Best MIDI controller for Mellotron/Chamberlin plugins (35 keys?)

[coolazice]

Ok, bit of a weird question:

The original Mellotron and Chamberlin had 35 keys, from G to F. I'm looking for a MIDI controller for the M-Tron plugin or similar, and although you'd think the obvious answer is 'get a 37-key controller', I've tried this and it's not a perfect solution, since there are 7 wasted keys on the bottom, while the top still requires an octave change to get to the notes C#-F. Obviously I could get a 49-key controller, but it just seems like unnecessary wasted space.

Is anyone aware of a (preferably cheap) MIDI controller which is 35 keys from G to F?

[Bradhapa]

Curious what controller you settled on for your mellatrom app. I’d like to get a good-fitting controller for Mtron Pro. With all the great articles about these apps I have seen almost nothing written about the ideal controller to pair with them. Thanks for your thoughts!

[Jim Y]

I don't know about Mtron, but my players just up or down pitch the extreme sounds to cover a wider keyboard span. Even the Nord Mellotron library does this which is a bit annoying as on a 73key board, I have no idea as to exactly where the true sample pitches begin or end, although strangely, the "illegal" pitches are quite usable so I am happy it does it.

[anotherscott]

This is similar to the clavinet "problem" -- a clav had 60 keys, but F-to-E, so you can't get the clav range out of the typical; 61-key keyboard. The Dexibell S1 68-key will do it, or any 73+ board. For a mellotron range, I think you have to buy a 49. Or maybe one of the old 45-key Roland keytars, but they are bigger than 49-key controllers.

[taijiguy]

The perfect keyboard is an Alesis QS7.1 72-note keyboard. The lowest note is an E and the highest is an A. You can fit 2 35-note Mellotron keyboards in that range, making it possible to emulate a dual manual MkII Mellotron. Wish I still had mine.

[Jim Y]

It involves some DIY, but most modern keyboards are essentially modular. It might be a matter of taking off some keys and rearranging them. For example, moving the low octave C-E group up to meet the next octaves C, gives you a start on F. The plain top C key goes after the top octave E.