EZKeys Mellotoon

http://www.timespace.com/...+&utm_medium=email
 
http://www.toontrack.com/product/ezkeys-mellotoon/

Either you like the Mellotron or you don't.  Nowadays, I suppose that real string sounds are widely available but if you want that 60s - 70s sound of what we used to have deal with when we wanted strings and didn't want to deal with a thin sounding Farfisa or some other string machine - here you go.  Don't have an opinion of how usable the midi is because I usually can play in a pad or one finger it in.  
 
One thing to try is to bring up the flutes and try not to peck out the intro to "Strawberry Fields".  Couldn't resist it.  

They were horrendously unreliable, Rick Wakeman ceremoniously burned two of his!
  
But there was nothing quite like it. I love the sound that dominated the bands I was into in in the early 70s. King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Strawbs, BJH, Greenslade and a host of others.
 
That said its an odd choice of EZ Keys concept, for the most part it’s a sound for block chords and counter melody lines. I am not sure the MIDI would be useful. The market is quite crowded.
 
To date M-Tron Pro is the most versatile Mellotron emulation but Hollow Sun's Newtron Bomb II is the beast for real raw power. The updated Newtron Bomb III added a lot of refinements but I still prefer the earlier version.
 
I thought UVI Mello was pretty poor in comparison, as is the Tron Kapsul for Infinity player. I am reluctant to mention Sample Tron for fear of causing someone to start foaming at the mouth and falling over backwards.
 

You gotta love the name though - Mello-TOON.. Like TOON tracks.. Get it?  (I just crack myself up sometimes)

I love the EZKeys for making quick sketching and for dropping patterns in a song, but I think the price point for the mellotron is too high. It is kind of gimmiky. Mod is right, You can't use the flutes because your going to end up doing strawberry fields or in my case attempting to do it.
 
EZKEYS is also great for building a chord sequence and dragging it to a silent chord mode of a guitar vst then use the keyboard to strum or finger pick. 

You can buy the expansion if you own any other ezkeys.

Bonzos Ghost
Heh....I know what JPJ was talking about....I was standing very close to the front of the stage at a Zeppelin concert back in the 70's.  They were playing "The Rain Song". Half way through the song, sparks erupted out of the back of the Mellotron JPJ was playing and it died instantly.

A Spinal Tap moment! 
 
But hey, if you're really Bonzo's ghost, wouldn't you have been towards the back of the stage? 
 
Anyway, it's amazing those things ever worked at all, given the sheer mechanical complexity.  Ah, the days before digital ... we sometimes forget how good we have it now.
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 

Bonzos Ghost
I find it hilarious these days that people whine about having to haul around a laptop and 3 or 4 pieces of hardware because it doesn't all fit in their backpack. I used to haul a truck load of gear to gigs...and that was just my keyboard rig. (Of course back then, it was usually a Monday to Saturday gig, not a one night nighter.)

 
There's a guy who undoubtedly has some cool stories to tell ...
 
Obligatory on-topic comment:  the Mellotoon sounds pretty good, but I suspect there are Kontakt libraries that would be a much better value, such as the one by Hollow Sun that Glyn mentioned.  Assuming one runs the full version of Kontakt.
 
Cheers,
Eddie
 
 

Only thing missing in any of the Mellotron romplers is the liquid real time audio rendering of the original mess. Don't know how significant this is regarding the endpoint sound, but must weigh in the hardware limitations/ contributions as we regress from the prototype.
 
The original hardware was a wash of imperfections. Wow, flutter and whatever else could fail in the mechanical nightmare.
 
We can't recreate this chaos with sterile digital samples.
 
Cudos for the Tool guys for offering their interpretation for sale.  In my estimation, overpriced, remote from the original mark.
 
Can get many free mellotrons if you need a sterile sampler Synth Edit origin. As was advised by Cecilius, if you want a good mellotron commercial plug, go for M-Tron Pro. Tools is cool, but spend the cash elsewhere with better representation and versatility, given their asking price.
 
John