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Nord Wave User Manual v1.1
Mellotron Sound Library
Some of the Sample Instruments in the Nord Wave Flash
memory comes from the legendary Mellotron, a classic
keyboard instrument that changed the music history. We
are very proud to be able to incorporate the first part of the
Mellotron Soundbank for the Nord Wave.
Please visit our website at www.clavia.se for further news
on the release of additional sound banks for the Nord
Wave.
What about those sounds?
the original sounds from the various Mellotron models
could be called the very first sample library, before anyone
even knew what these words were going to mean. these
sounds have a very distinct and wonderful quality to them
- earthy, organic and different are words that come to
mind.
the sounds in the Nord Wave library originates from the
master tapes that Clavia has licensed. these tapes were
then used to create original sound banks for a brand new
Mellotron, manufactured with original tape heads, cap-
stans, electronics etc. and from this brand new, exquisite
instrument, the sounds were recorded using state of the
art technology.
after many hours of editing and looping with the Nord
Wave Manager, the samples finally made it to a Nord Wave,
and then to this Cd.
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.
Condensed Mellotron Story
tape replay keyboard instruments were invented in the late
1950’s by harry Chamberlin. In the early 1960’s one of his
employees took a Chamberlin Musicmaster 600 (a dual-
manual machine with 36 sounds) to the UK. this became
the blueprint of the Mellotron MkI. It had the same basic
layout as the Chamberlin 600 with 2 manuals, the left one
having rhythm tracks to be played as a background, and
the right one having lead sounds like strings, flute and lots
of organ sounds.
It was basically intended to be a home organ, like a home
entertainment center where someone without music skills
could sound like an orchestra. Unfortunately it was very
hard to play rhythms like that, even for trained musicians,
and together with some technical flaws and bad engineer-
ing it wasn’t too much of a success - many of the first series
of instruments had to be taken back to the factory and
upgraded from MkI to MkII. Luckily young and creative
professional musicians had become interested in the Mel-
lotron, and the MkII became extremely popular amongst
pop/rock groups in the late 1960’s: Manfred Mann, Beatles,
rolling Stones, Moody Blues, King Crimson and others.
the Mellotron company later created the M400, a smaller
instrument very similar to the one used in this presenta-
tion. this instrument was used on the road and in the
studio during the 1970’s by Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd,
Genesis, Yes, deep Purple, aerosmith, Wings, david Bowie,
Kraftwerk and others. during later years it has been used
by oasis, Primal Scream, radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins,
red hot Chili Peppers, U2, Nelly Furtado, air, rEM, Manic
Street Preachers etc. through the extremely successful
music of these groups and artists the Mellotron sound has
been widely spread, and even though most people don’t
know that it’s a Mellotron, they’ve heard it’s sound.
History of the Mellotron sounds
the MkI instrument had two 35 key manuals, the left one
having 6 banks of rhythms and fills and the right one lead
sounds. the tapes were 3/8” 3-track just like the Chamber-
lin 600. the recordings for the Mellotron MkI were made
during 1962 and 1963 and were supervised by big band
leader Eric robinson, who also had substantial involvement
in the Mellotron company. they consisted of 18 rhythms
and fills sounds and 18 leads sounds. there were also some
more rhythms and fills recorded that were not used for the
MkI.
When the MkI was upgraded into the MkII the decision
was made to re-record many of the sounds. the only lead
sounds that were kept were the Flute, the Vibraphone and
the French accordion. also the 3 Violins sound from the
Chamberlin 600 was used in a slightly eq’d form, and ironi-
cally this became by far the most widely used Mellotron
sound. among the rhythms the afro Cuban was replaced
by the Cuban, the Slow Fox trot and the Samba was re-
recorded, the rhythms 6/8 tempo in F and twist in C were
added and numerous of the fills were changes.
during 1966 the decision was made to create an entirely
new single-manual instrument that was named the M300.
It had a 52 key a-C keyboard making another re-recording
of all sounds necessary. the left 17 keys mostly had
rhythms and fills and the remaining 35 lead sounds. the
machine had 2-track 1/4” tape and 6 banks.
these recordings were made during 1966 and 1967. the
only sounds that covered the whole keyboard were the
strings, the piano and the organ sound. the M300 was
produced between 1968 and 1970 and towards the end,
some of the sounds were replaced. the string sound was
changed and the Bossa Nova, the Medium Foxtrot and
the low part of the strings were replaced with Pop1 and
Pop2 rhythms and a 6/8 tempo rhythm. the leader of these
recordings was also in this case Eric robinson.
In 1970 the M400 Mellotron was created. It had a single
manual 35 key G-F keyboard, meaning that the MkI and
MkII sound libraries could be used. the machine used
3-track 3/8 tape and had interchangeable tape frames. that
meant that the sound library could be expanded according
to taste. this instrument was also the first Mellotron specifi-
cally made for professional musicians.
the new sounds for the M400 library were recorded during
the 70’s, but of course some MkII sounds were still used,
most notably the 3 Violins, the Flute and the MkII Brass. the
most well known sound introduced with the M400 was the
8 Voice Choir, even giving the Mellotron company a sales
boost.
