Mellotronists

Hey, you are taking this much too personally!  I was not being
condescending. I am sure that most players on this list can play circles
around me. This is only my opinion!!!!!!!... 

 

It sounds as if we agree more than disagree. When the Mellotron was
introduced nothing else could sound like it. So if you wanted your own
"orchestra" onstage with you, you had to pay the price. When synthesized
sounds came into fashion (and yes, I too owned and programmed a MiniMoog
during the 70's), the Mellotron started to wane to those crappy synth
strings (ARP String Ensemble . "Dream Weaver", etc). Then when digital
samplers appeared (Fairlight, CMI) the tron basically disappeared. 

 

So why would we spend $2500-$5000 for a tron now? Because I am a collector
and love this instrument for what it is and what it stands for. (Yes, I was
freezing my ass off in the rain listening to Ian McDonald play Epitaph, and
that changed my musical life!)

 

I do not begrudge others for selling copies of it. Hell, I sell samples of
obsolete instruments myself. I applaud the folks who developed the Memotron,
as I will for any business person who takes such an enormous financial risk.
I am just questioning the wisdom in purchasing such a limited, expensive
tool, that's all.

 

And so I made a type with "knights". Big deal. That should be the worst
mistake I make when typing an email.  

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Mellotronists@yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of jonesalley
 




And finally, David.  I hope your post was not intended to be as 
condescending as it seemed.  I'm glad you have lots of toys.  Most real 
Mellotron owners seem to also have a lot of toys.  My Mellotron is one of 
the nineteen keyboards in my collection, which also includes some primo 
modern toys and some scarce old analog toys. I started playing piano 
forty-eight years ago, started programming synths thirty-five years ago, and

I am well aware of the capabilities of modern instruments.  You want to talk

functional, versatile, and reliable?  My sole stage keyboard for about eight

years has been one tiny nine-and-a-half pound Korg X5D loaded only with my 
own custom programs, including painstaking Mellotron replications that are 
frightfully authentic, even to 8-second cutoff, randomness of attack, and 
tape rewind snick.  My entire stage rig is the X5D, a Presonus MP-20 that 
serves as mixer and direct box, a pair of Samson XP-200 powered monitors, a 
tall Quik-Lok keyboard stand and a couple of Quik-Lok's small keyboard 
stands on which to elevate my speakers.  I can carry my rig in two trips, by

myself, and set it up in ten minutes.  As far as reliable goes, while the 
only problems I have ever had are mechanical ones like broken keys, my rig 
is small and inexpensive enough that I carry spares of everything to 
performances.  A meteor could obliterate my entire setup and I would simply 
go out to the car and get the backup rig and be ready to play again in 
fifteen minutes.  Functional and versatile?  Rather than giving you a list 
of what I can do with it (which happens to include some of your own 
examples, like "(K)Nights in White Satin") I'll be happy to put my money 
where my mouth is and let you hear some cuts for yourself, with no overdubs,

no sequences, nothing other than what I make happen with my ten fingers:

http://www.wichitabandscene.com/bio.asp?showBandName=Jon#music
http://www.wichitabandscene.com/bio.asp?showBandName=ICT#music

So, please grant me the credibility that I have earned as a player and a 
programmer and don't talk down to me.




I still say the Memotron is a boon for people who want to have the familiar 
set of controls, the familiar set of sounds, a taste of the Mellotron 
experience, but who don't want to risk their genuine Mellotron, and who 
don't think that a garden-variety sampler will provide the right 
multi-sensory experience.  And I still wish that our two groups of Mellotron

developers, restorers, preservers would have done this first, because, as 
neat a trick as I think this Memotron thing is, it would have likely been 
done a lot better by the guys that know it best.




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