M-TRON Software Synthesizer
Overview
The M-Tron(TM) is modelled on the legendary British instrument, the Mellotron®. This instrument was manufactured in various guises between 1963 and 1986 and was used by artists including The Beatles, The Moody Blues' Mike Pinder, Black Sabbath, Rick Wakeman and Genesis' Tony Banks. The instrument faded into semi-obscurity during the late 80's and early 90's but due to its ability to impart instant nostalgia, more recently it's been used by Oasis, Radiohead and countless others. The principle of the Mellotron was simple - Utilising a 35 note keyboard, each key plays it's own piece of tape which contains recordings of real players and, arguably, it was the world's first sampler. The recordings varied from single notes (as in the Flutes sound used on 'Strawberry Fields Forever') or entire musical motifs (as in The Beatles 'Bungalow Bill'). Each sound played for a maximum of eight seconds before the tape returned to the begining. This forced the player to adopt a new and different technique and allowed the music to truly breathe. However, while the sound was magnificent, because of the huge array of moving parts the instrument's reliability was questionable and the price was expensive. Purchasing an original M400 now would cost several thousand dollars and would probably only come with the default three sounds, Cello, Flutes and Violins. The M-Tron, on the other hand, costs a fraction of this price and now comes with a minimum of 28 sounds that don't require the instrument to be dismantled in order to hear them. The M-Tron captures all of the character of the original instrument by sampling every note of every key and adhering to the eight second limit of each note. This way, not only do the resultant sounds ebb and flow, all the inherent and nostalgic magic of each sound is closely observed - minor imperfections and all. |