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The GForce MkII celebrates the extremely rare and highly coveted original dual manual 'trons, the Mellotron® MkI/MkII and Chamberlin® Musicmaster.
Whilst M-Tron Pro IV continues to focus on the chromatic sounds of the Mellotron M400 and is probably the first 'tron you'll want, its GForce MkII sibling is a unique and exclusive library with specialist tools for tackling the rhythms, accompaniments, and unique playing styles found in earlier Mellotrons MkI/MkII and Chamberlins.
Originally conceived as the ultimate Home Entertainment Console, the UK-made 1963 Mellotron MkI/MkII was a dual-manual tape-based instrument. The left manual’s 35 notes replayed a combination of 18 Rhythms and Accompaniments (66 on the GForce MkII*), and the right manual (also 35 notes) replayed 18 lead sounds (66 on MkII*).
GForce MkII was designed for composers and producers who want access to the evocative tones of the original dual manual Chamberlin®, Mellotron® MkI, and MkII instruments. Special emphasis was placed on the Rhythms and Accompaniments, which capture a moment in time between the 1950s and late 1960s.
Under each key of the original MkII was over 40 feet of magnetic tape. At the press of a button, a scrolling mechanism would move that tape so that one of six different sections could be replayed. These sections are referred to as ‘Stations’ and each conformed to a specific style, musical key and tempo. Obviously, it was impossible on the original to mix and match Rhythms and/or Accompaniments from different Stations.
GForce MkII keeps this methodology, but adds ways where Rhythms and Accompaniments from different Stations can be mixed and matched, vastly increasing the possible permutations and flexibility of the instrument. GForce MkII also offers the ability to retune an entire bank while maintaining the host tempo.
What’s more, GForce MkII features a Dual Rhythm Mode where you can layer two Rhythms and Accompaniments from the Chamberlin and Mellotron MkI & II to create a fusion of hybrid rhythms and motifs. Care has been taken not to iron out the character of the original tapes so the contrast between US and UK recordings is a joy to behold… warts and all.
King Hussein of Jordan, Princess Margaret & L Ron Hubbard bought into the MkII’s Home Entertainment concept. But in much the same way as a younger generation reshaped music using Roland TB-303’s & TR-909’s in fresh and imaginative ways, so too did The Beatles, The Moody Blues, King Crimson, Genesis and The Rolling Stones, who catapulted its magnificently grainy tones into the public consciousness via Strawberry Fields Forever, The Court Of The Crimson King, Watcher of the Skies, Nights In White Satin and 2000 Light Years From Home.
All the sounds on the GForce MkII are sourced from the MkI, MkII and Chamberlin Tape Archive curated by Martin Smith who prepared the recordings for this project. With these tapes undergoing extensive, but sympathetic tape restoration and tempo remapping, on GForce MkII both microphone and DI’d recorded versions of the lead tapes now sit side-by-side with combinations of rhythms and accompaniments, the latter of which can be synchronised to your host tempo and transposed to fit into your own compositions.
* Some sounds appeared on both the MkI and MkII.
Mac – supported formats
Mac – minimum system requirements
PC – supported formats
PC – minimum system requirements
Your purchase includes a product key, delivered by email. Register and install it as follows:
Legal notice: All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are the property of their respective owners. M-Tron Pro is a trademark of GForce Software. Mellotron and Chamberlin are trademarks attributed to Markus Resch. The GForce MkII software incorporates élastique Pro V3 technology by zplane development. All references to third-party trademarks are for identification purposes only and do not imply affiliation or endorsement.
