KVR Audio

waiting man · Post by **waiting man** » Wed Dec 06, 2006 10:33 pm

one good thing about this marvelous mr.pinder is that his pricelist is stuck somewhere around 2001...400$ for two cdroms is

now if only Squids could stop making me drool and free that certain product from the cruel sampletank slavery...

Kaneda · Post by **Kaneda** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:43 pm

You could always try this little beauty. It sounds great for the price and has a few extra's in kontakt. Add some tremolo scripting to the patch and you are sorted.

http://www.prokits.co.uk/productview.asp?productID=212

script...http://www.prokits.co.uk/productview.asp?productID=247

kostagem · Post by **kostagem** » Sat Dec 16, 2006 11:28 pm

taijiguy wrote:There are only 5 or 6 samples per sound instead of 35, they are not full length and the beginning of each sound has been truncated so they can be looped. You get what you pay for.

Well well, sound its not always about money you know!

A few things I learned on the way looking for a good mellotron sound:

a) Different bands used different models of the mellotron and most importantly different tapes in them, while often those tapes came in different conditions,

b) The mellotrons were often put through external effects (even a subtle reverb or EQ can change the way it sounds),

c) The sound also depends on the overal mix of the song (eg try playing a line with a mellotron and then try the same line accompanied by a bassist and drummer),

d) It depends on the playing style (eg how to deal with notes lasting longer than 8 notes),

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').

Even harsh sounding samples, or free mellotron VSTs can sound great when used in the right context. And again, I've heard some songs by mellotron enthousiasts made with real perfect mellotrons that sounded like really uninspired synth noodling.

So it's not about what you got, but how you use it.

taijiguy · Post by **taijiguy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 5:56 am

kostagem wrote:
taijiguy wrote:There are only 5 or 6 samples per sound instead of 35, they are not full length and the beginning of each sound has been truncated so they can be looped. You get what you pay for.
Well well, sound its not always about money you know!

A few things I learned on the way looking for a good mellotron sound:

a) Different bands used different models of the mellotron and most importantly different tapes in them, while often those tapes came in different conditions,

b) The mellotrons were often put through external effects (even a subtle reverb or EQ can change the way it sounds),

c) The sound also depends on the overal mix of the song (eg try playing a line with a mellotron and then try the same line accompanied by a bassist and drummer),

d) It depends on the playing style (eg how to deal with notes lasting longer than 8 notes),

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').

Even harsh sounding samples, or free mellotron VSTs can sound great when used in the right context. And again, I've heard some songs by mellotron enthousiasts made with real perfect mellotrons that sounded like really uninspired synth noodling.

So it's not about what you got, but how you use it.

Most of these are good points. A well maintained Mellotron will sound better than a poorly maintained Mellotron. Recording technique will also come into play. And a well maintained Mellotron that is properly recorded is ideal. The skill of the Mellotronist is also important. Just because one is a skillful keyboardist doesn't mean that person can play a Mellotron skillfully. Some of the flashiest keyboard players don't get it at all. And yes, you can get a decent sound, even from the crappiest samples (with sufficient processing). It just won't sound like a Mellotron. And of course a real Mellotron will always sound better than samples. But a well maintained Mellotron will sound good even with minimal to no processing: http://cdbaby.com/cd/fritzdoddy

So it's about what you got AND how you use it.

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:38 am

So, those of you with real mellotrons, all the flashy samples and stuff - anybody cares trying to get closer to the real deal than my sample?

tbader20 · Post by **tbader20** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 2:18 pm

I'm pretty sure on Ghost Reveries you are hearing the effect of a Hammond and a Leslie. I'll have to listen to the album again, though, maybe what you are talking about will jump out at me.

tbader20 · Post by **tbader20** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 2:24 pm

Also, I didn't mean that you are hearing a Hammond, not a Tron. Can you give us which song you are talking about, maybe?

Bob Nova · Post by **Bob Nova** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 2:58 pm

Sascha Franck wrote:Here's J.P. Hovercrafts Mellotron samples:
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/aphex/113/
They're as "mellotron-ish" as it gets. I mean, it's the real deal sampled.
I think on www.sf2midi.com you can find some soundfonts based on them.

For a freebie, they are excellent.

Yeah, I think those are the ones I'm using; I converted them to .nki format. They're quite good!

SWTrex · Post by **SWTrex** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 6:17 pm

Bob Nova wrote:
Sascha Franck wrote:Here's J.P. Hovercrafts Mellotron samples:
http://tinpan.fortunecity.com/aphex/113/
They're as "mellotron-ish" as it gets. I mean, it's the real deal sampled.
I think on www.sf2midi.com you can find some soundfonts based on them.

For a freebie, they are excellent.

Yeah, I think those are the ones I'm using; I converted them to .nki format. They're quite good!

Tweakbench also uses these samples (or re-mastered versions of these samples) in Tapeworm. They sound pretty good to my ears...

SWTrex

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 8:32 pm

Yeah, but someone will again chime in, telling you how inferior they are. Without ever providing any counter examples to my Strawberry Fields intro mockup (which should be one of the most famous Mellotron sounds ever).

taijiguy · Post by **taijiguy** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:31 pm

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

Sascha Franck · Post by **Sascha Franck** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:44 pm

So, thanks for these. But as you can clearly see (err, hear...), they're not any closer to the original than my example. They're all brighter than what you hear in the orignal tune, also, their attacks are harder (exception: The MTron) and the M400S one sounds more like an oboe.
Now, I'm not dissing the sounds at all, but if you ask me, there's nothing such as a "typical" mellotron sound, and my sample was as close to the original tune as yours.
Btw, to me, the one on the original sounds quite washy, which might be a good thing or not.
I can't see a defenite "better" though.

tweakbench · Post by **tweakbench** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 2:46 am

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.

gnu23 · Post by **gnu23** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:04 am

I just went with the bargain-basement priced (currently) Expansion Tank: Mello Zone. At $39US that was slam dunk for me.

Edit: And Tapeworm.

shanecgriffo · Post by **shanecgriffo** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 7:22 am

i like tapeworm.. thanks for it

I need a GOOD mellotron soundset (preferably soundfont)