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M-Tron – a brief history
The M-Tron is a virtual emulation of one of the most inspirational and unique instruments ever produced, the Mellotron
®
. This
instrument was used on countless records in the heady days of the 1960’s and 1970’s from Yes’ ‘Heart Of The Sunrise’ to Led
Zepplin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and The Moody Blues’ ‘Nights in White Satin’.
The principal behind the instrument was that each key triggered a corresponding piece of audio tape which then played for a
maximum of eight seconds before having to be released and rewound. This eight second limit has been retained on the M-Tron
purely because a looped sound is not a true representation of the original instrument. Having to release the keys after eight seconds
caused both the music to breathe and the musicians to adjust their playing technique - all of which added to the majesty of the
instrument.
Further magic was supplied as each tape held recordings of real musicians playing real instruments including strings, flutes, voices,
saxophones etc... There were even entire bands playing full ensembles and motifs. You could also purchase new tapes containing
different sounds, and even have your own sounds recorded on to custom tapes. In theory, there was an infinite amount of sounds
available and the Mellotron
®
was probably the first official sampler.
The dual manual Mark II was released in 1964 and, despite its home entertainment styling, was soon a compulsory instrument for
the innovative bands of the era. One great example is The Beatles use of the evocative flute sound on ‘Strawberry Fields’. It consisted
of two 35-note keyboards from which rhythms and chords could be triggered via the left keyboard while lead sounds could be
played using the right. We’ve included several of these rhythms and chords as M-Tron Tape Banks and these are mapped to the first
17 notes of our 35-note single keyboard. (Occasionally there are 16 or 18 notes)
Aesthetically, the M-Tron is based loosely on the successor to the Mark II, the M400. The M400 was released in 1970 and continued
in production until 1977. This comprised a single 35-note keyboard (stretching from G to F) plus Volume, Tone and Pitch controls.
It also came with three sounds and cost £795.00 in 1976. It enjoyed a relatively long and prosperous life and was used by almost
every significant band during that period. Rick Wakeman is quoted as saying, “The sounds of the instrument were beautiful and
unlike anything else available but the downside was that the instrument was hideously unreliable. On early models the more notes
you attempted to play, the more strain it put on the motor which would then slow down. On some Yes tracks I could start the song
playing in Bb but towards the end I would be playing in F. It was so awful that I ceremoniously burned mine at the end of one tour.
Of course, I’ve missed those sounds but I haven’t missed its unreliability.”
Indeed, the sounds available for the M400 still have a peerless quality and charm today, especially when compared with contemporary
digital instruments. In the 70’s, its sounds were used by everyone from Genesis to King Crimson and over twenty years later we
still find these sounds in use by artists such as U2, Oasis, Putte, Neil Finn and many others in a bid to inject a timeless quality into
their music.
The list of albums containing ‘tron sounds over the last quarter of a century is immense and the instrument’s character continues
to resonate today thanks to the M-Tron’s careful attention to detail, warmth, character and huge library.
Sound Sources
The M-Tron sounds come from a variety of different Mellotron
®
models and also include the following instruments.
Chamberlin
The Chamberlin was actually the US precursor to the UK manufactured Mellotron
®
. Harry Chamberlin, inspired by a tape-based
drum loop-playing instrument he’d invented in the early 1950’s, came up with a keyboard instrument using the same principle
and the Chamberlin was officially born. However, as radical as it was for the time, there were several engineering and reliability
problems with subsequent models that caused the then-salesman, Bill Fransen, to look elsewhere for solutions. Eventually a deal
was struck with the Bradley brothers in the UK which would lead to the Mellotron
®
being conceived in the UK and the Chamberlin
M series in the US.