Slouching Raymond
Well-known member
The samples have a nice lo-fi character to them.
DiodeMcRoy
New member
Thanks! I was hoping to get that kind of sound from the start. I wasn’t sure if cassette would sound lo-fi enough, but recording each sample onto some old tape seems to do the job for that “Mellotron” vibe — even though, from what I can hear, a real Mellotron has a bit more high-end presence.
I'm already thinking about another patch I could make using the same process, but based on a sound that’s never been used on a Mellotron before. Wine glasses maybe? Or something weirder... Let me know if you have any ideas.
Papanate
Well-known member
For playing samples use Kontakt - and if you are after a specific tone - like tape wow and flutter and semi decreased frequency response - just build it into your samples.
TalismanRich
Well-known member
I don't think the chorus added much to the samples. The bare samples with just a touch of reverb would be the way to go. The samples already have enough wow and flutter that they don't need any more. The Mellotron was never a "Hi Fi" sounding instrument. It was an easy way to add some "orchestra" texture without paying a bunch of studio musicians.
DiodeMcRoy
New member
Thanks, I've been using DirectWave from FL Studio, I should look into Kontakt. Is it free? Would you prefer this over the one I used? Also before making it in DirectWave, I wanted to make in in DecentSampler I discovered through David Hilowitz YouTube Channel (I warmly recommend its channel), but I still have to figure how to use it.
Papanate
Well-known member
Kontakt Player is free - But you can’t create or manipulate samples with it - Are you wanting to create Mellotron type sounds? It’s a bit hard to emulate a Mellotron - part of the sound is the mechanics involved - tape playback - worn out tape after a bunch of playback - Limited Frequency Reponse - Tape Wow and Flutter - all sorts of things - when it was first used the Mellotron were mostly in optimal shape and didn’t experience those sort of things - The Beatles Strawberry Fields be a classic example - Brand new tapes and the machine was tweaked out by John Pinder - but if they ever went on the road …..
Playing the sounds is rather easy - I use the Arturia Mellotron V and my Arturia Keylab Controller - the sound is there and works everytime - everywhere -
DiodeMcRoy
New member
Thanks, the whole thread was me documenting my journey creating a DIY mellotron with a cassette recorder. I tried to make a violin today following the same process i did for the flute (a 3Violin preset), but it's quite bad. It probably helps to know how to actually play a violin (playing 3 squeeqy violons in unisson here was quite tedious to do) . Here's a short example of what I've recorded today.
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I guess you can't get more lofi than that lol