Sound library MANIKIN ELECTRONIC Vintage Collection

3 Violins

These violins, originally recorded in the early 1950s for the Tron’s predecessor, the CHAMBERLAIN, have become a trademark of the Tron.
Bands like THE MOODY BLUES, MANFRED MANN’S EARTHBAND, OMD and thousands of others made this sound famous. This particular version is taken from an early M 400 model of 1970.

Brass B 02

Just like ”3 Violins” this fat and mighty sounding mix of trombone, saxophone and a trumpet was a big hit in the 1960s and 1970s. At first only available in the ’’big” Mkll Tron, this 1970 version soon became a part of the standard tapeframe in early M 400s. GENESIS used it for the apocalyptic ’’SUPPER’S READY”-brass parts on their way to ”A New Jerusalem”.

M 300 Strings B 03

The M 300, a ’’more portable” follow-up of the 350 lbs weighted Mkll, was not a big commercial success. Nevertheless, bands like GENTLE GIANT or BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST got excited about The M 300 because of its expressive strings. This blend of cello, viola and solo violin produces an amazing, melancholic sound, much different from the ”3 Violins”. Both work very well in combination, too.

Church Organ 04

Birmingham’s mighty ”St John’s Wood”-pipe-organ with powerful sounding bass pedals in lower voicing finally offered sacred sounding size to rock bands like ASIA to make their songs even more bombastic.

Male Female Split Choir 05

The lower half of the keyboard contains four male voices per key, the upper half respectively four female voices of the famous Ted Taylor Choir. Very flexible in use, the ’’Split Choir” offers the option to combine both parts to the famous ”8 Choir”.

GENESIS 8 Choir 06

Thanks to bands like GENESIS or YES this powerful mix of Ted Taylor’s four male and four female choir voices (which was originally only named ”8 Choir”) became a worldwide synonym for an excellent sounding choir.

String Orchestra 07

This unique combination of cello and six violins has everything one would expect from a dense string pad: character, warmth and power. A vintage timbre that can easily stand up against modern, often a bit sterile sounding string-recordings. First introduced by THE MOODY BLUES, the ’’Flute” became very soon the popular flute sound of the psychedelic ’’Age of Aquarius” when the BEATLES used it in the intro of their ’’Strawberry Fields Forever”. Thanks to its artefacts, the slightly different attacks and levels on every key, it perfectly works as a reminder to the early PINK FLOYD and the 1967’s PRETTY THINGS.

Cello 09

The regarded British cello player Reginald Kirby was involved in the recordings of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” and ’’Eleanor Rigby”. It was him who recorded this powerful cello sound for the Tron at the London IBC Studio. Since the lowest note on the cello was a ”C” and detuning his instrument was rejected as “unethical” (quote), a stringed bass was used instead for the low notes.

Mkll 3 Violins 10

Unlike other Tron models the big Midi from the early 1960s made use of a tube preamp which provided a different sound than the later, transistorized models. Especially the (differently equalized) strings benefited from the tube preamp and gained a very specific character that has become highly popular with many ’’Troniacs”.

String Section (Viola) 11

The powertool for orchestra-lovers. This recording of violins, cello and one viola is so powerful that it should be used quite carefully. The ’’Mighty Tron” became very soon known as an instrument that enables its player to impress people with just one single keystroke. The ’’String Section” is the best proof for it.

Mkll,Crimson* 3 Violins 12

When Robert Fripp’s KING CRIMSON came up in 1969 with their ground breaking album ”In the Court of The Crimson King”, progressive rock was born. Only few people knew that the incredibly dense orchestral sounds were producead by two Trons and not by a real orchestra. Finally, this genuine reproduction of that famous sound will take you easily from the ’’COURT of THE CRIMSON KING” on the ’’WAKE of POSEIDON” to ”EPITAPH“.