So you want a wish list? Here's my fantasy. Well, my other fantasy.
2004-03-12 by jonesalley
I dream of a six-octave keyboard, G to G. Keys that duplicate as closely as possible the look and feel of Mellotron keyboards, with piano-style key lips, keys with a short key dip and a slightly rubbery key bed feel, and fully-programmable velocity and channel pressure sensitivity. The instrument has a row of switches and knobs above the keyboard that duplicates the knobs of a Mark II, and an additional row of controls on a separate panel above that with contemporary workstation controls. The instrument is a sample- playback device with maximum sample quality available today and HIGH polyphony, at least 120 voices. It contains in ROM every single Mellotron sound available, full-length samples of each note, including all of the factory loops and SFX setups. The samples offer a choice of recorded-direct and also a couple of different mic-ing options, giving the user the choice of what kind of ambience they want in their sounds. It likewise contains in ROM every single Chamberlin sound available, every single Orchestron/Optigan sound available, and every single Birotron sound available. I'd even like to see the 360 Systems keyboard sound library implemented. Looped sound sources would of course require looped samples. It also contains in ROM a standard set of the typical soundset in most high- end workstations today like the Triton, Motif, Kurzweil or equivalents, and provisions for ROM upgrades. The instrument would have preset "modes" recreating the setups of the Mark II (middle and top F# keys would be silenced, yielding "two" keyboards of the correct range) the M300 (non-used keys silenced) M400 (likewise unused keys silenced) and the same type of emulation of various Chamberlin models and the other vintage playback units mentioned above. There would be presets that duplicated the function of a fully-loaded Mark II, and there would also be user-programmable slots permitting the user to set up their own "Mellotron" from the various sound sets available. In additon to all of that, make the instrument a real workstation with 32-track sequencing, a large modern ROM soundset and complete "normal" functionality that permitted the user the customary abilities to control their own splits and layers, tweak sounds to their heart's content, and mix and match both the "Mellotron" samples and the modern samples in a more conventional workstation style. Amp simulations, built-in effects, and all of the other modern workstation enhancements round out the package. Expensive? Probably. Worth it? Who knows.