M-Audio®, a leading provider of creative tools for musicians, today announced distribution of the new M-Tron Pro  virtual instrument from its software partner GForce. Building on the legacy of the original M-Tron, the M-Tron Pro software delivers hundreds of additional sounds, providing instant access to the distinctive tones popularized by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues, Radiohead* and other luminaries.

The GForce M-Tron Pro 3.5GB sound library features over 200 tape banks (sample sets) including 19 of the original M-Tron tape banks, which have been remastered at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios. The instrument also delivers 45 brand-new tape banks and over 700 patches, many created by professional recording artists and programmers. In addition, M-Tron Pro software features a whole new set of easy yet powerful editing controls and synth-type parameters—taking the Mellotron experience way beyond the original tape-playback keyboard.

"M-Tron Pro is a fantastic update for a vintage instrument, breathing new life into those classic sounds,” said keyboardist Mark Kelly of the progressive rock group Marillon.

“The M-Tron Pro is a vast improvement on the original M-Tron (which I loved),” remarked Terry Lawless, keyboardist and programmer for U2.  

“GForce M-Tron Pro is the holy grail of classic ‘60s and ‘70s sounds,” said Adam Castillo, marketing director at M-Audio. “It offers customers a faithful reproduction of the classic Mellotron instrument, plus a powerful suite of digital sculpting tools and parameters. It’s perfect for musicians and producers who want to shape their own custom sounds—taking vintage inspiration into the future.”

Features
-    200+ total tape banks (sample sets), including:
-    45 brand-new tape banks not found in the original M-Tron
-    19 tape banks from M-Tron virtual instrument, remastered at London’s legendary Abbey Road Studios
-    over 40 looped tape banks
-    over 3.5GB of samples total
-    700+ patches including many created by world-class recording artists and programmers
-    up to 35 notes, each individually sampled
-    dual layer and split keyboard operation
-    programmable MIDI CC response via MIDI Learn
-    controllable via MIDI controllers such as the M-Audio Axiom® and Oxygen models
-    29 parameters per layer including synth parameters:
-    vintage-style ensemble and delay effects
-    low-pass, band-pass and high-pass resonant filter section
-    tape reverse
-    tape half speed
-    dynamic keyboard control, including filter aftertouch
-    supports standalone, RTAS® and VST on Windows XP/SP2, Vista 32, Vista 64
-    supports standalone, RTAS, AU and VST on OSX 10.4.x, OSX 10.5.x

M-Audio is the exclusive worldwide distributor of M-Tron Pro software. The M-Tron Pro virtual instrument is currently expected to be available during the fourth quarter of 2008 at an MSRP of US$199.95.