The Mellotron Group

So you want a perfectly imperfect Mellotron... is that right? 
 
 
In a message dated 7/26/2010 1:31:12 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
pocotron@yahoo.com writes:

 
 
 
Very true, Frank.  Good motor controllers make it  easy.  Getting to that 
perfection is like an audiophile trying to  adjust a high-end turntable for 
perfect reproduction.  It takes  work, both in time and money.
  I want my pinch rollers to work smoothly, which they  do.  I want to hold 
down 2 handfuls of notes without pitch  lowering, and it does.  But, I also 
want the imperfect  sound of a Mellotron.
   Each machine is unique in the way it plays or  sounds.  But, I think the 
anomalies and imperfections make the tron  what it is.  I also claim that 
these are the same qualities,  however subtle, that are lost in samples.
 
 -Stubbornly, Bruce D.


--- On Sun, 7/25/10, lsf5275@aol.Sun, 7/25/10, <lsf5275@aol.lsf> wrote:



From:  lsf5275@aol.From<lsf5275@aol.lsf>
Subject: Re:  [newmellotrongroup] Re: New Digital Mellotron
To:  newmellotrongroup@To:  To:
Date: Sunday, July 25,  2010, 9:58 PM


 
 
I would debate that point, Bruce. With a decent motor and proper  belt 
tension as well as having an SMS-2, SMS-3 or SMS-5 and a  properly set up 
keyboard, there will be no noticeable change in pitch.  Of course if your pinch 
rollers are like hockey pucks and you have to  crank them and the pressure 
pads down to any degree to get it to play,  that might be true. When I get my 
Trons set up and properly adjusted,  I can strobe the flywheel and watch as I 
play and everything is rock  steady, even with many keys depressed 
simultaneously. Now obviously  most Trons are not set up and adjusted as well as 
they can/should be  or the motors have never been cleaned, rebuilt or replaced.
 
Frank
 
 
In a message dated 7/25/2010 7:35:22 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
pocotron@yahoo. com writes:

This extends to the slowing effect that depressing a key has  on the 
capstan.  Good motor controllers smooth this out, but it  is still subtly there, 
and can affect other notes already  playing.