What's your favorite Mellotron moments in Prog?

[Digital_Man]

I'd like to see some examples of a choir mellotron. I'm a big fan of that in particular even though it's not as common.

[Dave (in MA)]

I'd like to see some examples of a choir mellotron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqRav8j3UZI&t=114

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMNO3gjOVHM&t=273

[Roth-Handle Studios]

This is from my studio.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=f9JUGJlz2A8

// Mattias

[Progbear]

Jones was f**king amazing, considering it was 1967, he had no training, and he was always bombed out of his mind. Would love to know what he could have done with it had he lived, even to say, 1974.

If you listen to his piano playing on the same track, you can tell he’s playing it like a piano. Because there was no one around telling him he couldn’t. I love it when keyboardists play like that, rough and “clicky,” rather than “babying” the Mellotron. It’s part of the reason I love SFF’s Symphonic Pictures so much. I noticed that Jamie Kaleth of Jonesy tended to play that way a lot, too, especially on No Alternative (I think an electric piano was his only other instrument at the time).

In a similar vein, here; a rare example of the Mark II’s electric guitar sound (starting at 1:13):



-------------
MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")

“It doesn't get any more...like this. Than this.” --Anders Lundquist

N.P.:“The Eyes of the World”-Flower Kings/Stardust We Are

[walt]

Egg-Boilk

[JIF]

What about the 'Tron brass on New World by The Strawbs?

[trurl]

What about the 'Tron bass on New World by The Strawbs?

I'm guessing that's a typo and you mean brass... That is a great one!

[JIF]

I'm guessing that's a typo and you mean brass... That is a great one!

Yes. I shall fix that now. I was listening to Grave New World on headphones last.

[Modry Effekt]

Tangerine dream -
Mysterious Semblance at the Strand of Nightmares

[JIF]

The ending of this song features both strings and choir 'Tron.

[Minkybaba]

The line between Real Mellotron and Faux-Mellotron has been greatly narrowed by this lil' puppy:

http://www.mellotron.com/digital-mellotron.html

The M4000D digital Mellotron has been very well received by the keyboard community. It has been used onstage and in the studio by many well-known artists, musicians and producers, to name a few:
FooFighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Wilco, Incubus, Queens of the Stone Age, Eels, Jackson Browne, Bruno Mars, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Sean Lennon, Brendan Benson, Air, Kooks, Train, Elbow, Michael Beinhorn, Bob Rock, Raphael Saadiq, Noel Gallagher, Gotye, etc.

Since its presentation in 2010 the digital Mellotron has been very popular at the trade shows Namm and Frankfurt Musikmesse, being selected as Mix Certified Hit at the 2010 NAMM show. It has been developed by us here at Mellotron. It is solely our own product and has features rarely seen in today's keyboards.

Some specifications:
It is a 24 bit digital uncompressed audio playback unit with ca 100 Mellotron and Chamberlin sounds built in. Extra cartridges will be available with 100 sounds each. It has a custom built full Mellotron style wood keyboard with depth sensitivity and polyphonic aftertouch out via MIDI. The front panel user inteface has 2 TFT-displays of high quality and are capable of showing pictures of the actual instruments. The dimensions of the cabinet are 34"x19.5"5.25" (86x50x13.5cm) (WxDxH).

Many thanks to my customers for all the kind words and feedback!!

Here is some more info about the M4000D:
Mellotron style wooden keyboard with depth sensitivity and polyphonic aftertouch via MIDI out.
100 original Mellotron and Chamberlin lead sounds included, with IMMEDIATE access.
The sounds are taken from the original first-generation tape library giving the same sound quality as the original Mellotrons made in the 60s and 70s.
It has our very advanced and in-house developed streaming technology for uncompressed 24 bit audio reproduction.
The software and audio engine has taken 3 years to develop, but our concept of the digital Mellotron has been in development since the mid 90s. We bought parts of the original inventory from a company called 'Mellotron Digital'.
Furniture quality cabinet with hinged lid.
Expansion slot gives you 100 extra sounds on special compact flash cards, all from the original archives. There will be ca 8 expansion cards released with a large variety of sounds.
Two high-quality TFT displays and a backlit laser cut front panel.
Our very advanced and in-house developed streaming technology for uncompressed 24 bit audio reproduction.
Three gold plated balanced XLR outputs, all other connectors are gold plated for maximum reliablilty.
Dimensions: 859x501x135 mm, weight 17.5 kg.

Markus recently made me one of these (they're one-offs, and you have to be nice ALA the "Soup Guy" on "Seinfeld"), and it is siiiiiiiiick! 100 of the BEST Mellotron and Chamberlin samples, infinitely variable in terms of attack, etc. FROM THE MASTER TAPES - correct, from the freakin' master tapes of both Mellotron and Chamberlin. Can I dwiddle the belt? No - I'll leave that to the dwiddlers, and just enjoy the 24-bit samples of the OG tapes, with wooden keys reacting exactly like an analog Mellotron (he makes those too, better than anyone!)beautyandthebeast.jpg

[mogrooves]

RE: the M4000D: what does it retail for?

[Minkybaba]

Mine was $3500 (not including case) shipped from Sweden

[philsunset]

Mine was $3500 (not including case) shipped from Sweden

That's a decent price. I'm VERY tempted to buy one. I bought a Chamberlin M-1 in 1974 (with a couple of changes on the masters) for $3,330.

[Minkybaba]

I'm telling ya', Phil - you will LOVE this keyboard!!!!

[mogrooves]

Who owns "Mellotron"? I recall some American outfit in California bought the company, moved to Florida, and ultimately to Canada...(?)

[Digital_Man]

If I ever have a spare 5,000 dollars lying around, trust me, a mellotron would be near the top of the list of things I would buy.

[GuitarGeek]

One of my favorite Mellotron choir bits is at the beginning of Radio Massacre International's Diabolica album.

I think there's also a great choir bit at the start of side one of Tangerine Dream's Atem.

Of course, there's Entangled (already mentioned, I know) and The Cinema Show from Genesis, as well as the Second's Out version of Afterglow.

That's actually my favorite Mellotron sound that I've heard, that's probably the one I would want to use if I was playing that sort of TD/RMI/Klaus Schulze kind of thing.

[GuitarGeek]

Oh, and on a side note, it's not actually a Mellotron, it's apparently a custom built keyboard referred to in liner notes as the "choir organ", but there's a few bits on the Amon Düül II that I think are pretty happening. Deutsch Nepal is the one that I really remember it on.