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IK Multimedia is now shipping SampleTron, a virtual instrument workstation featuring a collection of authentic “Tron” and other vintage keyboards instrument samples.
According to IK, SampleTron includes the most complete “Tron” anthology ever released in one virtual instrument, with over 2 GB of sounds, 640 presets and 260 multi-samples from 17 rare and vintage Mellotrons, Chamberlins, [...]

 

Real Music Media has released a collection of free Mellotron samples.
These samples were taken from a 30 year old Mellotron M400S, serial #500 a few years ago.
The Tron’s condition was decent. The heads were cleaned and the azimuth was aligned by Streetly Electronics in England (the original maker of this Tron) just prior to sampling. [...]

 

AudioWarrior has introduced a new Mellotron sample library.
Unlike the original Mellotron, though, these 8 -econd samples have been looped for the modern world. The loops may be turned off to recapture the vintage effect of certain voices ending at variable times.
The Mellotron followed its direct ancestor the Chamberlin which was, in effect, the world’s first [...]

 
icon for podpress  Mellotron demo [0:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
 

IK Multimedia and Sonic Reality have announced their latest collaborative effort, Sonik Instruments, a series of virtual instrument plug-ins dedicated to focused collections of rare and top-of-the-line instruments and sounds. The first announced of this series are SampleMoog, SampleTron, and Studiophonik.
Each of these Sonik Instruments offers a full synth-sampler engine powered by SampleTank with an [...]

 

GForce has announced that M-Tron, the first of the company’s Universal Binary instruments, the M-Tron, is ready for download.
This virtual keyboard is modelled on the famous tape-based instrument used on classic tracks like the Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever and used by such keyboard luminaries as Rick Wakeman and Tony Banks. More recently bands such as [...]

 

Here’s an old video demonstration of classic Mellotron sampling technology:

The Mellotron is an electromechanical polyphonic keyboard musical instrument originally developed and built in England in the early 1960s. Mellotrons used a series of tape playback heads triggered by a standard organ-style keyboard to create a crude but pioneering sample playback device.

 

It was a sad sight to see - this Mellotron got damaged in shipping to the NAMM show. Note the large crack along the left-hand side.

Fortunately, there are still a few Mellotron specialists still in the world.

 

Grandious, over-the-top, out-of-date, overblown and synfully fun, Wobbler’s Hinterland is a massive slice of prog-rock that will come as a godsend to fans of 70’s bands like Yes, ELP and Gentle Giant.
Wobbler is a Norwegian group that plays prog music in the traditional style, with no real attempt to update it for the new millenium. [...]

 

Thirty years ago, before most of the genres of popular electronic music had evolved, there were only a few musicians that incorporated electronic instruments into their music. One of those early pioneers was Rick Wakeman. Wakeman pioneered the use of synthesizers in the world of progressive art-rock. The Six Wives of Henry VIII is one [...]

 

White Willow is doing its best to keep the progressive rock torch burning with its latest release, Signal to Noise.
On this album, White Willow moves from a more traditional prog-rock sound to a more modern sound, with a bit of a goth metal edge. The group, made up of, Trude Eidtang (vocals), Lars Fredrik Frøislie [...]