Mr Duffy's Mellotron

...and some preliminary thoughts on the use of Mechanical Keyboards with bands:

Well, spent an hour or two last night creating my very own portable digital mellotron. I'll explain.

Mellotron was (you may know this) a keyboard instrument utilising a little tape and tape head for every note. There were different sets of tapes the most famous being the strings and the flutes. They have a very wobbly strangely distorted and organic sound - mainly because they go wrong all of the time - imagine the mechanical nightmare!!. It goes really well with guitars, and somehow sounds nicer than a really modern digital sample of real strings. Probably because its less realistic oddly. Anyhow I got hold of some samples and loaded them into my hardware sampler. I think they might even fit on one disc making it reasonably giggable. Now, we don't have any songs with strings but I have always liked the idea of a mellotron verse into loud chorus....who knows. I like the idea of expanding the sonic pallette as it were. Just don't want any nasty overly modern things. I reckon keyboards are ok if you stick to machanical reproductions, so, electric piano, organ sounds and samples or originals of a mellotron all work well with guitar bands. Analogue synths rarely but sometimes. But no DX-7s, Rolands or other big shiny 80's sounding things. That's why the 80s sound so damn incoherent. Horrible mismatch between the synths they used and the organic instruments. Talk Talk however sound good - why? Mellotrons, electrc pianos and the like. QED thats my philosphy anyhow

Anyhow that's why I made a portable digital mellotron. It's the string machine for lovers of proper sounds. Just needed to share that

And Mr Duffy also appears on his beloved Radio 4 this week, on The Westminster Hour - skip through to 0:44:30 or so, and listen out for "Good morning", as Mr Duffy introduces "a grey-haired man in a grey-haired suit". Not a job for the retiring, indeed.