EHX Mel 9

[zoooombiex]

dying for a demo not done by the (very sick and talented) old geezers over at EHX... i mean this is 2016!! no one is playing the strawberry fields forever intro anymore

really? that's news to me

i mean it's FUN to play and of course u will do it at first but i bet the mel9 can do such awesome fantasy sounds. just interested in seeing some more creativity i guess

yeah, I'm just razzing you. it's always the obligatory reference piece for any mellotron flute demo. but i'm looking forward to seeing what else it can do too

[Psyre]

Mine shipped today. I'm gonna play SFF intro this week and next week both.

[popvulture]

Much like a bunch of 12 year old boys who won't admit that they've discovered the art of rubbing one out, we're all gonna play Strawberry Fields on the Mel in private. Don't lie, sinners.

[D.o.S.]

NOT IF WE CANT PLAY IT AT ALL WE WONT

[Jero]

NOT IF WE CANT PLAY IT AT ALL WE WONT

YEA!

[zoooombiex]

Got mine today. Some clips are below. I've only used it with keys so far (EDIT: guitar comments added at the end), but in terms of first impressions:

1. Some of the simulations are pretty close - cello, strings, and voices. The sax and brass not so much. I have a M4000D and I did a quick comparison to the Mel9. Clip below. i went for the most similar patch I could find on the M4000D, not necessarily my favorite patch. Note in the brass comparison there is a patch that's pretty close to the Mel9, but then at the end I briefly played another patch on the M4000D that is much more natural sounding, just for contrast. And I don't have an "orchestra" patch on the M4000D, so I skipped that.

I divided the instruments between the left and right channels. The M4000D starts first for each instrument. And just for you folks, I ONLY played SFF for the flutes.

https://soundcloud.com/haassauce-1/ehx- ... ron-m4000d

2. It has some polyphony issues. It's not so much the number of notes, but the complexity of the chord. Anything with a half-step interval is problematic, as is a natural 7th. Sometimes it gurgles and sputters out, particularly with a half-step, and sometimes (particularly with a 7th) it generates a tone an octave lower in addition to the octave up, as though it is confused about the lower note you were already playing. I made a clip showing some of these issues. For most basic chords it doesn't have any issues though.

https://soundcloud.com/haassauce-1/ehx-mel9-polyphony

3. In terms of triggering and tracking, it can be a little touchy. I'm using a rhodes that's decently - but not perfectly - regulated. Volume variations that are fine with the natural sound of the rhodes can sometimes lead to drastically different levels (or no triggering at all) with the Mel9. Also, on lower notes, it takes a fraction of a second to catch the right note - see the beginning of the polyphony clip where there is a slight slur to the individual notes at the bottom.

Tracking clip:
https://soundcloud.com/haassauce-1/ehx-mel9-tracking

4. It sometimes has a high-pitched clicky-sound. You can hear that a lot in the polyphony clip. It's worse on the complex chords that seem to confuse it, but it also shows up in other places. And it doesn't seem to be clipping, because (a) the output level is at a normal instrument level that doesn't clip my other effects, and (b) it doesn't always happen at the beginning of a sound when it's loudest - sometimes it comes in after a second or so. I need to investigate this further.

Overall, a nice pedal so far within its limitations & design parameters. I don't really use these sounds to try to mimic the actual instruments, but more as an abstract/alternative voice, often manipulated through effects. I think for that type of use, it will be great. (E.g. if you hold quickly cycle through the rotary knob of voices while playing, you get some very interesting results.)

When I get another chance I'll see how it does on guitar.


EDIT: I had a little time to try it on guitar, but not to get any recordings. I think most of the issues noted above are still present on guitar, but not as prominent due to the nature of the instrument.

-If you play chords down low on the neck with a lot of close intervals, it will still gurgle and fizzle. But higher up on the neck it handles them better. You almost have to try to confuse it on guitar, whereas on keys (more simultaneous notes, easier to combine close intervals) you almost have to avoid it.

-tracking is about the same. on very low notes, you can still hear some 'slur' right as it grabs the note. but about the same speed overall as a POG or Ravish, as I suspected. interestingly, if you half-release a note, you can often get it to slur back down a little, like you pushed it flat.

-the high-pitched clicky noise is still there sometimes. not sure what that is.

-i wish the sustain control had more range on the low end. a mellotron has an extremely abrupt cut-off when you release a note, but on the Mel9 even with the sustain all the way down and muting notes as fast as possible, there is still a little decay. I noticed this on the rhodes, but thought maybe the dampers weren't muting the note fast enough, but it's the same on guitar.

-some instruments (i'm thinking of sax in particular) have a window on the neck where they sound pretty similar to the mellotron, and then outside that they get a little funky.

-from a overall playing perspective, i was left with the feeling that the pedal mated better with the guitar, but with a lot of interesting potential on both.

[backwardsvoyager]

interesting... thanks for the info!
i wonder how much the gurgling/sputtering with intervals would change between rhodes and guitar, i'm thinking maybe it might not be as noticeable on guitar since that's seemingly the input timbre they've tailored it for?
some of the garbled noises were kind of horrible and some of them were really cool, seems like the sort of thing that can be finicky but really great if you learn your way around it.

[zoooombiex]

interesting... thanks for the info!
i wonder how much the gurgling/sputtering with intervals would change between rhodes and guitar, i'm thinking maybe it might not be as noticeable on guitar since that's seemingly the input timbre they've tailored it for?
some of the garbled noises were kind of horrible and some of them were really cool, seems like the sort of thing that can be finicky but really great if you learn your way around it.

I was wondering that too, and added some comments on guitar above. The issue is still there with guitar, but it's much less likely to come up.

And I agree on the latter point - sometimes you get some cool bendy/twisted/gurgly noises, and sometimes it sort of craps out. It seems somewhat controllable based on how dissonant and low the chord is and how hard you hit it, but would take me some more work to get a predictable handle on it!

[stripes]

cool info! makes sense that it would have tracking quirks... i still don't understand how these crazy keyboard guitar pedals work after the POG series.

this seems like a fun pedal but for me i think i'll just stick to my mellotron app. sounds just as good to me :P

[BoatRich]

I've been messing with one at work a ton over the past couple of days and the guitarist in one of my bands is picking one up. The choir settings are rad and the strings are super dramatic. Tracking is wonky on really complex chords but solid otherwise.

[Confuzzled]

I've been messing with one at work a ton over the past couple of days and the guitarist in one of my bands is picking one up. The choir settings are rad and the strings are super dramatic. Tracking is wonky on really complex chords but solid otherwise.

are there any internal trim pots to adjust the sensitivity or tweak the overall performance??

[BoatRich]

I haven't opened it up but if it looks like the c/b/key 9 on the inside I doubt it

[Jero]

Tracking is wonky on really complex chords but solid otherwise.

Finally, a Pro to not knowing any

[zoooombiex]

found a really fun use for the mel9. if you like semi-random ambient background loops, it's great to run them in the mel9, particularly when the effected loop is in parallel. easy way to re-voice the loop, and the tracking issues can add a nice glitchy smear in that context. the brass patch can also add a nice tone swell with the attack turned up.

[Pop]

Oh man I'm GLAD that it gurgles and sputters. Thought it might end up being too pristine. I'm serious.