First, my question:

I own a mellotron, and I love it. To put it mildly, however, it is not portable. The thought occurred to me to get Mike Pinder's sampling cd of a Mellotron, and use a sampling keyboard. Here are my two questions:

1. If I go that route, what do you suggest for the keyboard? Bear in mind that I'd like to devote a keyboard to JUST Mellotron voices, so I don't need a workstation, etc., and I don't really want to spend any more than is necessary.

2. Can you think of a better way to go about this?

Thanks in advance for your help.

I know that's off-topic, but I recall a funny Moog-related thing that happened to me, and I thought I'd pass it along:

As a young child growing up in south Texas in the early 70's (the heart of the so-called "prog rock" era), I was fascinated by all types of synthesizers, most especially Moogs. When I was 12, I went so far as to write to the Moog folks, asking them specifics on their instruments (which, of course, were so expensive that I figured I could never afford one, much less at age 12). I got a call one evening at my house from someone from the Moog company that they'd like to demonstrate a synthesizer for me, and they would be at my local music store, which happened to be just up the street! I went there at the appointed time, and there, set up in the middle of the store, was a GARGANTUAN modular moog -- one keyboard, three or four panels, patch cords, the full Keith Emerson setup. I immediately set about playing it as best I could, having a hell of a time. After about 15 minutes, a middle-aged man in a suit came out of the back of the store, and said, "Please, son, don't touch the instrument. As you can imagine, it's extremely expensive, and we've brought it down especially for a potential buyer." I asked who the buyer could be, in my small town. He answered, "A Mister David Bright is going to be here to look at it." "Hey, that's me!" I told him, as his face fell.

I didn't think much of it, until I told my dad what I had seen later on that evening. He just about fainted.

Long live the Moog!

David Bright

Pretty cool story!

As for your question, I have a friend who has this Roland module with the Mellotron samples

He just uses it with a regular board with midi THRU

If thats the type of module you have , then a RadioShack casio with midi can do the job

and for the TRONS' sake here is a site you might aldready know but i'll post it anyway
http://www.tronsounds.com/

cheers