> Right about now we’d usually just be returning from our annual NAMM pilgrimage where we all claim to have been in LA for a week finding out about all the latest music tech releases. The reality is this massive music gear show is in the rather less majestic Anaheim and, secondly, it’s been postponed until May because of, well, you know what. But that’s not stopped some companies releasing some great products so here are three of the best, including a sad goodbye to an iconic orchestral series…
First up, news of a new G-Force plugin. The Gear of 2021 winners (for OB-E) don’t usually release many plugins so are really spoiling us with two in two years. The M-Tron MkII is, as G-Force say, “a celebration of an instrument based on the insanely rare and highly coveted original mother of all ‘trons, the Mellotron MkI/MkII”. This was a tape-based instrument that originally came out in 1963 and went on to be used on recordings by The Beatles, Genesis and The Stones but, even more interestingly, was also used by King Hussein of Jordan, Princess Margaret and L Ron Hubbard. How we’d have loved to have seen those three in concert together. Anyway, the new plugin features restored tape recordings from the original Chamberlin and Mellotrons MkI and MkII over 132 tape banks (some unreleased) and 150 patches. It’s not cheap at £299 but there is an intro price of £249.