The Mellotron

 

The Mellotron is and electro-mechanical Keyboard, developed and built in Birmingham, England in the 1960's,  based on the Chamberlin, the worlds first sample based keyboard. It produces sounds by playback heads under each key, being pressed down onto magnetic audio tapes placed into bank under the keyboard. Each tape has approximately 8 seconds worth of recorded sound recorded at a pitch relevent to the key assigned to it. It's distinctive Flute sound is used in the opening bars of the Beatles "Strawberry fields forever, But it was the Moody Blues' Mike Pinder who worked on the melotron for 18 months before joining the band, who brought the instrument to the forefront in songs like "Nights in white satin".

 

The most famous model is the M400 although other models include the M300 and MkV, the MkI and MkII were designed for static, studio use as they easily became misaligned when moved about. The company later changed its name to Novatron and ceased production a few years later. A Calgary based company began producing a new MkVI Mellotrons in the 1990's  and realsed sample disc versions of the sounds for use with modern Keyboards.