Something new from G-Force (Mellotron MKII)

[MrJubbly]

I wish it was MAC only

Haha! I think you nailed it, in a nutshell!

[cthonophonic]

If you're looking to make a niche product, the answer isn't take the 5-10% of the potential market that would be interested in the first place and put them off on the price so only dentists end up buying it.

Maybe the data from their last user survey has told them that the vast majority of their users are dentists. Did you ever think of that, hmm?

[MrJubbly]

If you're looking to make a niche product, the answer isn't take the 5-10% of the potential market that would be interested in the first place and put them off on the price so only dentists end up buying it.

Maybe the data from their last user survey has told them that the vast majority of their users are dentists. Did you ever think of that, hmm?

Dentists ... who only use Mac, don't forget!

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

If you're looking to make a niche product, the answer isn't take the 5-10% of the potential market that would be interested in the first place and put them off on the price so only dentists end up buying it.

Maybe the data from their last user survey has told them that the vast majority of their users are dentists. Did you ever think of that, hmm?

Dentists ... who only use Mac, don't forget!

These are all good points I hadn't considered!

[Introspective]

[MrJubbly]

^ That reminds me of something...

Google Trends (interest over time) for: Mellotron

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Google Trends - Mellotron.PNG

[AnX]

Perspective

[vurt]

Perspective

ooh it's picking up again

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

It just looks like everything has become less interesting since 2004. This jives with my own experience.

[taijiguy]

For those who haven't already guessed, the Mellotron MkII samples are NOT the same as in the original M-Tron Pro and they are NOT the same as the samples in the Streetly Tapes, even though they were produced by the same company. They are master tape samples (132 sets of 35 notes) that have passed through the electronics of a MkII Mellotron, which imparts a completely different timbre than those of an M400. The MkII and M400 are NOT the same and they do not sound the same.

There's a choice of either samples that have been recorded directly from the output or from a mic'd speaker. The sounds are only from the MkII and Chamberlin (18 of those) and they are the only samples that will work with this software. It's not at all like an upgrade to M-Tron Pro. It's a completely different instrument, no different than if GForce released another synthesizer that has some similarities to one they already have in production.

I find that most musicians know squat about Mellotrons, thinking they are all the same, believing the myths about them being unreliable and maintenance nightmares and even believing that just because a flat white box with a label that says Mellotron on it and plays Mellotronic samples is actually a real Mellotron when in fact, that label is just a corporate badge.

[Krakatau]

And no non-customer has ever complained about something they were never actually interested in buying. Especially not at KVR.

[cthonophonic]

There's a choice of either samples that have been recorded directly from the output or from a mic'd speaker. The sounds are only from the MkII and Chamberlin (18 of those) and they are the only samples that will work with this software. It's not at all like an upgrade to M-Tron Pro. It's a completely different instrument, no different than if GForce released another synthesizer that has some similarities to one they already have in production.

A Chamberlin is not the same instrument as a Mellotron either, yet M-Tron Pro was somehow able to load the Chambertron bank (and many others) just fine, without any smoke coming out of its ports.

The new samples may be better, but they're all still samples, and the virtual instrument is, in the end, a sample player. The addition of time stretching doesn't make the new instrument incompatible with previously recorded material, so there's no technical limitation that prevents this from being an upgrade to M-Tron Pro. It's a business decision, and most people here seem to be agreeing that it's a rather strange one.

[MrJubbly]

It just looks like everything has become less interesting since 2004. This jives with my own experience.

If only that were true...

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Trap (so-called) Music.PNG

[taijiguy]

There's a choice of either samples that have been recorded directly from the output or from a mic'd speaker. The sounds are only from the MkII and Chamberlin (18 of those) and they are the only samples that will work with this software. It's not at all like an upgrade to M-Tron Pro. It's a completely different instrument, no different than if GForce released another synthesizer that has some similarities to one they already have in production.

The addition of time stretching doesn't make the new instrument incompatible with previously recorded material, so there's no technical limitation that prevents this from being an upgrade to M-Tron Pro. It's a business decision, and most people here seem to be agreeing that it's a rather strange one.

The MkII is NOT an M-Tron Pro upgrade, so there's no reason to expect that they should share the same file formats. One is a software version of a MkII Mellotron and the other is a software version of an M400. They are NOT the same instrument. The MkII is a descendant of the Chamberlin Music Master 600 and plays the same 3/8" tapes, so it makes perfect sense to include the Chamberlin samples. Since it's getting rave reviews from actual Mellotronists, it seems like a very logical business decision.

[elxsound]

There's a choice of either samples that have been recorded directly from the output or from a mic'd speaker. The sounds are only from the MkII and Chamberlin (18 of those) and they are the only samples that will work with this software. It's not at all like an upgrade to M-Tron Pro. It's a completely different instrument, no different than if GForce released another synthesizer that has some similarities to one they already have in production.

The addition of time stretching doesn't make the new instrument incompatible with previously recorded material, so there's no technical limitation that prevents this from being an upgrade to M-Tron Pro. It's a business decision, and most people here seem to be agreeing that it's a rather strange one.

The MkII is NOT an M-Tron Pro upgrade, so there's no reason to expect that they should share the same file formats. One is a software version of a MkII Mellotron and the other is a software version of an M400. They are NOT the same instrument. The MkII is a descendant of the Chamberlin Music Master 600 and plays the same 3/8" tapes, so it makes perfect sense to include the Chamberlin samples. Since it's getting rave reviews from actual Mellotronists, it seems like a very logical business decision.

Just to save you some time, you’re both right.

You might not like his statement (which is why you repeated yourself) but it’s true… the new content (and the MKI content) are just sampled material. They could have created a Kontakt library if they had wanted to. I’m not saying they should have, but they could have.

I’ve been a fan of GForce but IMO the feedback is exactly that… just feedback from lots of users who would have been ready to buy if not for the price, so of course the negative feedback is amplified.