Mellotron Organ

[MegaZsolti]

Doppler effect :D

[TheDoors78521]

Well you can fly high as a kite if you want to.. but thinking is the best way to travel.

[masterlevi10]

Just picked up one of these today. I played around with it for a little while, and then figured out the Sound of Silence. Coolest. Thing. Ever.

[jonathan401]

This reminds me - thinking is the best way to travel... :-)

[nootaramus]

that is the sound from "the best way to travel" written by mike pinder of the moody blues.

very cool. the sound defined the early moody blues and when they were touring in the late 60's and early 70's, mike had it running thru some big marshall amps and it was very loud.

they were the best back in the day. lots of tripping at their shows and everyone would be asking what kind of "organ" was that guy playing !???"

[spacepatrolman]

@nootaramus Mellotron potramentos are the best way to travel/ thinking is the best way to travel was used as the theme for an am radio talk show in new york then in a later decade jonathan king had one .

[HammondDER]

Moody Blues Sound from in the search of the lost chord

[mel577]

Led Zeppelin used one of these in the album House Of The Holy. :D

[promagnum]

Is it true that it's possible to run out of tape on those? One of my college professors told me, but I'm not so sure.

[argonnj]

@promagnum 8 seconds of tape

[The2010SnowDay]

Do you have any Rhythm and Fills tape frames? I'd love to hear those.

[tronfan66]

@The2010SnowDay - The only ones I have right now are the Bass Accordion and accordion chords, and the Bungalow Bill guitar (can be heard elsewhere in my videos), but am planning to get others eventually.

[pomfrit93]

sounds a bit like boards of canada

[RedVynil]

Nice!!

[votejello]

i went and bought in search of the lost chord because of this video. i love the internet. lol

[lydocaine7212]

"Thinking is the Best way to Travel" --thanks for sharing this- that was one of my favourinte songs growing up in te 70 's- In Search of the Lost Chord" is one of the greatest all time Prog-LP ' in history !!

[San5a]

wow how far can you go with that pitch??

a half octave?

[tronfan66]

@San5a - The entire range from lowest to highest is 4 whole tones.

[San5a]

awesome thing! but unfortunally there's not software to simulate this wonderful trick!

I'll never play the whole strawberry fields intro.......

[CadillacL]

Mellotron has some of the most beautiful sounds in music.

[oliasdoug]

I loved this...and "The Best Way To Travel" has always been one of my favorite Moody Blues tracks!

[Laura041974]

Are you slowing down the tape to lower the pitch of the note? I love this reversed on KC's Epitaph, end of verse 2. I 've learned this song. I wish I could sing it with you!

[ijosef]

Those things are so awesome, and so unique. Unfortunately it seems they break down quite often due to their complex mechanical nature. I've walked into repair shops and seen mellotron parts on the bench more than once.

[tronfan66]

This is true, they can be prone to problems, but usually that tends to happen more if the machines aren't properly maintained by their owners in the first place (in the same way that a car goes off-kilter if it isn't regularly maintained), or if they have been badly adjusted. If a Mellotron is properly cared for it'll last for many a year.

[khyropia]

Thats an organ?

[tronfan66]

Yep - or to be more exact, it's a recording of an old Lowrey organ playing on some sort of 'Hammond' or church organ setting.

[mrgoodvibrations]

thanx 4 the demo.

[tronfan66]

You're welcome.

[mellotrongirl]

I've got an Optigan disc or two that can sweep a similar organ sound...it's just hard as the dickens to keep turning that thumbwheel pitch control as fast as you can...!

[tronfan66]

Yeah, I can imagine - I bet it sounds brilliant though! You have a working Optigan then? :) - I'd love to get an Optigan one day, but unfortunately here in the UK they're extremely scarce...

[stalkawave]

I'm speeding through the universe man!! Fantastic!!

[ukphil2006]

Moody Blues - yeahhhhhh!

[dino47]

exact interpretation of mike pinders classic riff / well done

[Wilco79]

"To walk up to the Mellotron, not knowing if it was going to be in tune or what it was going to do; you might expect violins and get trumpets instead. It was a terrifying experience!"

-John Paul Jones

[MorkaGraven]

@Wilco79 It only takes a short length of magnetic tape to stretch in order to ruin a previously good note.

[Martianfan]

speeding through the universe, thinking is the best way to travel!

Melletron, very cool, you are so lucky to have one.

[Keijz74]

That unmistakeable sound of vintage. <3 :o)# Nice instrument.

[nikezooms]

sounds like the "last Goodbye" intro by Jeff... nice sliding dynamic. how much are these???

[kniffenkniffen]

>$25000

[armyperson59]

Strawberry Fields Forever

[lymph12]

i would be tempted to play a note for longer than 8 seconds

[AirHendrix91]

You should do Wolfmother's Mind's Eye with that wonderful organ. That would rule.

[powerpuffsouthpark]

That mechanical return sound we hear each time you release a key is the tape-mechanism thingy rewinding, right?

[tronfan66]

Yes, spot on - it's a spring (one for each key) which pulls the tape back to its start position.

[mooghammondb3]

Yes, you can fly high as a kite if you want to....

[M400fan]

What is this track?

[tronfan66]

It's the middle section from the Moody Blues' "The Best Way To Travel", from their "In Search Of The Lost Chord" album.

[M400fan]

Cool! The Moodies were one of the very few bands to use the organ sound from the Mellotron - but I picked it up on Peak Hour from Days of Future Passed - one of the notes is clearly out of tune - impossible with a REAL Hammond! And there were those unmistakeable "clicks"!

[myrecordcollection]

Cool! Now do the little flourish from the Pretty Things' "SF Sorrow Is Born"!

[tronfan66]

That'll be an interesting one to try - watch this space!

[CadillacL]

You should be very proud to own this classic. Nothing beats the sound of it, even w/today's technology & newer keyboards

[rattusvulpes]

And you can fly...high as a kite, if you want to...Faster than Light...if you want to...

[tronfan66]

...speeding through the universe...

[mellotrongirl]

thinking is the best way to travel...

[MrSirMrSirMr]

Nice! Shame it's a such noisy beast with the casing off. I envy you like a monster for having a mellotron, though. Man, I'd love to record one of those.

[tronfan66]

Thanks - it's true to say that it is a bit noisy with the lid off, but then again the camera phone it was filmed with makes it sound worse than it really is! It's still my pride and joy after all these years :) ....

[MrSirMrSirMr]

I expect they're pretty hard to get hold of these days, aren't they.

[tronfan66]

The original ones that were made from the 60s to the 80s don't turn up very often nowadays (to put it mildly), but there is such a demand for them again that new models are now being made, which I think is just brilliant.