If you've ever watched a movie from the 60's-- you've heard this device. Amazing for it's time.
If you've ever watched a movie from the 60's-- you've heard this device. Amazing for it's time.
Useful when it didn’t become the center of music. The real musical advances were when Eric Clapton cranked his Les Paul and Marshall combo to 11 and overdrove the vacuum tubes in his amp and inside the mixing board, and when Dave Davies cut his speaker cone with a razor blade on ‘You Really Got Me’.
It was used quite a bit by the Moody Blues.
I believe Elton John used it on some of his earliest albums, too.
Not to mention Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album...
Great piece of music history.
We had a Baldwin Fun Machine. The primary set of keys could be set to play different instruments, like Piano, Guitar and others, while another set of keys could be set to play different kind of rhythm. Years ago, when my nephews children were younger, I gave to them thinking one of them my learn to play it. They still have it, but it’s just furniture.
Is that similar to the “moog synthesizer”?
Fascinating. The headline made me think of a early synthesizer precursor that was about twenty-five years ahead of this instrument however, the Theremin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_sg59bD3jY
I’m fortunate to have IK Multimedia’s SampleTron in my studio.
Next up! The Glokenspiel!
Anyone who enjoys quirky keyboards will love the Brooklyn Organ Synth Orchestra (yes, there’s a Mellotron):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeujZtBvMFY
I can remember when Disney’s “Main Street Electrical Parade” in the early 70’s. Multiple Full synthesizers to include a voice capacity, that were triggered to the speakers on the buildings from floats and people in costume as they approached. Way ahead of its time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PspoegnDbY
rwood
Also, here’s a young lady who not only understands the Mellotron, but knows how they work, and has taken them apart and restored them. She explains how:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByD8gH7kYxs
Interesting
10cc made their own mellotron using their own vocals to create “I’m Not in Love”.
“big boys don’t cry” was the studio’s receptionist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oxe4mlsQos
Much more famous than it’s unknown sibling, the Aggrotron.
Here's a good video that talks about how the thing works:
As usual I’m a little late to the party so I’ll just throw a whole bunch of comments to a bunch of different replies in one post.
To goldendelicious, thanks for sharing.
Just to pick nits, the Mellotron being billed as “(1965- The first “Synthesizer”) is just a little off. For a very interesting piece of synth history I would suggest that honor belongs to the Telharmonium, the first of which was built in 1897! Not only was it a true subtractive synth but there is a fairly extensive written record of it’s history.
At 400 tons! and using 670 kilowatts! it wasn’t exactly portable.
There followed a whole host of devices over the next 30 years including the ever popular Thereman, first patented in 1928, along with several other electronic devices with another major first coming in the form of the Hammond Novachord, a fully electronic polyphonic synthesizer weighing close to 500 pounds and using over 160 vacuum tubes. It sold for $1900 which in today’s money would be roughly between $30,000 and $100,000 depending which value calculation is used. Needless to say, they did not sell very well at that price and WWII ended Hammond’s venture into synthesizers. There is a fully restored Novchord on EBay right now for $96,000.
The first optically based synth started development in Russia in 1937, Daphne Oram started building her optical synth in 1957 and Bob Moog and Don Buchla, among others were building synth hardware in the early 1960’s.
If you want to go way way back there is a Burmese Spinning Gong called the Keezee, though it has other names such as “zeetsee” though I guessing at the spelling. Depending on how hard and where you strike it it creates resonant frequencies coming off various points on the surface, when you spin it you add some really neat phasing effects and get a very spacey sound. I’m guessing this oscillator design could be several hundred years old.
Anybody her interested in playing with these machines can find a whole host of synths running the gamut from totally free to reasonably priced copies usually costing no more than a few hundred dollars that sound as good as original machines costing several tens of thousands of dollars when they first came out. There’s probably a dozen of software Mellotrons and at least a couple dozen different versions of Moogs. In addition, the iPad provides a wonderful ecosystem for electronic musical instruments and the prices they sell at are ridiculously cheap.
I’ve seen Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, Peter Gabriel’s Genesis, Rick Wakeman among others and all were memorable concerts but I had seats at Public Hall for ELP four rows in-front of the main stage p.a. Dual stacks of quad horns for the subwoofers - they had to be something in the neighborhood of twelve feet tall and six feet wide. When Keith lit up his Moog IIIc it resonated my entire body. The closest thing I can compare it to was when I wrasseled a bear and got thrown across the ring by a forearm across my chest. Victor (the bear) had such padding that the effect was like being picked up off my feet by a gentle zephyr and landing 8 feet away. Fortunately there were no brown notes in either case.
Finally, just a note about the sad passing of Ray Thomas. R.I.P. he will be missed. I still listen to their music and it’s way better than most of what passes for commodity music these days. Anybody have any suggestions for any bands who have the same spirit in their music today?
Post finally. I have belonged to a few music related ping lists here on FreeRepublic in the past. Sadly, they all seem to have come and gone. I’m thinking about starting one in the not so near future. Anybody interested? Any comments?