Mellotron M4000D - Card 4

[@shaft9000]

_Easy Does It w Vibes_ is the ultimate 'patch', it is both the question _and_ the answer.... to a myriad of mysteries. -He said with seriousity.-

[@JohnLRice]

😎👍

[@AriannaCunningham]

25:02 I love the Romantic Strings especially when they're in a more hifi setting!

[@JohnLRice]

Yeah, I like that one a lot too! :-)

[@troublesomecorsair]

Hooray!! You've done it! 17:27 is Steve Hackett's Sentimental Institution from the Defector Album.

[@JohnLRice]

Thanks! :-)

[@synthblock]

Wow, didn't even know Card 4 was available. Nice sounds!

[@captainantilles9094]

Maybe.

[@nilsvanderplancken]

so is card 5 :)

[@synthblock]

@@nilsvanderplancken Just released!

[@JohnLRice]

Thanks Jonathan and sorry for the late replay! 🤦‍♂😅

[@JohnLRice]

@@captainantilles9094 🤠

[@OliverChesler]

So on my list to acquire!

[@JohnLRice]

If you were referring to the expansion card 04, It is available again! ;-)

[@fredfredburger8750]

@@JohnLRice Can't seem to locate one for sale... Any tips?

[@JohnLRice]

@@fredfredburger8750 Big City Music is the only store that has them listed (that I know of), but are sold out. You might write to them and ask when they'll be available again or write to Marcus at Mellotron and ask about availability? www.mellotron.com/expansioncard.html

[@tjs6025]

@@JohnLRice I just ordered this card yesterday from Markus directly. He had to put a firmware update on the card in order for it to work in my Mellotron Rack (same as yours.) Do you recall having to do this as well? Mine is serial number 235 (or something like that.)

[@JohnLRice]

@@tjs6025 Yes, if I remember correctly I needed the update as well. Part of it had to do with the fact that sounds on this card infinitely loop . . I think that was the reason . . .don't quote me though, it's been a while! ;-)

[@theh0r5e90]

I wish to acquire one of these as well who knew that Fisher-Price would make such a big splash

[@theh0r5e90]

The Lawrence welk show will never be the same

[@itconnects6693]

The H0r5e what’s the fisher-price reference about ?

[@theh0r5e90]

@@itconnects6693 they made the optigan

[@JohnLRice]

😉👍

[@purrblesoft]

@@theh0r5e90 ​ @It Connects we have an early Optigan, and it was made by Mattel, i don't think Fisher-Price had any involvement. you're probably thinking of FP's lo-fi recorders that are popular with circuit benders, etc.

[@MeanderingSlacker]

Someday I will financially stable enough to purchase all of these and not care

[@JohnLRice]

😁👍

[@darksparklermusic]

How do you think they compare to the stock sounds on the unit? These seem to have more of a lo-fi character to them.

[@JohnLRice]

Yeah, they are generally more lofi/noisy then the Chamberlin/Mellotron sounds but that is what the optical instruments were, originally cheapo toys for people who couldn't afford or lift (or didn't need) a professional instrument. ;-) The cleaned up HiFi accompaniment samples sound quite good but I don't have cards 2 or 3 to compare them too so I'll just guess that the Chamberlin/Mellotron accompaniment sounds still sound better then the Optigan HiFi accompaniment sounds?

[@itconnects6693]

Hey I have the Mellotron and an integra. Does running it into the integra give you a stereo output so I don’t have to constantly play with my Uad console settings just to record the Mellotron

[@JohnLRice]

hhhmm, I'm not really sure. I've never tried it before. OK, I just tried it with the front inputs. ;-) (the back of my rack isn't easily accessed so I can't quickly check the rear inputs) The inputs on the front seem to be discrete so plugging a mono signal into just the left or right jack doesn't feed a signal to the opposite side. But if you used a multiple or splitter/Y-cable you could plug into both sides? Take a look at the Integra7 manual though because it looks like if you use the "motional surround" feature you might be able to pan a single mono input to the "center"? Good luck and please add a comment if it works or doesn't to help other people who are wondering! :-)

[@pedrogomis]

Orchestron Strings Bowed Violins seems pretty close to Kraftwerk's Trans Europe Express

[@JohnLRice]

