The Mellotron In Action [video] | Hacker News Reader

The Mellotron In Action [video]

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Huh. I never knew that they weren't tape loops, but tape segments. You can see the mechanism here at about 4:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=ByD8gH7kYxs

Another curious instrument is the Vako Orchestron, the one used by kraftwerk in trans europe express [1], this instrument uses optical disks as source of sound [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhkIOw4TyXE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestron https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCybRH8gIBI

Also check out this old mellotron advertisement from the 60s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdkixaxjZCM

For those around the San Francisco area, you might want to check out the Emeryville Vintage Synthesizer Museum:

https://www.kqed.org/arts/11260092/at-emeryvilles-vintage-sy...

http://vintagesynthmuseum.com/VSM_Home.html

https://www.facebook.com/vintagesynthmuseum

(I don't see a Mellotron listed, but the others look fun.)

Just to add that the mMellotron inspired the innovative looping ‘choir’ effect on 10cc’s I’m Not in Love.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/feb/26/10cc-how-we-ma...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Not_in_Love

10 CC (or rather, Godley and Creme) was super innovative.

Check this out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gizmo

Apparently these require a substantial amount of maintenance, so it's remarkable what good condition this one is in.

Genesis' mellotron would break down with enough regularity that they came up with a routine to perform while the technicians fixed it. I forget the specifics, but it involved a story from Gabriel and a one handed drum solo from Collins. You can hear it on some bootleg recordings from the 70s.

Here, let me destroy some of my precious karma.

I am so glad this stuff is in the past. I love cold, clean, infinite-track digital music making. I remember tape machines only too well. I remember tape slipping and breaking, having to splice tape, detesting tape hiss and how it multiplied every track. I remember old tape flaking and falling apart, and having to clean recording heads, and accidentally jostling spindles and ruining takes.

Some wonderful music was done on the Mellotron, notably the Beatles, Genesis, and Bowie. I love samplers, I delight in choosing loops, play extensively with soft synths, and would be very happy if the world never saw another Mellotron again. Just knowing they're around gives me the jitters ;)

The more advanced our tools become the more charming the faults and limitations of yesterday’s technology appear.

The Mellotron is a gorgeous instrument and the simplicity of it is something very special, genius for its time. And I would personally kill to own one.

But we’re lucky to not be stuck with tape and hiss and mechanical failures as routine occurrences

Creativity is all about constraints. The more the constraints the more the real art wins out.

One modern player who does a great job using this instrument is John Medeski. I strongly recommend checking out his work with Club D’Elf.

Love Medeski. Have not heard Club D'Elf. Really dig the Martin/Medeski/Wood trio though. Also, Scofield's work with that trio is amazing.

Nearly every live show from club d’elf is on the live music archive at archive.org.

They are a mix of jam band and Moroccan trance. Ever changing line up. Only the bass player/bandleader stays the same. I’ve seen medeski with them 3-4 times. But nearly all music guests are awesome in that configuration.

Ps medeski’s melotron technique is really interesting. He physically touches the tapes to shift pitch.

Thank you, I'm watching one right now and it's beautiful. It has a very Zawinul Syndicate feel to it, although Medeski's playing is a lot more intense. Thanks for sharing.

I particularly like the lineups with brahim fribgane playing oud. Those sets are very gnawa influenced.

Saw MMW a long while back and now I'm wondering if the thing I thought was a wurlitzer was maybe a mellotron -- standup piano with a big rotating cylinder on the top?

The rotating cylinder may have been a Leslie speaker which were pretty commonly paired w/ Wurlitzers, Hammonds, Farfisas, etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_speaker

I’ve seen MMW a number of times. John usually plays an organ with Leslie speaker. He’ll sometimes sit the mellotron on top of the organ. I’ve also seen him put a clavanet on top. Often he’ll have a piano of some sort next to him too, either acoustic or electric like a Rhodes. I’ve also seen him play with a tack head upright piano. That was a pretty cool sound.

