I got this for my studio as I often need Mellotron sounds for the music I'm producing and I don't enjoy the workflow of soft synths/plugins as much as hardware with physical knobs. Also, I won't have to re-install it every time I get a new PC for my studio.
This is a very expensive piece of equipment for sounds that you can get 100% equally good from a plugin so the workflow was the main selling point for me. Unfortunately the user interface is HORRIBLE and completely outdated. Just changing to a different sound requires a lot of menu diving and every time you load a new sound you're thrown back to the top of the menu system. If you want to load a different sound you'll have to dive through all the menus again (although you can have three sounds simultaniously loaded at all times, like on a real Mellotron). Using the onboard effects and tweaking the sounds is a nightmare!
The onboard effects wasn't really that important to me. I've got other, better quality effects in my studio. I also rarely find the need to tweak the envelope of Mellotron sounds so the "extra" features weren't my main reason for buying the M2D. I just wanted an easy to use "hands on" piece of hardware that could give me authentic Mellotron sounds. Unfortunately the hopeless user interface actually makes the workflow less effective than using a plugin. The effects section and the various ways to tweaks the sounds requires so much menu diving in a HORRIBLY outdated menu system that I can't se myself ever bothering to use them.
Luckily you can save a kind of presets in the form of "frames" which can be useful it you often use certain combinations of sounds with specific effects.
Still, the M2D is a very frustrating piece of equipment to use due to the horrible outdated menu system. I would NEVER use it for touring/gigs. It's far too complicated to even change between sounds and I would hate to rely on this on stage. In the studio it's ok but there are no real benefits compared to using a Mellotron plugin if you've got other hardware/plugins for effects.
The included sounds are very nice and there are several great packages of additional sounds that can be purchased at an extra cost. These extra sounds come on a CD though and the only way to load them into the M2D is on an SD card. This means you will need access to computer with both a CD drive and an SD card reader. This is ridiculously outdated. The process of importing the sounds also takes FOREVER.
The build quality seems great, which apart from the excellent sounds is the only positive thing I can say about the M2D. The sounds are in my opinion much better (and more authentic) than the sounds from the hardware modules/keyboards from the "Mellotron" branded competitor but I honestly can't see the M2D surviving much longer with it's outdated user interface and even more outdated means of importing sounds. The digital world has moved forward but the M2D is firmly rooted in a digital past.
I can only recommend this product if you REALLY want a hardware-based solution for playing Mellotron-samples and are willing to live with the complicated menu system and stone age connectability. Also, there seems to be no support from the manufacturer whatsoever.
Would I buy it again? Probably not. I had done some research before buying so I knew the user interface wasn't the best but I had honestly not expected it to be this poor. I would certainly have expected a lot better at this price.
The included manual is in German only but a download in English is at least available from the Manikin website. Having to download the manual is probably the most "modern" feature of this product.
