If you are curious about classic synthesisers, however, you have no possibilities for purchasing either a modern electronic instrument or a vintage second-hand one, you should not give up. Virtual instrument studio technology has made many models of legendary synthesisers accessible to wide public.
For example, if you are curious about classic Mellotron which is one of the most important musical instruments of the entire history of music, you can reach out for its digital simulator Nanotron 2. This article will describes this software in more details.
Mellotron price and versions
Mellotron went through various phases of production and series. The very first one was the Mk1 series, followed by Mk2, M300, M400 and MkV and so on until the modern digital Mellotron like M4000. Mellotron price is something around $1999 and so on. You can still find the classic and of course the modern ones. Yet, in case, you are not willing to pay that much for these classic there are some alternatives.
You can easily play or use one of those computer VSTIi (Virtual Instrument Studio Technology) with any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) of your choice like Ableton, Sonar, Fl studio, Cubase and so on.
The design of Nanotron 2
One of the emulator of the Mellotron that is out there, called Nanotron 2. Nanotron 2 is the emulation based on the Mellotron Novatron. This little piece of mini Mellotron emulator is developed by the Dream Vortex Studio for Windows. Dream Vortex is an United Kingdom-based software developer company and brand.
This magnificent little piece contains all the vintage sound just as one of those original Mellotrons. All the sounds were recorded via a Studer A80, which was a recording device all the way back in 1979. Unfortunately, the Ampex 406 tape developed some oxide mess and was transferred to a DAT. Twist has, The DAT was lost and found again in 2002. The sound that comes with Nanotron 2 is three full-blown voice of a male and female choir, string ensemble and the haunting flute.
The interface of Nanotron 2
Amazingly, the Nanotron 2’s sound resembles the original sound of Melltoron, to some degree of course. No amount of modern VSTi or synth sound anything like the original Melltoron unless they use that reel method and develop a synth with absolute vintage Mellotron in mind. Regardless, this mini Nanotron 2 is a two-octave keyboard. So the range kind of runs out suddenly.
Nanotron 2 contains a different interface than the original M400. It has an attack and release knob, whereas original M400 had only volume, tone and pitch knobs. Nanotron provides you with the comfort of manipulating attack and release and a tone controller. The tone controller just makes the sound a little gloomy or bright, almost indistinguishable though. On top of that, you have the mix button with which you can select between the choir, string or flute or blend the way you like.
It is a free plug-in to try and have fun with.