Mellotron and Moog synthesizer

For my money, nobody beats Jan Hammer on the MiniMoog when it comes to expressive soloing. His pitch bends should be registered as lethal weapons! (I also love Jan's near-ubiquitous Rhodes playing in the '70s).

verslibre wrote: If you want to hear what Heaven sounds like, skip ahead to 4:10.

Is it this that was used omn the intro to Elton Johns Funeral for aFriend /Love Lies Bleeding, i know David Henschel played ARP on the intro but which modell?

^ I have one of those (Odyssey), its not my favorite.

cstack3 wrote: SteveG wrote: @cstack3: I know that you are a bass player but you're still an expert on the 'tron. Cheers. Thank you, my friend!  I first laid hands upon an actual Mellotron about 1975, at a music store in Champaign, Illinois USA where Gary Strater (late bassist of Starcastle) used to work.  I put headphones on, and it was true love!  Nasty, mechanical, temperamental beasts, but so are grand pianos, and church pipe organs etc.   No one has discussed Patrick Moraz' contributions to keyboards yet.  When I saw the Yes "Relayer" show (16 November, 1974), I was quite stunned by the sounds coming out of the PA during songs like "Sound Chaser"....my instinctual reference was to lead guitar, but Steve was calmly playing rhythm.  I then focused upon Moraz, who was working on his Mini-Moog synths with BOTH hands, manipulating the oscillators and filters very aggressively!!   In an ancient interview in "Keyboard" magazine, I recall that Moraz said "I've invented a new way of playing the synthesizer.  I'm much more aggressive with how I use the oscillators...." (paraphrasing from 40 years ago!).  Moraz was also frustrated with the mechanical limitations of the Mellotron, and so he was an early adapter of a very unique instrument called the "Orchestron."  Instead of tapes, this used spinning optical discs that contained the sound samples, and was played with laser beams.  It was reputed to be much more stable than the Mellotron, but I don't know how many were ever made/sold....I myself only saw one, in a music store near Chicago.  Sadly, I didn't get to play it!  "Moraz brought more to Sound Chaser than just the opening. The strings sound different than those used previously on Yes records, as Moraz had a vast array of keyboards in his arsenal. He was one of the early adopters of the Orchestron, a somewhat obscure synth made by Vako. The instrument was not unlike the Mellotron in principle but used optical disks instead of tapes as the source of sounds. While typically a single keyboard instrument, Patrick Moraz had a three manual custom model created for him. He used it to a good measure on Relayer, and you can hear it right after Steve Howe’s solo, around the 3:30 mark on Sound Chaser. Moraz’s jazz fusion influences show well on his Mini Moog solo towards the end of the piece at the 7:45 mark. It reminds me more of Chick Corea or Jan Hammer than a Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson solo, adding to the Fusion-influenced adventure that Yes took with the Relayer album." https://musicaficionado.blog/2016/11/28/sound-chaser-by-yes/

I think that Moraz was one of the first to use extreme manipulation of oscillation to create a lead instrument. Something that New Wave bands like Ultravox would use like crazy in the 80s.

Two friends back in high school owned Casio keyboards.

Edited by verslibre - September 09 2020 at 09:41

verslibre wrote: Easy Money wrote: ^ I have one of those (Odyssey), its not my favorite. What is it about it that you don't like? Or is it that you have many better synths?

A little bit of both of those. I don't like the layout, its confusing to me, and the sounds are just not that strong, at least with me at the controls.
Its kind of unstable as well. Now lets compare it to two from the 70s that I like. The Korg MS 20 has a very logical layout and it has powerful sounds. Its also a very stable synth.

Another favorite is the Univox Mini Korg, a very limited synth, but it has some of the very best solo sounds I've ever used, and it is extremely stable.
The only 70s Moog i have is the little Radio Shack one, and it is also surprisingly stable and nice sounding.
The Odyssey has always been a disappointment to me, it just seems weak in every area, but that may just be my fault at not getting the best out of it.

Edited by Easy Money - September 09 2020 at 11:08

Let me know when you guys get up to the Prophet 5. It's the only real synth I've owned so it's a sentimental favorite. (Aside from some cheap Casios. 😬)

SteveG wrote: Let me know when you guys get up to the Prophet 5. It's the only real synth I've owned so it's a sentimental favorite. (Aside from some cheap Casios. 😬)

SteveG wrote: Let me know when you guys get up to the Prophet 5. It's the only real synth I've owned so it's a sentimental favorite. (Aside from some cheap Casios. 😬)

Got a soft spot for the Korg MS series. I had an original MS-10 back in the early 80's, and I've got the reissue MS-20 Mini. 

A friend of mine overhauls analogue synths, he's just working on an original MS-20 at the moment. The Korg uses a different set of input voltages, compared to the 1V/Oct standard on most synths, so it was always going to be a dead end. 

I've built several variations of the Korg's filter: there's not a lot to them from an electronics viewpoint, ditto the Polivoks, Minimoog etc. 

Here's my MS, add on wood sides. Incidentally, the bass is not as full as mythology would have it. 

I'd actually have an Odyssey, but the prices are frankly ludicrous for the Korg one, and it was always a synth you "nearly liked" back in the early 80's. Walked past tons of them in music shops then. 

Incidentally, if my memory serves, I did see a second hand (at least) Melotron in a music/junk shop in Manchester in the early 80's. No one wanted it, given the reputation they had for reliability and problems in changing the tapes. I think I'd still walk past one now, even at 80's junk shop prices. 

Edited by Davesax1965 - September 13 2020 at 02:30