How about a sample-mellotronizer?

[taijiguy]

All models rewind in well under a second. A well-maintained Tron should rewind within half a second.

Cool, I've never heard any discussion on it. Man, that must put on heck of a strain on the tapes! Looking at a mechanism diagram and thinking of 6' of tape zapping back in less than half a second sounds like the tape would stretch pretty quickly. Amazing these things still exist.

You would think so, but there are still 30-35 year old tape sets around that are still going strong. The return springs just aren't violent enough to do damage.

[liqih]

All models rewind in well under a second. A well-maintained Tron should rewind within half a second.

Cool, I've never heard any discussion on it. Man, that must put on heck of a strain on the tapes! Looking at a mechanism diagram and thinking of 6' of tape zapping back in less than half a second sounds like the tape would stretch pretty quickly. Amazing these things still exist.

there is almost no tension when the tape rewinds, it's free to run

[CS80]

All models rewind in well under a second. A well-maintained Tron should rewind within half a second.

Cool, I've never heard any discussion on it. Man, that must put on heck of a strain on the tapes! Looking at a mechanism diagram and thinking of 6' of tape zapping back in less than half a second sounds like the tape would stretch pretty quickly. Amazing these things still exist.

there is almost no tension when the tape rewinds, it's free to run

I was just looking at the samples for Eve... do they loop? or play and then "rewind"....

Eve is Universal Binary right? Thanks!

[liqih]

still

Rick Wakeman actually burned his two M400 mellotrons in a bonfire out of frustration ...

from
http://www.mikepinder.com

[liqih]

I was just looking at the samples for Eve... do they loop? or play and then "rewind"....

Eve is Universal Binary right? Thanks!

yes UB, and the mellotron samples are looped by Hollow Sun, so you have the loop
about 4", not the 8" tape, check the Mellotronix mp3s at
http://www.dashsignature.com/products/d ... d/hqs4.htm

[taijiguy]

What astonishes me the most is that the spill doesn't tangle every time a note is released.

It can happen with a poorly maintained Tron. But contrary to commonly held beliefs, Mellotrons require less maintenance that a guitar or violin. They are, in fact, very reliable instruments.

[emdot_ambient]

All models rewind in well under a second. A well-maintained Tron should rewind within half a second.

Cool, I've never heard any discussion on it. Man, that must put on heck of a strain on the tapes! Looking at a mechanism diagram and thinking of 6' of tape zapping back in less than half a second sounds like the tape would stretch pretty quickly. Amazing these things still exist.

there is almost no tension when the tape rewinds, it's free to run

It's not the tension while rewinding I'm thinking about, but the force of it stopping. If it's moving 6 feet in half a second, that's 43,200 feet per hour, or about 8.18 miles per hour. Even if there's no tension during the rewind, the tape is secured at the end and it has to go from 8.18 mph to 0 mph instantly. It's not using a motor to rewind, but a mechanical system, so there's no breaking mechanism. I just find it interesting they last as long as they do.

[olepro]

Nice idea, some things could sound great, it's like the old custom tapes service.
One thing about all the free Mellotrons I've heard is that they don't emulate this attack sound. I heard Macca talking about it on BBC radio, about how you hit the keys quick and you get this sound. I thought it was just the acid damage talking, but then he demonstrated it and i recognised it from so many beatles/Moodies records.

You can get different sounds just by the way you press a key, since you're controlling how the tape comes into contact with the playback head. A soft touch will sound different on the attack than pressing the key quickly. But there is the instrument attack as well that only unlooped samples can come close to duplicating. For example, the MkII 3 Violins has the sound of the bows coming into contact with the strings at the beginning of the tapes. In order to loop a sample of a Mellotron tape, you have to chop off the beginning of the sample, thereby losing the spirit of the original intent.

You don't need to chop off the beginning of a sample to loop it !

[pilgrim_heart]

Taijiguy mentioned the spider technique of playing a mellotron. I've been looking for a good description on this way of playing for a while, does anyone know of any good source of info on this? Preferably with a few exercises to practice it.

[taijiguy]

Taijiguy mentioned the spider technique of playing a mellotron. I've been looking for a good description on this way of playing for a while, does anyone know of any good source of info on this? Preferably with a few exercises to practice it.

Spider technique is really just slow arpeggios. This is from the Hollow Sun website and describes it pretty well:

"Inside the Mellotron was a frame of tapes with a length of tape for each of the the 35 keys. Each tape could play for no more than eight seconds inspiring a unique 'crawling spider' playing technique as you played inversions to keep sustained chords going."

Actually, the earlier models didn't use tape frames. Neither does the new M4000.