zone for Sampletank for about 30 or 40€ on their website...

www.masterbits.de

...they are also selling it for about 15€ in their Ebay shop...

http://cgi.ebay.de/MELLO-TRAX-The-legen ... dZViewItem

...Mello Zone in Giga or Akai format can also be found for cheap in their Ebay shop:

http://search.ebay.de/search/search.dll ... mello+zone

taijiguy · Post by **taijiguy** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 3:14 am

kungfujeezus wrote:
taijiguy wrote:Pretty shaky keyboard playing, but...

Pinder CD flute: http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... rstraw.wav
CrimeSound flute:http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... dstraw.wav
MTron MkII flute: http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... nstraw.wav (sorry about the distortion, but I'm too lazy to do it over)
Ian McDonald flute sampled from an M400S: http://www.leisureland.us/audio/mellotr ... 0straw.wav
Taijiguy,
Where did you find a sample of the Ian McDonald mellotron flute, I've been looking for that sample everywhere. As far as I can tell, none of the tron libraries have it.

Hi kungfujeezus, I sampled it myself, although not very well because it was my first attempt at sampling. The Ian McDonald flute isn't available in any sample set because of copyright restrictions, unlike the MkII Violins, MkII Combined Brass, MkII Flute and a host of other traditional Mellotron sounds, which are now in the public domain. I wish the owners, Streetly Electronics, would release a sample set containing all the new sounds they have, but I know they're quite busy preparing to market their new M4000 Mellotron. You can hear the old and new sounds here: http://www.blackcat.demon.co.uk/tron/

John Vulich · Post by **John Vulich** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:03 am

kostagem wrote:So it really doesn't matter if the Hovercraft's mellotron sample sound crappy as is. Do you think all mellotrons that gave album recordings were note on perfect or not harsh sounding? Even Reason has a special patch emulating those crappy mellotron tapes (I think its called 'mashed tape strings').

You're totally off base here.

The issue with the Hovercraft Mellotron samples is NOT the sound quality, but that fact that each set only comprises about seven samples that are shortened loops of the original sounds.

Sets, like the one by Mike Pinder, allow for the use of the full 8 seconds of each of the 35 tapes. This contributes immensely, towards duplicating the original sound.

I bought the Propeller Island Mellotron CD and loaded all 35 of the 8 second long samples, of one of the tape sets, into my sampler. Prior to that, I was playing around with Hovercraft's, and other similarly truncated versions. I loaded up a MIDI file, that I found of Genesis' "Watcher of the Skis" intro, and let her rip. The difference was, quite frankly, like night and day.

A big part of the charm of the Mellotron sound is the warbling quality of the tapes, as they became stretched, and the natural variety from each loop having been a different recording. Using 7 short truncated loops can just no way capture the richness and full quality of a real Mellotron.

HunterKiller · Post by **HunterKiller** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:08 am

What site are they selling the Mike Pinder or the Propeller Island Mellotron CDs on?

John Vulich · Post by **John Vulich** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:25 am

http://www.mellotron.com/prices.htm

http://www.ilio.com/ilio/m400/index.html

I need a GOOD mellotron soundset (preferably soundfont)