Clavia DMI Acquires Original Mellotron Sounds
Clavia DMI CEO Hans Nordelius and Markus Resch, M. Resch AB, handing over the Mellotron material.
The idea of using the vintage master tapes instead of sampling a vintage instrument is to faithfully recreate the original sounds the way they used to be, and is a natural step in Clavia’s long striving effort to make the sounds of classic keyboard instruments available to keyboard players once again.
Following the success of the world’s first digital virtual analog synthesizer - the nord lead - released in 1995, Clavia has adopted a number of classical instruments to the digital domain, such as the tonewheel organ, several electric organs, various models of electric pianos as well as a number of acoustic grand and upright pianos.
“Our goal is not to build replica instruments, but to replicate the sounds - in full detail - and make them available in various combinations and formats suited for different kind of keyboard players. Unlike their ancestors they should be intuitive to operate, easy to carry, and offer the best possible sound and playing experience.” says Mr Nordelius.
The Mellotron instrument is a tape-based mechanical keyboard first introduced in the early sixties - well ahead if its time; the ability for a keyboard instrument to playback recorded sounds was not matched until 25 years later through modern digital technology. With its distinct character, the Mellotron has a widely spread sound well known to most people - though not identi- fied by all - and have been continuously used since the days of its introduction. It has played an prominent role in songs by the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Kraftwerk, Oasis, Radiohead, Red Hot Chili Peppers, U2 and Nelly Furtado, just to mention a few.
Clavia DMI is a developer and manufacturer of high quality keyboard instruments marketed under the nord brand name. The company was founded in 1983 and is located in Stockholm, Sweden.
The nord wave is Clavia’s latest achievement - an instrument capable of playing back user replaceable digital samples in a virtual analog environment - scheduled for release in November, 2007. Nord is a registered trademark of Clavia DMI AB.
Mellotron is a registered trademark of Mellotron.com