Bell Tone Synth Works is a Philadelphia, PA-based electronic musical instrument repair workshop with a specialty in vintage and analog synths and organs. We also sell professionally refurbished vintage synthesizers and more. Here, you'll find synth demos, repair tutorials and other stuff that we think fellow synth nuts might enjoy! contact us with questions / repair inquiries at belltonesynthworks@gmail.com
Hi there. I absolutely loved this tutorial. My favorite is the Mark 2 but this was wonderful. Extremely informative. I've loved the tron ever since I first heard it in the late 60s and through the 70s and just did one of my radio shows featuring songs with mellotron. (i've done that at different times over the years). Anyway, not to be long-winded… Thank you so much for having this video available. It was really fun! Very touchy piece of equipment, eh? 😊🎹 --Gene
80 bucks for such a chip is so expensive even if i understand why they are so expensive 😅 I just wonder if using a modern MCU is a possible replacement given some re-wiring ?
I've always wanted my own Mellotron and wondered how one actually worked. NOT AT ALL as I had imagined it. I'm guessing it would need a personal technician to keep it in shape. Thank YOU!
This is great! I was always curious how the CS-80 did what it did outside of the CPU/DAC paradigm. One wonders if Tom Oberheim ever contemplated going down this road before Sequential's CPU breakthrough and just thought the complexity was a nonstarter. Japanese manufacturing had a unique culture during this period (mid 60s to mid 80s). Everything from instruments and electronics to motorcycles and cars to bicycles. I have several Yamaha instruments from this period (synths and drums...). Great quality instruments that still work perfectly. Lots of unique problem solving that went the extra mile to squeeze every bit of functionality out of the technology they had.
Hilarious how some so called "expert" can't even set a mic up properly to record some video. I mean, do they not hear that annoying buzz etc.... Amateurs!
Thanks for this video - love your knowledge and passion for vintage synths! Re the Mellotron, it’s like one of those animal-powered contraptions from “The Flintstones” - it’s really the first “Stone Age sampler” from the era just before cheap semiconductors became available. I wonder if some of the inspiration came from tone-wheel organs, which have a similarly novel fusion of mechanical and analog technology under the hood. And, I would have loved to see how they recorded those sample tape strips!
Wow I would really like to learn how to restore these instruments. I am a piano technician for acoustic pianos. I just had a major geek attack watching this. Where do you get parts like motors? How often do tapes break?
Excellent. The works might seem 'crude' to you but... Go ahead and build one without CNCs and modern plug and play methods. I see it as a wonderous thing, period. Thank you for the insight!
Wonderful walk -thru of this amazing piece of music history! Only thing you didn't mention - and this is not a criticism - was the pitch control. Listen to Legend of a Mind where towards the end of the song Pinder makes super use of this swelling in and out of chords - chilling! Love that you got into the rest of the electronics; a local store in Cincinnati had one in their record department that we used to fool around with until they'd chase us off, and the top lid could come off so I had some idea of the tape workings, but your demo filled in a lot - thanks!!
I seem to recall there being a Mellotron at the Regent's Street Polytechnic Theatre in London. We used to repair and tune the organ that it was connected to. I think the organ was a Compton.
With years of analog multitrack recording studio experience - cleaning tape heads before, and sometimes even during, a session, wondering how often they recommended heads be cleaned, but also demagnetized, aligned, as well as pinch roller, capstan maintenance, replacement.
