Mellotron Sounds & Such

[voodoo]

Hi,

I made some calculations:

* A wave sample 44 KHz 16 bit mono needs 88.2 KB per second
* A Mellotron tape had max length of 8 seconds, a full sample would have 705.6 KB
* Nord uses compression factor around 2, resulting a full sample size of 352.8 KB per key

Now have a look at the sample sizes. Take "Yes 2violins UL_Mellotron_M400.nsmp" from "Artist sounds unlooped".

* This sample has size of 13928 kb
* Divided by 352.8 kb we we get 39.47 fully sampled keys (depending on actual compression factor)
* The Mellotron has a keyboard with 3 octaves and 37 keys.

So it seems that the large unlooped samples are fully keyboard mapped, indeed. For the smaller samples (starting from 6400 KB in this catagory), perhaps they are shorter than 8 seconds, or compression was more effective.

So I change my mind and think, that even the smaller samples can be fully chromatic, when they are shorter than 8 seconds or strongly looped.

Uli

[kroffe]

Yes, the Melotron sounds for Nord Library are all sampled note for note from the original instruments and original tapes.

[Charlatan]

Yes, the Melotron sounds for Nord Library are all sampled note for note from the original instruments and original tapes.

Thanks for that confirmation. If that's the case, what gives for people saying the M4000D sounds way better than the Nord samples played through a Nord? Is the circuitry really that much of an improvement?

[maxpiano]

Yes, the Melotron sounds for Nord Library are all sampled note for note from the original instruments and original tapes.

Thanks for that confirmation. If that's the case, what gives for people saying the M4000D sounds way better than the Nord samples played through a Nord? Is the circuitry really that much of an improvement?

Wow flutter (and other artifacts) simulation for example? As I wrote before, those aspects of the original Mellotron are very peculiar and you cannot reproduce them with just a Sample, however faithful to the original tape it can be; you need specific modeling of those "effects".

(But in any case: what doest it exactly mean "sounds way better"? Closer to the original in an AB comparison using a wave analyzer or a subjective judgement?)

[Charlatan]

Yes, the Melotron sounds for Nord Library are all sampled note for note from the original instruments and original tapes.

Thanks for that confirmation. If that's the case, what gives for people saying the M4000D sounds way better than the Nord samples played through a Nord? Is the circuitry really that much of an improvement?

Wow flutter (and other artifacts) simulation for example? As I wrote before, those aspects of the original Mellotron are very peculiar and you cannot reproduce them with just a Sample, however faithful to the original tape it can be; you need specific modeling of those "effects".

(But in any case: what doest it exactly mean "sounds way better"? Closer to the original in an AB comparison using a wave analyzer or a subjective judgement?)

From what I can tell, it's pretty subjective. Just that people have stated that it generally sounds better, not necessarily more *real*. One has said it records better than the Nord.

[kroffe]

From my own experience with Mellotron 4000D, what really shines through is the feel of the keyboard and emulated aftertouch where the tape playback heads pressing against the reels are emulated. Not sure if the Markus Resch Mellotron also emulates the time each keys mechanics takes to rewind each tape as this also affects long notes followed by rapid playing on the same key - this is one of the reasons why there's special playing techniques for Mellotrons.

[Charlatan]

I guess for me it won't be about the keyboard at all, to be honest, though. I'd be getting the rack unit - I'm only looking to record with this, something strictly utilitarian. I guess the question still is, should I get the M4000D for the sake of recording quality or will the Nord Electro be good enough to record with?

[dhbp-nord]

The question is, will anyone notice or care about the difference, if there is one?

DH

[Mr_-G-]

If you can tell the difference strictly in a blind test, then you should buy a mellotron.

[Charlatan]

If you can tell the difference strictly in a blind test, then you should buy a mellotron.

Completely agree, but I cannot test this, unfortunately, unless I bought both.