 The Mellotron was used by German electronic band Tangerine Dream through the 1970s , on albums such as : Atem ( 1973 ) , Phaedra ( 1974 ) , Rubycon ( 1975 ) , Stratosfear ( 1976 ) , and Encore ( 1977 ) . In 1983 , the band 's Christopher Franke asked Mellotronics if they could produce a digital model , as the group migrated towards using samplers . 
