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From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.music.synth
Subject: Re: need synth programming advice
Message-ID: <2274@pyuxd.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Dec-85 11:27:03 EST
Article-I.D.: pyuxd.2274
Posted: Thu Dec 19 11:27:03 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Dec-85 06:13:55 EST
References: <1241@sdcsvax.UUCP> <2271@pyuxd.UUCP>
Organization: Whatever we're calling ourselves this week
Lines: 31
Keywords: analog, mellotron

>> I am trying to synthesize (on an analog synthesizer... a Matrix 12)  the
>> sound of the old Mellotron String Section.  To me, it sounded nothing
>> like a typical synthesizer string section.  Somehow, there was more "air",
>> or openness; yet at the same time there was a noticeable lack of thinness.
>>                                         Glenn Little

> One tip I got from a KEYBOARD (?) interview with Jimmy Destri (of Blondie).
> When recording "Fade Away and Radiate" (on which Robert Fripp played guitar),
> he wanted to get that old KingCrimson-esque Mellotron sound, but all he had
> was a Polymoog.  He used the Polymoog piped through a cheap tape/analog
> echo device (with somewhat poor high-end frequency response) with short
> delay and ample feedback (without overkilling it).  This reproduces the
> "tapey" sound of the Mellotron pretty well. [RICH ROSEN]

A couple of things I forgot to mention:

1) Use of chorus effect either on the originating synth/string machine
	or in the echo box enhances the effect.  I kicked up the chorus
	on the Memory Man to just below the point where the pitch started
	to wobble, which simulates a sort of tape wow more than a vibrato.
	By adjusting carefully and keeping it within the bounds of
	tolerability, the effect sounds very Mellotron-y.

2) Tony Banks got what a lot of people thought was the best string sound in
	its day by doubling the Mellotron part on a synthetic string
	machine on "Many Too Many", achieving both bite and fullness.  Perhaps
	mixing straight and tape echoed sounds will achieve a better overall
	result.
-- 
Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen.
					Rich Rosen    pyuxd!rlr