Overview
The M-Tron 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 - take a 36 note keyboard and have a piece of tape for each note containing real recordings of real players and in that way it was arguably the World's first sampler. These 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 lasted a maximum of eight seconds which forced the player to adopt a 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 over 2Gb of 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.
Awards
Since its release the M-Tron has won numerous awards including Future Music Platinum Award, Computer Music Smart Buy Award and Mac Format Must-Have Award and is now available as a boxed product from M-Audio or GForce.
Features:
* Over 2GB of sounds (over 100 tapebanks) recorded from real Mellotron, Birotron, Novatron & Chamberlin instruments including strings, choirs, flutes, accordions, mandolins, oboes, brass, vibes, rhythms and many more ultra-rare sounds.
* Volume, tone, and pitch controls
* Attack and release envelope
Full Tape bank list
15 Choir, Accordion Chords, Accordion Bass + Violins & Brass, ARP Country, ARP Fuzz, ARP Trombone, Augmented 8 Choir, Bass Accordion, Bassoon, Bassoon & Flute, Birotron Choir, Birotron Organ, Birotron Strings, Birotron Woodwind, Boys Choir, Brass 1, Brass 2, Brass B Revised, Cello, Cello & Strings, Chamberlin Harp 1, Chamberlin Harp 2, Chamberlin Voice, Choir 1, Choir 2, Choir 3, Choir Chords, Church Organ & Choir, Clarinet, Classical Choir, Combined Brass, Double Bass, EFX 2, English Accordion, Flutes, French Horn, Genesis Split, Guitar, Halfspeed Tron, Hammond C3 Slow Leslie, M300 Solo Violins, M300 Strings 1, M300 Violins, Mandolins, Mixed Brass, Megatron, Megatron Organ, Megatron Strings, Male Female Choir, Mixed Choir, MkII Flute, MkII Church Organ, MkII Guitar, MkII Piano, MkII Tenor Sax, MkII Trombone, MkII Violins, MkII Organ No2, MkII Vintage Violins, MkII Violin Orchestra, Moog Bass + Bells, Muted Brass, Oboes, Orchestra, Orchestra & Moog, Pipe Organ, Rhythm 1, Rhythm 2, Rhythm 3, Rhythm 4, Rhythm 5, Rhythm 6, Rhythm 7, Roxy EFX, Sad Strings, Saxophone, Second Flute, Solo Viola, Sound FX 1, Split Choir, St Peters Choir Ah, St Peters Choir Oo, Strings 1, Strings 2, Strings 3, Strings & Choir, String Section, Synth Brass, Synth Trumpet, Tripled 8 Choir, Trombones & Trumpets, Vibes, Viola & Cello, Violins 1, VP330 Choir, VP330 Ensemble, VP330 Males, VP Rhythm 1, VP Rhythm 2, VP Swell, Wine Glass, Woodwind, Yes Strings.
Suggested Listening
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever (Flutes)
Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven (Flutes)
The Moody Blues - Nights In White Satin (Violins)
Genesis - Dance on a Volcano
Los Endos & Entangled (Choirs) & Watcher Of the Skies (Brass and Bass Accordion Mix)
Yes - Heart of the Sunrise & And You And I (Strings)
Radiohead - Exit Music (Choirs)
Putte - Jubel Buben (Flutes, Harp Glissandos & Cello)
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King & Starless (Three Violins)
Selected Quotes
Paul White - Sound On Sound Magazine : "If you're into retro sounds the M-Tron is a must"
Mac Format : "Classic Mellotron sounds from the sixties and seventies without the price, bulk or technical problems."
Rick Wakeman : "Totally authentic. I use it in the studio and live."
Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) : "I just wrote a new National Anthem for Europe that was presented in Brussels at the weekend and I used M-Tron to create the voices on the main theme - very regal and worked fantastically. Thanks again to you for giving me this great software."
Putte : "The fact that I prefer to listen to organic music instead of electronic music brings me close to the M-Tron. I love its sound and wonderful warmth."
Formats :
Stand-alone or host use-VST 2.0
(PC/MasOS9/MacOSX), AU (MacOSX)
System Requirements :
Windows
Intel Pentium II 300MHz with 96MB RAM
Windows 98, 98SE, Me, 2000, and XP
VST 2.0 or RTAS compatible host application for plug-in operation
Macintosh
PowerMac G3 with 128MB RAM
OS X
VST 2.0, RTAS, or Audio Unit compatible host application for plug-in operation