EMU ’Vintage Keys’

I seem to remember this unit coming out in the late 80s early 90s, and marketed as one of the best ways of getting decent Mellotron/Rhodes/Hammond sounds from a good midi keyboard.

These are now popping up on E-Bay for OK prices, and I'm interested in maybe adding one to my small setup.

I don't need the Hammond sample obviously, but has anyone ever used one of these modules, in particular the Mellotron samples?

Alternatively, does anyone know of another (reasonably priced) module with good Mellotron?

Cheers, guys

Edited by Jim Garten

Thanks, Si -

I'd prefer a rack mount if poss (generally because I'm a computer buffoon ); you say the EMU sounded synthetic in the higher registers - as I remember, the original Mellotron only had a 3 octave range, so I guess if you go beyond those on a modern keyboard, it would sound wrong.

Within the original 3 octave range, though... good?

I liked the Vintage Keys unit a lot...I used the add-on board for the Proteus, which had the same sound set, and many of the sounds were as perfect as a sampler could get them. I remember using the organ and electric piano sounds a lot more than the Mellotrons, though. There's a Wurlitzer on there that can't be beat!

You just have to remember that with the Vintage Keys the samples on it are 16 bit and not of the highest quality compared to some modern stuff. On some stuff they do sound a bit 'off' - l;ike the Taurus pedals for excample.

I'd still go for soft-synth M-Tron for just shy of 50 quid sterling, if you have a computer. You can run it as a VST or a standalone. It's really excellent. For Rhodes on computer, I'd be looking at Applied Acoustic Systems' Lounge Lizard which models the sounds of a rhodes beautifully or at Native Instruments' Elektrik Piano, which is a sample based rompler with the company's Intakt sampler as its front end. It's outstanding and give you two rhodes, a wurly ep200 and a hohner clavinet.  

But as an all-rounder the vintage keys is a good buy. You could also try picking up a Roland JV1010 with the 'keys of the 60s and 70s' card - has some lovely rhodes sounds and the mellotron strings aint too shabby either. These units are about five years old now and have been well superseded by Roland's XV series, but the JVs have some nice sounds. Again I think the samples are 16 bit.

E-mu did do an update of the vintage keys unit with better sample quality a year or so ago and I don't think it was a massive hit - you might find one discounted at a music store somewhere or keep and eye on Ebay.