Love MMW! I think End of the World Party really got me into it

Some great examples of the Mellotron being used in music today:

Black Moth Super Rainbow - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1VAw5aaYW4

Steven Wilson - Luminol - https://youtu.be/wYfQ1I-VV7M?t=499

That Black Moth Super Rainbow track is utterly bloody awesome.

And hey who can't resist progging out with Steven Wilson (...digs out his Porcupine albums).

That Mellotron flute sound is so haunting. Kinda reminds me of early 1970's BBC children's programming where the cast could be cute wee knitted mice with their story told by a friendly, mellow toned BBC actor.

Clangers [0]. Really unique cartoon, slowpaced and fun. The knitted characters communicate with whistles, and interpreted by a narrator. They recently had a 'reboot' of the series, narrated by William Shatner of the StarTrek ... and Priceline fame.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clangers

I first heard of the Mellotron when trying to track down some unique-sounding music I first heard in a pocket83 YouTube video.[1] Found out a Mellotron was used after googling a bit and seeing their albums show up on a Mellotron review site.[2]

After emailing the band via the contact email on their website multiple times with no response, I still have yet to find a way to buy the music. Regardless, it's an interesting sound!

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxde5KX3zjA

[2]: https://www.planetmellotron.com/revs11.htm#sklenik

If you want to build one, string together a bunch of tape players: https://youtu.be/Gx-TE_aapDQ

I think Peter Christopherson of Throbbing Gristle/Coil fame built something similar back in the day.

Correct. Mike Walters' page also mentions this under the "Update 10-18-05" section: http://www.mysterycircuits.com/melloman/olmelloman.html

The use of the mellotron by Genesis (Tony Banks) is notably remarkable in their "Selling England By the Pound" and "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" albums. Listen for example to the choirs in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxTS_NZOIlg and the strings in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD5engyVXe0

https://www.planetmellotron.com/revgenesis.htm

Another notable example of is the introduction to The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtUH9z_Oey8

Mellotron for use as strings is sort of a staple for Beatles inspired artists, see many tracks by Elliott Smith on XO and Figure 8 as an example. Also see Radiohead OK Computer as it is on many tracks.

All the non-linearities with the tape playback gives them a really unusual quality.

Paul McCartney showed the Mellotron and its original presets at a live concert at Abbey Road Studios more than a decade ago: https://youtu.be/TUcfB5Whp4I

Amusing.

McCartney demoing: https://youtu.be/TUcfB5Whp4I?t=2m23s

I'd love to own one someday. I've been playing a of UVI/Arturia modelling/sampled stuff and there are fairly decent Mellotron instruments in there.

Just wanted to mention G-Force M-Tron as well. They've added a number of libraries uncovered from Chamberlin and Streetly Electronics tapes.

https://www.gforcesoftware.com/products/m-tron-pro

Because of the imperfections of mechanical tape playback, every time you play a note on a Mellotron it sounds a little different. So sampling doesn't capture the full effect.

That's funny, my brother actually restores these, as well as Rhodes, Wurlitzer, and some of the other vintage electric keyboards. People were very creative about making electric instruments before digital.

Plug: https://www.facebook.com/ElectricPianoCo/

Some people say Mellotron's 1963 product was a complete rip-off from Harry Chamberlin and his instrument (the Chamberlin) created in 1949. The instruments are identical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDbNeW9vpBg

Could you link an non-sexualised clickbait alternative? :\

Also worth checking out is the crudman http://www.crudlabs.org

Similar to the mellotron it is a synth voiced by tape playback, but implemented through clever recycling of old voice recorder walkmans.

I believe that Add N to (X) used one in the intro to Revenge of the Black Regent

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZO1mLmgDW4A

I prefer this classic demo from 1965: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdkixaxjZCM

I was expecting to see this channel's previous upload[0] instead. This other video shows off what happens inside the mellotron when keys are pressed. It's pretty neat!

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsEso9JagdQ

Thanks - we changed the url to that from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N07-YAKtRAw, since this one goes into the internals.

I found this slightly older video a bit better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByD8gH7kYxs

That one is much better! Thanks for recommending it.

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