Good call, Pedro! 😎👍 Kraftwerk used an Orchestron on that album so any differences are likely small and from differences in how they recorded it, how Pea Hicks sampled the sounds originally, any changes Markus at Mellotron might have made to Pea's samples, and how I recorded my video. I wish I would have thought of it at the time and learned to play some bits of recognizable Kraftwerk songs for my video! 🤦‍♂️ I just found this nicely done video titled "Playing Kraftwerk's Music with Orchestron Samples" that you and others might enjoy? kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z6K2YnergqaBd7s

[@stargate1555]

Card 04 has a few interesting sounds but........in order of "must have" go with sound card 02 & 05. Sound cards 03-04-06 are low priority. I wish Marcus made most of the cards 03-04-06 sounds keyboard note responsive. Don't get me wrong, the 03-04-06 cards have some cool sounds but a majority of the selections are kind of unusable, just fun to listen to.

[@JohnLRice]

Yeah, in a perfect world where people wouldn't copy stuff without authorization, he could have just sold individual sounds for $5 each per download and the end users could just buy the ones they want and load them onto a card themselves?

[@jamesgoward5687]

After a great deal of thought, I got Card 03 and really like it. The collection of Gino Vanelli strings is really interesting since it has a good variety of bowing patterns, from long notes, to medium vibrato through to fast trills. They make a nice compliment to the Mellotron and Chamberlin strings. Also the harp sounds are really fun.

[@stargate1555]

@@jamesgoward5687 I'll have to re-review 03 again. I think I know what you're talking about.

[@litemakr]

The lead sounds aren't any good, even in a lo-fi charming kinda way. But I really love the accompaniments, both lo-fi and hi-fi versions. $500 is VERY steep for that, but I'm tempted.

[@JohnLRice]

I think a lot of sounds that may not seem usable can be given new life by mild to extreme processing, like with reverb, delay, distortion, compression, etc. I'll agree that the cards are expensive though, especially since the Mellotron keyboards are quite pricey to begin with.

[@itconnects6693]

Way too expensive I have one and I can say it’s not worth it

[@JohnLRice]

@@itconnects6693 Well, it may not be worth it to you but it's worth it to me! ;-) Have you sold yours yet? Resale typically seem to be reasonably close to retail so you won't be out too much money? EDIT: I was actually thinking that the INSTRUMENT is worth the price. If you were talking about the card 4, then yeah, it's value is fairly debatable and the need to have it is sort of specialized. For someone who in in a performing band that already has a M4000D and needs these sounds live it makes total sense, and maybe for a studio musician who needs to walk into a session and have a wide array of sounds ready to go at a moments notice it also makes sense? But for most other people . . . if they have a sampler keyboard or DAW setup and can play back samples it would make for financial sense to take a look at optigan.com/product-category/soundware/ and potentially spend far less less money on a more specific collection?

[@itconnects6693]

John L Rice I think I might... just a hassle to think about. the problem is I run out of sounds and I can’t justify spending another grand for 2 cards. Doesn’t make any sense. Weird business model. If the boards were cheaper then it would work. If the cards were 200$ I still wouldn’t do it. This is 2020 not the 90s. If these machines have sentimental value to you, then my opinions are a mute point

[@JohnLRice]

@@itconnects6693 Yeah, it's sort of hard call even if the price isn't an issue. Work flow and inspiration are very personal things and a majority of music can be done these days "in the box" with VSTs etc at relatively little cost if that's an option that is doable.

[@drake1011]

13:32 Fire

[@JohnLRice]

Was that accompaniment used by some band to make a song called Fire, or do you mean you just really like that sound? 😎

[@drake1011]

@@JohnLRice the sound!

[@JohnLRice]

@@drake1011 ahhh I see, gottcha! 👌😎

[@MicroTV100]

Optigan Sounds inkl. ?!

[@JohnLRice]

Hi, are you asking if the Optigan sounds are "included"? They are included on the expansion card #04 that I'm demoing here but not internally inside the Mellotron Rack or any of the other digital models from Mellotron.com. On the middle of Mellotron Rack near the bottom you can see the words "Expansion Card" and to the left of that you can see a thin black rectangle, that's the memory card inserted into the reader slot and it has all of the Optigan, Orchestron, and Talentmaker sounds on it. :-)