an ingenious way of working. Such a shame that the mechanical nature of the beast led to chronic unreliability, especially with those prog-rockers who would insist on lugging them around the world on their noisy pop tours. Has that choir sound ever been bettered though?

Z

I say, that Jeff Unwin chap's a bit racy, what? Should get a damned haircut if you ask me; too many of these blasted "rock and reelers" around for my liking.

I always wanted a Mellotron as a child, mostly as a result of hearing my Dad's Moody Blues albums. Happily, I now have one... sort of.

It's really hard to get a working Mellotron these days, and as pointed out by other posters they are very mechanically unreliable. There are a bunch of modern versions that would let you have that Mellotron sound in your own home without the hassle.

There's a computer-based version (runs happily in Garageband) called the M-Tron made by GForce software and is about £40 from your friendly musical instrument emporium. You can even get all those Yes/ Genesis/ Roxy Music custom sounds for it. And it has those lovely 60s rhythms (one of which is the basis for "Trick Me" by Kelis).

Alternatively you can buy a digital Mellotron - the Memotron. All the sounds in a digital box with keys, yours for a cool £1,500 plus shipping.

Lastly, they are actually making new Mellotrons now - completely with tape sets - but it's pricey. $6800 in white and $7100 in black.

...I don't have one but I kind of recreated the sound on my keyboard. It is very hard to get that 'creakiness' on a digital keyboard though. Robert Fripp made a classic comment on the legendary unreliability of these- 'tuning a mellotron doesn't'.

As for favourite mellotron moments:

Genesis- Watcher Of The Skies (this began an obsession with both Genesis and the mighty 'tron that lasts to this day- heard in a keyboard lesson and it literally blew me away), Firth Of Fifth, Entangled
Steve Hackett- Hands Of The Priestess
King Crimson- Epitaph, In The Court Of The Crimson King
The Moody Blues- Beyond, Have You Heard/The Voyage, Legend Of A Mind
Barclay James Harvest- She Said
The Strawbs- Grave New World, Hero And Heroine
Spring (long forgotten prog gem)- The Prisoner, Grail
Yes- And You And I, Close To The Edge, The Gates Of Delirium, The Revealing Science Of God
Led Zeppelin- The Rain Song
Van Der Graaf Generator- Plague Of Lighthouse Keepers (there's a bit in this where it is put to terrifying use)
Roxy Music- Ladytron (some nice atmospheric stuff on this one)

Fascinating clip that,like the comment: "That's fine for the quickstep Dave!". It's a marvel they ever worked at all, such was their complexity. I wonder how much one pays for one these days?

Is that the chap used to have a magic show on TV back in the 70s? Looks a bit like him to me (the one playing first).