While the Chamberlin leads might have appeared on a raft of iconic tracks, it’s fair to say that, at least in the UK, the Mellotron lead tape-banks have defined that Mellotron sound for over 50 years. From The Beatles use of the Flutes on Strawberry Fields Forever, to The Moody Blues Violin tapes, and Genesis use of the Choir tapes, these tones contain a magic that no other instrument can recreate. For us at GForce Software, those sounds are more than just a tonal palette; they are an embodiment of pioneering technology, visionary engineers and accomplished musicians who changed the face of music forever.
While many of these bands used to plug their Mellotrons directly into the studio or live mixing console others, such as King Crimson and the Moody Blues, used to mic and record the speaker output, giving a more abrasive and hollow sound than that of the oft used DI recordings. To that end we’ve included the entire MkI and MkII lead library in both DI and mic’d versions.
As per the original instruments, while you can load and use any Lead tape-bank with any of the Rhythm and Accompaniment tape-banks, if you want to play both of these manuals simultaneously we recommend use of an 88-note keyboard.
Our Mellotron lead tapes are offered as both recordings from the Streetly Electronics master tapes (DI) or recorded via the MkI’s internal speaker. This gives the user a choice of two distinctively different tonal variations.
On the original Mellotron MkII, each section of tape (Station) contained three tracks (A, B & C) and via three white buttons on the front panel you could switch to any of those three tracks. There were also two black buttons which moved the tape-head and allowed you to play the sounds on tracks A & B or tracks B & C simultaneously.
On the GForce MkII, instead of these buttons, we have a separate bank of Lead sounds that have the same A & B or B & C sounds layered, both in DI and Mic’d versions.
While some of these combinations are reasonably uninspiring, many artists incorporated a few of the more interesting combinations (or layers) and as a result those combinations have become an essential part of the Mellotron tonal palate.