Wonderful Toys: TD's equipment in the '70's

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According to the Q Prog Rock Special magazine feature on the TD Phaedra LP, it was sold to TD because the Rolling Stones never worked out how to use it. I don't know if this actually true though.

Birotron


From http://egrefin.free.fr/eng/mellotron/birotronE.php - lots of pics


After a concert at Carnegie Hall in 1975, Rick Wakeman (Yes's keyboard player) met David Biro, who lived in Connecticut. Biro showed him his invention : an instrument that could play recorded sounds without the downsides of a Mellotron (sounds limited to 8 seconds, impossibility to play fast... ). It was a keyboard connected to twenty 8 track cartridge readers (the same kind of cartridge that was used in auto radios in the seventies, especially in the USA). These cartridges had looped tapes, and didn't need to rewind.

Seduced by the prototype, Rick Wakeman created Birotronics with Peter Robinson. This company was based in England, and its purpose was the production of Birotrons. The price of the machine was

Rick Wakeman is known for having kicked one of his Birotrons off the stage because it refused to do what he wanted it to... but then again, Tony Kaye once kicked a Mini Moog into the audience. Those were the days...

Birotrons are infamous for the godawful noise they make (twenty eight-track cartridges rattling away at the same time produce a sound not unlike a total breakdown of the unit) and for the tapes wearing out rather quickly. Definitely one instrument to avoid like the plague, unless you