Another demo

The hardest thing about playing the Mellatron was that the tapes would eventually come to an end when sustained and had to be released to rewind so it could be played again. Made for an odd playing style.

„Nights in white satin“ is a tune with strings from a mellotron. Somehow a fascinating late 60s‘ sound signature...

I actually owned a Mellotron, way way back, around 1973 or so. It was very difficult to press the keys, as I remember, but so cutting edge at the time (string sounds).

It’s always the limitations of an instrument that define its signature sound.... something often missing from today’s amazing tech.

Finding what something CAN’T do and playing round it gives a certain shape to the phrase, to the sound. Those old electromechanical keyboards were pigs to play, and only had a limited range of expression. But oh! How well those limitations shaped some of our most iconic music of the period!

Next time you find yourself cursing out a limitation on your current keyboard, think of those old instruments and think how lucky you are to HAVE a limitation! It can be the source of your creativity if you let it....

Now there is a novel and good suggestion. It gives credence to my older instruments, which in some cases, sound better.

Well said Diki

Limitations can be an invitation to creation.
John C.

That is why we are always look forwards to the new creations for the more refined and closer to the "real thing" in our keyboards.

So far we are being told that synths still have the better sound engines and the arrangers are not worth having but in the future that might change, as they morph together more.


Allan

An arranger keyboard will always be in my home. I get excited when the new model comes. There has always been enough beautiful options for me to create good music.

I started with a Yamaha keyboard, and then every Technics model that was made. I was always contented with the modles.

In 1984 I started using an arranger keyboard. At the beginning I did not play good enough to use it on a job; so, I connected my guitar to the keyboard (Midi) my guitar controlled the chord changes on the keyboard. In 1985 I started using the keyboard on the job.

I never used a second keyboard on a job; or a synth. Or midi files. I did use the original recordings for songs I did no justice to.

I enjoy my Sx900. Is it the greatest? No, but it has so much for my needs.
Thanks for listening as I bable on, John C.

Told by whom? Nobody’s ever told me that!

Synths and arrangers are as different as organs and pianos. Each does one job better than the other. What job do you need done?! 🎹😂

As wrong as it may be, I've heard that for years also. It has been the TOL synths as a justification for price points similar to arrangers. I, personally, don't know. since I have not had a synth since the early eighties.

Weird. Never had anybody in my life come up to me and say I was playing an inferior keyboard, and I’ve been using arrangers for live band and studio work for 30+ years... 😂

And quite honestly, if you are giving any serious credence to bullsh*t you read on the Internet, you need to start being a bit more skeptical!

You can put a Ferrari engine in a tractor... it’s not going to plow your field any faster than a diesel! And it will blow up before you’ve done the back forty..! An engine is designed for the job in hand.

Maybe some of us get so willing to believe put downs of arrangers because we’re secretly unimpressed with the music we play on them? Sadly, that’s got nothing to do with the tools we use, it’s the operator. And that’s something that is easy to address with practice and hard work. Moving to a different engine, to a totally different type of keyboard won’t make a blind bit of difference if played by the same person...

Hold your head up, be proud of the tools you decided to use. Play great music on them, no one will EVER criticize them! 🎹😎🎹