The Mellotron soon grew in popularity amongst rock musicians – The Beatles most famously used it on “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and other spotlights include the strings on David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” the signature cellos of Oasis’ “Wonderwall,” and the choir sounds in Radiohead’s “Exit Music (For a Film).” The Mellotron MK1 was released in 1963, and Chamberlin and Mellotronics subsequently agreed out-of-court to continue manufacturing each instrument independently. They formed a new company, Mellotronics, and recorded full orchestras for the product launch. However, in 1962, Chamberlin’s sales agent Bill Fransen spoke with employees of the tape engineering company Bradmatic Ltd, who decided to create their own copy of the instrument with the misunderstanding that the owner of the concept was Fransen, rather than Chamberlin. Harry Chamberlin originally developed and patented a keyboard that could play tape loops in the 1940s.

The Mellotron could be considered the music industry’s first sampler, with a history that’s as complex as the original machine itself. In this blog post, let’s explore seven of these emulations and their analog counterparts, including three keyboards that are brand-new additions to V Collection’s roster. Each instrument featured in V Collection 8 is legendary in its own right, possessing a rich history and unmistakable sound. Mapping out every circuit, component, and nuance, V Collection 8 boasts meticulous emulations of a whopping 28 classic keyboards. Illustration: Yann Bastard V Collection is Arturia’s acclaimed synth, organ, piano, and performance keyboard anthology.

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