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From: ckk@cmu-cs-g.ARPA (Chris Koenigsberg)
Newsgroups: net.music.synth
Subject: mellotrons are ANALOG
Message-ID: <258@cmu-cs-g.ARPA>
Date: Sat, 20-Apr-85 18:05:16 EST
Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-g.258
Posted: Sat Apr 20 18:05:16 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 23-Apr-85 01:05:51 EST
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 55

Someone mentioned the Mirage, the Emulator, and then the mellotron
all in one breath. The first two are digital sampling
devices, but the mellotron is really just a bunch of little analog
1/2" magnetic tape playback heads. Every key on a mellotron, when depressed, 
starts its own piece of magnetic tape rolling over its own playback head.
When the tape runs out, the sound stops....you can't sustain a mellotron 
note for more than about ten seconds. You have to wait for the tape to 
rewind before repeating the same note, which takes a second or two.
If you listen carefully you'll notice that no mellotron notes are
sustained for very long, they keep pressing new ones.

The choir sounds used by Genesis on their mellotron are pre-recorded tapes,
 one for each different note. To retune the mellotron, one  changes
 the playback speed, which raises or lowers the pitch but also change
 the timbre a bit.

Mellotron tapes have three tracks on them, so you can choose three different 
sounds with a knob on the console. You can use the pre-recorded ones,
or you can record your own if you are careful and adventurous.
The standard mellotron tapes come with flutes, violins and celli, and
the choir voices. (the violin/cello tracks have violins for the
high notes and celli for the low ones.) Changing the tapes, which yields a
new set of three recorded sounds on each key, is a pain in the ass. Each 
key's tape must be changed individually, unless you want a strange
combination of sounds available over the keyboard.

At the studio where I used a mellotron, Linden Studio in Ambler, Pa.,
they had the standard tapes of flute, violin/cello, voice, but they also 
had their own custom tapes of random cat meows, doors slamming, and other
strange noises. You could press a key and be extremely surprised at the
result, as these are actual high-fidelity audio recordings of obnoxious 
noises! We had to wait while they replaced the strange sounds with the 
standard ones before recording our rock music, but the sound of
the mellotron can't be beat by digital sampling, at least not
by cheap devices commonly available.

The mellotron is bulky, cranky, goes out of tune on every song,
is incredibly heavy, and is very old-fashioned, so there aren't
too many of them still in use. But the full choir sound at the
touch of a keyboard is fantastic. Digital technology has a long
way to go before catching up to analog in the fullness of sound
available. Of course, analog has its own limitations and
distortion problems, too.

I hope this is informative, I'm just writing quickly out of
memory.

Chris Koenigsberg
ckk@cmu-cs-g.arpa
seismo!cmu-cs-pt!cmu-cs-g!ckk
(412)362-6422
1025 Murray Hill Ave.
Pgh., Pa. 15217
MORPHIC RESONANCE, a foundation for contemporary music