Mellotronists

I don't know, maybe it's just that I'm more of a pragmatist than a purist, 
but I find this to be a long-overdue item, and I only wish that one or both 
of our Mellotron heritage and development groups had created it instead of a 
third party. Long-time members of the group may recall a long post I wrote 
some time ago in which I described a fantasy machine very much like what 
these folks have produced. I know a lot of you actually do it, but I dread 
the thought of taking my irreplaceable treasure on stages in the crappy 
venues that most working bands play, yet still wish I could have a closer 
reproduction of "that sound" than my own creations as well as a more 
authentic physical environment and this is a great effort towards that.  I 
think it will ultimately only help the sales of real Mellotrons and will be 
yet another part of this great lineage.  I wish them the best, and hope to 
acquire one myself.  After, of course, my Mark II, or Mark IIx, or Riviera, 
or whatever other monster tape-replay device I manage to ensnare first...

> just seen this horror ..
>
> http://www.manikin-electronic.com/en/start_left.html

On Mon, 30 May 2005, jonesalley wrote:

> I don't know, maybe it's just that I'm more of a pragmatist than a purist,
> but I find this to be a long-overdue item, and I only wish that one or both
> of our Mellotron heritage and development groups had created it instead of a
> third party. Long-time members of the group may recall a long post I wrote
> some time ago in which I described a fantasy machine very much like what
> these folks have produced. I know a lot of you actually do it, but I dread
> the thought of taking my irreplaceable treasure on stages in the crappy
> venues that most working bands play, yet still wish I could have a closer
> reproduction of "that sound" than my own creations as well as a more
> authentic physical environment and this is a great effort towards that.  I
> think it will ultimately only help the sales of real Mellotrons and will be
> yet another part of this great lineage.  I wish them the best, and hope to
> acquire one myself.  After, of course, my Mark II, or Mark IIx, or Riviera,
> or whatever other monster tape-replay device I manage to ensnare first...


<sigh>
i suppose we should let the thing's sound be the criteria on whether
it's a POS or not. let it survive [or not] on the virtue [or lack
thereof] of it's sound and usefulness.

it will be quite interesting to see what the final product sounds
like, where they will be getting the sounds, and, quite importantly,
what it will cost.

it looks like an ambitious project - one that could go badly or one
that could go quite well. it's on them, obviously, to choose.
</sigh>

anybody have any of their other gear?
i wonder how their step-sequencer compares to the doepfer unit?

...jeff

> > just seen this horror ..
> >
> > http://www.manikin-electronic.com/en/start_left.html
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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Doesn't the Memotron already exist in the form of keyboards that support a 
nice chunk of sampling RAM or can import Mellotron samples such as the 
CD-ROM that Dave Kean created?

The M400-like format of the Memotron is interesting, but wasn't that 
handled somewhat by the guy who made fake M400s w/ the MIDI keyboard 
controller and sold them on EBay not long ago?  Buy that, jam a sampler in 
it, and you're done.

Or a Kurzweil 2600 plus the Kean CD-ROM.  Or #805 being sampled into the 
sampler that was included with Cakewalk Project 5.

I guess my question is what the Memotron will give us that we don't already 
have in some form.  It seems like packaging to me.  But sometimes that's 
all a product is---repackaging of existing ideas.

...kl...
M400 #805 - packaged in chip board
M400 #1037 - former package for mouse pellets