Best Mellotron Sound from Samples or Plug-in?
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- KVRer
- 1 posts since 28 Mar, 2004
I have the MTron from GMedia with all the Tape Banks and love it. Great sounds and as Dave S mentioned above there are some Chamberlin sounds in there. When I first got it I thought I would just use it here and there -little accents and such, but I find myself going to it all time. Highly recommend. I'm sure some of the sample CD's are great too -I'll have to check em out.
-DEdge
-DEdge
-DEdge
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- KVRian
- 1206 posts since 10 Apr, 2002 from Born, living and probably dying in Germany
That´s interesting for me as a strong Moody Blues fan. Until now I only had Vol1&2 - now it´s time to buy Vol3, too.Dave Spiers wrote:Vol3 has the real Moody Blues style stuff on it including the massive Halfspeed Pinder sound, plus the M300 violin section and the M300 strings and solo violins.
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- TopModernGeezer
- 2679 posts since 14 Mar, 2001 from Stuttgart, Germany
Dave Spiers wrote:.. as I'm not as obsessional about the M-Tron as some around here (putte?) ..

putte
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- KVRAF
- 8389 posts since 11 Apr, 2003 from back on the hillside again - but now with a garden!
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- KVRist
- 78 posts since 30 Oct, 2003 from Sweden
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- KVRist
- 109 posts since 12 Sep, 2002 from Glasgow, Scotland
I have the M-Tron with banks 1 and 2, which is OK - (I rarely use it now). One of the sounds I wanted was the strings, to get that classic "Starless" (King Crimson) sound.
Well, it's not possible. All the string samples in the M-Tron are shot to pieces, whereas in Starless they are as smooth as silk. I have tried loads of combinations of reverb, eq, etc, and can only presume that KC's Mellotron had good tapes in it.
Stringer doesn't do it for me, neither does Sonic Synth's "Tron strings" sound.
Ah well.
Well, it's not possible. All the string samples in the M-Tron are shot to pieces, whereas in Starless they are as smooth as silk. I have tried loads of combinations of reverb, eq, etc, and can only presume that KC's Mellotron had good tapes in it.
Stringer doesn't do it for me, neither does Sonic Synth's "Tron strings" sound.
Ah well.
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- KVRAF
- 4822 posts since 14 Mar, 2002 from Somewhere else, on principle
Yeah, the Pinder CD is pretty amazing. When I first loaded it up in my sampler I was blown away at the sound. It pretty much stomped over every other Mellotron emu/rompler/sample/patch I've ever heard. It sounds like the real deal. I don't know about the M-Tron but a lot of the other patches that I've heard use short looped samples whereas, on Pinder's CD, they have the full 8 seconds of each note which adds so much more life to it. It's like night and day.craigmorris74 wrote:The Mike Pinder Presents the Mellotron and Chambelin sample CD totally kicks the crap out of the M-Tron. It was recorded by a guy who just wanted to get ALL of the great Mellotron sounds on one CD.
A cheaper route is the Masterbits Mellotrax sample CD. It doesn't have near as many different samples as the Pinder CD, but a recorded in very high fidelity.

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- KVRian
- 864 posts since 9 Jul, 2001 from Chester County PA, USA
It is possible, but I think you might be trying to do it using the wrong "tape".Alan Hope wrote:I have the M-Tron with banks 1 and 2, which is OK - (I rarely use it now). One of the sounds I wanted was the strings, to get that classic "Starless" (King Crimson) sound.
Well, it's not possible. All the string samples in the M-Tron are shot to pieces, whereas in Starless they are as smooth as silk. I have tried loads of combinations of reverb, eq, etc, and can only presume that KC's Mellotron had good tapes in it.
Stringer doesn't do it for me, neither does Sonic Synth's "Tron strings" sound.
Ah well.
I've managed to get the "Starless" sound (as well as the "Nights In White Satin" and Yes' "Heart Of The Sunrise" sound) using the MTron violins (I believe it's actually the "3 Violins" Mellotron tape) with some reverb, not the Strings themselves: 3 Violins is much smoother, with that eerie, haunting feel.
You're right about the usual "Strings" Mellotron samples available: I've found the actual Strings to be way too "thick" sounding and lacking the gentle subtlety needed for this specific purpose. Sadly, most of the free Mellotron samples I've seen out there (like the free Hovercraft collection, which seems to have found its way into a few free VSTi's and Soundfonts) only provide the Strings, not the 3 Violins "tapes"...but MTron does.
At Mellotron.com (yep, they still make them!)...they say this about the 3 Violins tape (note the Mike Pindar comment):
"This most famous Mellotron sound was used on countless recordings from 1964 to the present. Michael Pinder used this sound in his Mk II Mellotron for every Moody Blues album he recorded. Performance tips for this sound are: Use a volume pedal. Michael double tracked all of his string arrangements. Judicious use of EQ, particularly on the upper octave and a good plate reverb setting ( Tony Clarke used an old EMT plate). The real trick to Michael's Mellotron sound is a very smooth legato technique and Tony's engineering genius, but the above mentioned approach will get you close."
They have a sampling of all the various classic Mellotron tapes (with MP3 soundclips) at: http://www.mellotron.com/soundframe.htm
It's available here:klagga wrote:This Mike Pinder CD, is it available to buy anywhere?
Can´t find a dealer.
http://www.mellotron.com/cdlist.htm
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- KVRAF
- 2314 posts since 11 Mar, 2003
As well as all those tips on EQ and reverbs, don't forget that those early Tron's didn't have line outputs so their speakers were miked, so a speaker and mic simulator will also be needed to get that real vintage feel (some of the M-Tron's sounds are from a miked MII, but not all).
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- KVRian
- 1206 posts since 10 Apr, 2002 from Born, living and probably dying in Germany
Exactly, you´re totally right. In many early Moody Blues songs Mike Pinder used the 3violins sound. And early Yes, Genesis and King Crimson used it sometimes, too.Har wrote:I've managed to get the "Starless" sound (as well as the "Nights In White Satin" and Yes' "Heart Of The Sunrise" sound) using the MTron violins (I believe it's actually the "3 Violins" Mellotron tape) with some reverb, not the Strings themselves: 3 Violins is much smoother, with that eerie, haunting feel.
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- KVRian
- 864 posts since 9 Jul, 2001 from Chester County PA, USA
Yep. Look at the last item in my previous post.klagga wrote:This Mike Pinder CD, is it available to buy anywhere?
Can´t find a dealer.

Listen to some Monkey-Music