EMU VINTAGE KEYS

 

I never own EMU Vintage Keys but tried it when this item was available in store.Personnally,I think that the mellotron sounds were thin and unrealistic and I know how a real live mellotron must sound(I own an M400 since 1996).The Moog sounds are the best on this box and the Rhodes sounds are acceptable.For the price,it could be useful for others sounds(Moog,Rhodes) but I'm pretty sure you will be dissapointed with the Mellotron sounds.

 

Like the previous poster,I think you should go with VST plugin like the MTron who sound a lot more real than the Mellotron sounds on the Vintage Keys and you have a lot more sounds than the Vintage Keys(like Chamberlin sounds).The Invision Mike Pinder interactive Mellotron that can be run throught

an Akai sampler is also very good and very accurate.

 

Jim - yes.  You may have to do a bit of tweaking of presets, but for 175 BPS, you can't go wrong! 

 

I understand your logistic problem.So, the EMU Vintage keys is a good buy for you and 175 pounds(sorry,I don't have the pound sign on my keyboard) seem a good price.I don't know the current dollars-pound rate but if it's between $600-700 US then it's a good bargain.It's much more affordable than buying an Akai Sampler, the Mike Pinder interactive Mellotron CD-ROM and a master keyboard(the best combo personnaly and the closest to the real thing).Then, from that point of view and for the price,then you should go for it.

 

In conclusion,If it's one keyboard that I never gonna sell,it's my M400.I am so grateful to have that keyboard in my music room(and a lot of people treat me a" swine" for this).I have it for ten years now and got a very good opportunity when I brought it.I brought it just before the Vintage Keyboards Mania,so I was very lucky, a year or two later I maybe not be able to buy it because of the price was rising so high.My M400 is s/n719 and used to belong to Morse Code,a prog group here in Quebec.It was their mellotron during the 80's with their second keyboard player and only did a big tour in opening of Asia in Canada,so my machine didn't gig a lot.It was mainly use for studio sessions and it appears in the condition of the machine.Plus,I got new tapes recently but I have to do the threating job and put them on the rack but I will have the famous King Crimson brass sound.

 

Nice evening.

 

You guys are funny

Besides letting it free, I have to pay for the transport.

If you come to Montréal tought, it will be a pleasure to show you and even try it.It's maybe sellfish,but I deicide not to rent it anymore.3 years ago,I rented it to the jazz band Medeski,Martin and Wood for the Jazz festival here in Montreal.When they called us for renting the M400,we ask for somebody to lift the machine with me and the guy who are supposed to help me didn't want because he had a back pain.I had to ask the neighbour to help me bringing it down at the truck.After,the driver of the truck(the same who got back pain) passed trought a lot of holes in the street and it result a loose in the pre-amp wires.When we get it on stage and fire it on, it capture AM radio waves, something that never happen before,so the jumps in the transportation was for something.The other thing is that the guy who was tuning the piano took more than an hour,so we have 10 min. to tune the M400.When the crowd enter the venue,we were still tuning the machine.

So after this adventure,I deicide not to rent my M400 anymore.I got a couple of calls from keyboardist from Montreal but I turn them all downl.Now I said "If you want to rent my mellotron, you will have to rent the mellotronist with it".Not to be the big head,but I think I am the best to play the damn machine(I practise it for ten years now).My friend,who is a mellotronist for more than 20 years and is a respected musician in the mellotron community tell me that I got a very good technique on the instrument when I play his Mark V a couple of weeks ago.

 

For now, I have a musical project but I think it will be very hard to realise it and it would take a long time to bring it back to good and I will need the M400 tofulfill it.

 

Have a nice day!

Tony Banks his roadie once used the motor of a dust cleaner when Tony his Mellotron was out of order, just for a concert, and it helped  !

 

Martin Offord got also rid of his Mellotron  and sold it a few years ago after making wonderful Mellotron samples.

 

Thanks Erik, I didn't knew the name of the technique,so you learn me the name.Martin Offord mellotron is now own by Clive Nolan of Arena/Pendagron.He own it since 1999 I think and he first used it for the Immortal? sessions.For their three first albums(Songs for the lion cage,Pride and The Visitor) they used Pallas Mike Stobbie M400.

 

Tony Banks sold his mellotrons more because of their "tempramental nature".Actually, he use it on "And then they were three" album but for the tour,he replace it with the Roland Vocoder Plus (wich had a string section) and strings sounds from the Prophet V.Another "mellotron-hater" is John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin who amongst the mellotron circle is known to hate them,even more than Tony Banks does.Rick Wakeman was too as he burned 2 M400 in a campfire in the early 80's but know use one on his latest album "Retro".I think their misbehaving mellotrons were due to a lack in maintenance.Today,we knows a lot more about the maintenance than we did in the 70's and the mellotrons now behave well when the owner take care of them.

 

Tony Banks actually brought their first Mark II mellotron from King Crimson.It was a mahogany cabinet in origin but was paint in black by Bob Fripp,that's why this machine was nicknamed "The black bitch".Recently, on the Mellotron forum,some of the poster discuss that subject and some say it was the Mark II used for the "Lizard" album but proof had to be made.The fact that this mellotron was repaint make it difficult to track it down.If you had the Lizard 30th Anniversary edition, on the last page of the booklet, you have a photo of Peter Sinfield in the studio and on his left,there are a Mark II that seem to be black,but he photo is in black and white so it's possibly that same machine.On the back of the same photo, there's another Mark II barely visible near Peter Sinfield hair.If you have seen the Belgium TV special in the time of "Nursery Cryme",the Mark II had a mahogany cabinet so they probably had 2 Mark II,maybe 3.One of them was repaint in white for the "Foxtrot" tour and they switch for M400 for the recording of "Selling England by the pound".They first got a white one with the "brushed" nameplate.The same mellotron was repainted in black for "The lamb lies down..." tour.He got another black M400 around the time of "A trick of the tail" with the latter nameplate with the stylized "M" on it.So, he had at least 2 M400 maybe another one for backup.