Somewhere - Melotone Demo

The melotone was an innovative 1930s electronic voice, included on many Compton theatre organs as an additional 'rank'. The organ at Wyton House was originally in the Astoria Cinema, Southend and included a melotone. After the move to Wyton House the melotone was sold and attached to another Compton. This melotone has now been sampled and digitally reunited with the Wyton House sample set, to recreate the specification of the Astoria organ, as recorded here.

The melotone can be played with or without vibrato. This recording uses vibrato, which is generated using a mechanical eccentric-and-rod mechanism and so is much more regular than a tremulant. As in this demo, the Melotone can be used as a solo voice and in ensemble, so Compton specified that the vibrato frequency should match the trem rate of the Tibia termulant. Despite many years of separation, their two frequencies still match.