The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin, which was the world’s first sample-playback keyboard. The heart of the instrument is a bank of magnetic audio tapes, which have approximately eight seconds of playing time each. Playback heads underneath each key enable the playing of pre-recorded sounds.
The Mellotron uses a strip of magnetic tape, a pinch roller, tape head, pressure pad, and a rewind mechanism for each note on the keyboard.
Before the day of electronic “samplers” which are devices capable of capturing and storing (usually digitally, using computer memory rather than tapes) sounds, the Mellotron was really the only way that a keyboard instrument could produce the real sounds of violins, cellos, flutes, choirs, horns, etc.
To emulate the sound of the Mellotron flutes I used the chain below:
I started with a Soul Preacher compressor to even out the attack of the guitar.
Next in line is the POG2.
I used only the dry, non pitch shifted signal, filtered to create more of a flute-like wave form.
The attack control removed the guitar’s attack, giving the sound more “breath.“
The Poly Chorus was set for a vibrato effect.
The Mellotron “Strings with Brass and Bass Accordion” sound used the effect chain below:
This sound started with a Soul Preacher compressor to increase the sustain of the guitar.
This was run into a POG2 using the -1 octave for the bass accordion and +1 and +2 octaves for the brass and strings.
The dry signal was set to 50%. Detune was set high.
To fatten the sound I used the Poly Chorus in the chorus mode with a high feedback setting.
From there the signal was feed into a volume pedal to swell the chords in.
For ambiance I used a pair of stereo Memory Man pedals.
The first pedal is optional. It was used to create a wider stereo signal using a Mod-delay setting. Its not a necessity.
The second Memory Man was set for a long repeating delay with a reverberant decay.
All sounds were recorded direct with out a guitar amplifier.
If using an amp, set it for a very clean sound using its tone control to shape the sound.
Thanks for listening,
Bill Ruppert
