Recording - January 2016 - 46

New Sounds For The New Year!

Reviews By Mike Metlay

The iPad has multiple uses in the modern recording studio, and one of the most fun is as a software instrument platform. We're
starting to see serious advances in audio quality and features, thanks to modern iPads with more powerful processors, and the "fun
but not always practical" iOS virtual instruments of the past are giving way to some heavy hitters. Whether from companies that
have made their reputation on the PC and Mac or from new names you might not know, these are serious instruments. Hook up a
proper audio interface and MIDI controller to your iPad, and be prepared for amazement.-MM

Omenie Mellotronics M3000 Series, Sopranotron, and
Wizdom Music Jordantron
prices vary by product (see below); www.omenie.com

Anyone who's read Recording for more than a few years
knows that of all the keyboards, vintage and modern, that your
Editor has worked with over the past three or four decades, the
Mellotron holds a special place of honor. The world's first practical "sample player," the Tron was a set of analog tape players built into a keyboard-press a key, play a tape.
Over the past half century, the notoriously unreliable and
finicky Tron has been relied upon by hundreds of famous
artists (those flutes on "Strawberry Fields Forever", the strings
on the last verse of "Free Bird"), largely forgotten in the wake
of digital samplers, and enjoyed a massive revival. These
days, at least two companies are making modern analog versions of the Tron with greatly improved mechanics and authentic tapes. For the less purist, there are fantastic digital
Mellotrons out there, too-the M4000D from Markus Resch at
mellotron.com has everything from a full set of sounds to a real
Tron keyboard action with polyphonic aftertouch. We've spent
a lot of time reviewing the many great sounds added to
GForce's comprehensive M-Tron plug-in for PC and Mac since
its introduction years ago, and there are other virtual Trons out
there for various computer platforms.
M3000 from Omenie isn't the only virtual Mellotron for iOS
out there, but it is arguably the best, with the most sonic variety,
the best performance interface, and a solid sample playback
46

RECORDING January 2016

platform that lends itself to reuse with other sounds besides the
Tron classics. I've had a chance to work with all three of
Omenie's Trons-the two it sells under its own brand and the
Jordantron developed for Jordan Rudess's Wizdom Music-and
they're well worth crowing about.
The basic M3000 interface is a modern take on the classic
Tron controls, with a few added extras. As you can see in the
screenshots, the user interface is divided into three horizontal
slices. The top slice usually shows the main controls, but can
display an animated multicolor sound waveform when you
play (pretty but with no sound-programming function).
The main controls include Volume, Pitch bend (fixed at a minor
third up and down), Tone (a simple filter), and ABC, which controls the blend between sounds A, B, and C selected in the
browser window at right. These three sounds, plus an extra Voice
D sound (see below), can be saved into one of 32 Voicebanks.
There are also controls for the Voice D level, and for Reverb
Send, Tone, and Space (decay time). This is a surprisingly goodsounding reverb that adds a lot to the dry Tron sounds.
The middle slice switches between the upper keyboard
range and the Pad Mode controls; the bottom slice is always
the lower keyboard range. With both keyboard manuals
open, you get the full 35-note Mellotron range plus a few
extra "stretched" notes (F to F# rather than G to F); in Pad
Mode, there's a switch to change the visible keyboard
between upper and lower notes.
Pad Mode exposes 12 programmable pads that play back
chords using Voice D when touched (you can also set up the

http://www.omenie.com http://www.mellotron.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2016