UVI is proud to announce availability of Mello

Audio production sounds and software producer UVI is proud to announce availability of Mello, an authentic-sounding software recreation of the tape-based pioneering precursor to today’s ubiquitous sampling instruments, as of August 3…

Mello is the latest addition to UVI’s stable of award-winning software instruments. As such, UVI has strove to deliver a complete and authentic-sounding software recreation of the popular music landscape-changing 350lb behemoth beloved by The Beatles — think ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ — and countless others, including The Moody Blues, classic prog-rock era Genesis and Yes, as well as electronic music trailblazers Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream during their so-called ‘Berlin School’ days. Yes, this was the ‘must-have’ sound of the ’60s and ’70s. And while it inevitably fell out of favour as technology marched onwards and upwards, its implications became fundamental to modern music production — so much so that those retro sounds eventually found themselves back in fashion in the new Millennium and beyond with the likes of Brit- poppers Oasis and experimentalist rockers Radiohead leading the nostalgic way.

In that spirit, UVI has paid tribute to the quintessential instrument in question by multi-sampling dozens of original tapes on three different machines to produce the best representation of each of the 28 available sounds within Mello. These include: Brass, CelestaAndVoice, Cello1, Cello2, ChoirFemale, ChoirMale, ChoirTron, ChurchOrgan1, ChurchOrgan2, ChurchOrgan3, Clarinet, Flute1, Flute2, Guit12Str, GuitElectricA, GuitElectricB, GuitSpanish, Harp, Oboe, Piano, Sax, Strings1, Strings2, Strings3, Strings4, Vibraphone1, Vibraphone2, and Viola.

What’s more, with Mello UVI has gone the extra mile to recreate the live experience of key and inner mechanical noise by capturing stereo recordings of tape noise and key-off sounds for added authenticity. All are mixable to taste. But that’s not all…

UVI has made the thoroughly modern Mello more versatile than the historic hardware instrument it draws its inspiration from by also adding an analogue-modelled tape delay, built-in Sparkverb (reverb), three-band EQ (with sweepable mid frequency), switchable multimode filter (with cutoff and resonance), ADSR envelopes (for amplitude and filter with velocity sensitivity), and a custom unison mode (to provide stereo sound without unwanted transposition or chorusing).

Today, thanks to Mello, accessing all those distinctive sounds in the studio and onstage is no longer the backbreaking trial that it once was, so surely roadies will be thankful for that breakthrough alone!

On a more serious note, John Lennon literally defined the Mellotron’s magical sound in the swinging ’60s with ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. In the spirit of John — and the Lennons’ ongoing humanitarian efforts, UVI is pledging to match donations made by its customers to the Japanese Red Cross to help survivors of the Fukushima earthquake over the next three months, during which time Mello (MSRP: $99.00 USD) will be available for free. So why not enjoy the superlative sounds of Mello and help make a difference to those in need?

Mello is available for free from here: http://www.uvi.net/vintage-corner/mello.html

(Feel free to make a donation to the Japanese Red Cross and help the Fukushima earthquake survivors.)

Note: Mello requires an iLok USB smart key — check out our FREE iLok offer (http://www.uvi.net/store/ilok-smart-key.html), an iLok account (http://www.ilok.com), and the latest version (2.1.5) of the free UVI Workstation (http://www.uvi.net/content/113-downloads) or MOTU’s MachFive 3.