Vintage Mellotron controls in MainStage

Vintage Mellotron parameters

• Sound A/B pop-up menus: Choose an A or B instrument sound.

• Sound A/B Transpose buttons: Set an independent playback octave for instrument sound A or B.

  This mimics the behavior of the half speed or double speed tape switches found on some Mellotron models, but enhances these facilities by enabling independent octave control for each sound.

• Blend A/B knob: Set the level balance between instrument sound A and B. Set to the full left or right position to hear sound A or B in isolation.

• Tape Speed knob: Set the tape speed for all notes. This mimics the tonal fluctuations caused by this control on the original instrument.

• Tone knob: Rotate to the right to reduce bass and to make the sound brighter and more nasal. Rotate to the left to reduce brightness, making the sound warmer and more mellow.

• Volume knob: Set the overall output level of Vintage Mellotron.

Vintage Mellotron extended parameters

The extended parameters provide three additional controls that were not available on the original instruments. These provide flexibility, but their use isn’t true to the source hardware.

Click the disclosure arrow at the lower left to view the extended parameters.

• Attack slider: Set the time required for the signal to reach the initial signal level, known as the sustain level.

• Release slider: Set the time it takes for the signal to fall from the sustain level to a level of zero, after releasing a key.

• Pitch Bend Range slider: Set the pitch bend range in semitone steps. This allows you to use the pitch bend controller of your keyboard to bend Vintage Mellotron pitch.

• Fixed Velocity checkbox: Click to prevent your MIDI keyboard velocity data from affecting Vintage Mellotron dynamics. This mirrors the behavior of the original instruments that did not have velocity-sensitive keyboards.