Mellotron choice: Hollow Sun Newtron Bomb vs others

I too would wonder about this as I am thinking bout getting the sampletron deal for $30 at audiodeluxe. I already have some samples of tron strings in the free sample tank player and they seem pretty good I am wondering if there are better samples in the paid version

Glyn Barnes

Newtron Bomb has less sounds than some of the other offerings and sounds a lot more raw. Never having my hands on a real Mellotron it can't say for sure but I believe it will be the closest to the sound that comes straight out of a Mellotron. About the only compromise is some NKI's are looped so they don't cut out after 8 seconds like the real thing and the addition of a couple of filters, delay and reverb on the front panel.

I have the G Force M-Tron pro is nice with lots of polished presets, maybe just too polished and nice. Its 32 bit, but works well with Bitbridge. There are some expansion packs, the Streetly Tapes looks interesting.

I also have the Infinity player Tron samples from eSoundz, I am glad I only paid $11 for them when they were on sale as they don't match the other two. I have not tried SampleTron.

If you are going for Newtron Bomb consider the Prog Pack bundle, you get some very nice string machines, a CP70 piano and some seismic Moog Taurus bass peddle samples. Also thrown in are some basic but usable RMI, Pianette, Wurlitzer 200 and Hammond B3 samples,

Thanks for this review.  I remember playing with the M-400 back in the early 70's.  The G Force M-Tron Pro looks very tempting because it is has the "open" under the hood features like delay, filters, etc which make it more tweakable, but then less authentic.  However, it cost considerably more than Newtron Bomb and I have never seen it on sale.  Does G-Force ever have sales?


    Hollow Sun has a niche for the vintage and odd sounding audio relics.   I somehow expect them to do a Tron right and keep the imperfections of the instrument, but then they don't come with all the added bells and whistles under the "open" hood.   The Newtron Bomb is so affordable that it is very tempting to get it.  Sure wish they had a demo.  

[[Oh, I just remembered that G-Force does have a demo of its M-Tron Pro.  I am going to try it out first to see if it is worth the extra $$$.---edited:  I can't get the M-Tron Pro to download--it has a "Try it" button but it does not work.  Anybody tried it and got it to download?]]

Again, thanks for this comparison.  This is helpful.  You got me thinking.

I actually have all three - G Force, Sampletron and Hollow Sun.
G Force used to be my go to but since I have gone 64bit I have had issues with this product - even tried it with Jbridge but it is still prone to doing strange things from time to time. I just hope they go 64bit soon as I love all their products - another one of their products I can't use at the moment is String Machine - I have replaced this with Vintage Strings from Hollow Sun!!!
So now I use either Sampletron or Newtron.
I would say Newtron is the more authentic of the two.
Sampletron lets you do lots of things you could never do with the original.
I think you can make both sound very good.
If I had to choose one I am really not sure which I would go for - both are very good - perhaps Sampletron has more content and flexibility.

Nigel

Bajan Blue

I actually have all three - G Force, Sampletron and Hollow Sun.
G Force used to be my go to but since I have gone 64bit I have had issues with this product - even tried it with Jbridge but it is still prone to doing strange things from time to time. 

Thanks for this about the 64 bit issue.  I only run 64bit Sonar now.  So I need it to work with bitbridge or J-Bridge.

Anyone else having trouble using G-Force M-Tron Pro with bitbridge or J-Bridge in 64bit Sonar?  Anyone having success running it in Sonar X1 64?

cecelius2


Presets?   One other issue:  How many patches/presets are in the Hollow Sun Newtron Bomb?  I know that there are 500+ in G-Force M-Tron Pro, but have no clue how many are in the Newtron Bomb and it is not described in any detail on the Hollow Sun page [While I like the ethos of the Hollow Sun site, it does not have many specs on the instruments which would help].

The Newtron Bomb does not have a lot of presets. I am not anywhere near my DAW at the moment but i am guessing there may be 20 NKIs, each from a tape bank. The banks chosen are arguably the most useful, particularly for the progressive rock and rock genres.
 
 
M-Tron Pro claims to have 200 tape banks about 10 times Newtron Bomb, so there is more raw material but some of those are the cheesy rhythm banks and less inspiring piano and guitar banks. M-Tron pro has a lot more presets made from layers and processed sets. For example you can call up a boys choir and strings patch in M-Tron pro, but you could do the same thing with Newtron Bomb and layer the two (or more) NKIs If you want to process you then have all the Kontakt effects at your disposal, either on each layer or globally, or set up separate outs and use your favorite VSTs.
 
Two nice features on the M-Tron pro are half-speed and reverse tape.
 
As to sound, M-Tron pro sounds more polished where Newtron Bomb is more raw, strident and powerful.
 
What we have here are two excellent products.  I am glad I have both, which is "best" come down to the requirments of a particular track.
  
 
I have had no issues running M-Tron pro in 64 bit Sonar 8.5 using Bitbridge. I am still not using X-1 in anger but I did not encounter any problems there either. The lack of a 64 bit version has however kept suppressed my GAS when it comes to the streetly tapes expansion.

8 second tape limitation or continuous play?  

I know that the Newtron Bomb does not have the 8 second limit of the original, but does the G-Force M-Tron Pro have the 8 second limit?  If so, does it have an option for looped/continuous play?  

Just trying to get as much info as possible before purchase.  Thanks.

I asked GForce about the loops that would not be limited by the 8 second tape feature of the original and received an email with stating that there is a looped section.  They supplied a picture, but I can't upload it.

Again, thanks again to all who gave advice