Random quote: "Believe me when I say that some of the most amazing music in history was made on equipment that's not as good as what you own right now." - Jol Dantzig
strange instrument
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Never seen anything like that before! Haunting... I couldn't help but wonder what a theremin would sound like with a bowl back and carbon fiber top though! Lol...
Posted 2020-03-31 11:12 AM (#551709 - in reply to #551698) Subject: RE: strange instrument
Joined: June 2002 Posts: 6191
Location: Phoenix AZ
I own one !!!
It's pretty tough to play. Imagine playing slide guitar on a guitar that had no strings and was invisible. Your right hand and fingers controls the pitch by how close you are to the antenna, and the precise position and bend of your fingers. It's very sensitive. Your left hand controls the volume. The farther away you are from the loop the louder the volume. If you come all the way down and touch the loop the volume goes to zero.
I've been told that my rendition of "Silent Night" is boarder-line recognizable.
It's actually a descendent of the theremin ... which lead to the ribbon controller on early synths ... which lead to the Otamatone. It's basically a little sound module manipulated by a ribbon controller and it outputs to a little built in speaker. But the catch is that the speaker in housed inside a closed rubber sphere and you control it's opening (the mouth) to create different timbers and you can almost make it sound like a sort of violin.
Posted 2020-04-03 7:20 PM (#551753 - in reply to #551698) Subject: Re: strange instrument
Joined: July 2005 Posts: 1609
Location: Colorado
Yep - dont own one but have regular access to one....agree with Tupperware - takes some getting used to - no frets - no markers...all in space....best known for the Star Trek Theme...original series.
Posted 2020-04-03 7:52 PM (#551755 - in reply to #551753) Subject: Re: strange instrument
Joined: June 2002 Posts: 6191
Location: Phoenix AZ
elginacres - 2020-04-03 6:20 PM
....best known for the Star Trek Theme...original series.
A lot of people think that, but it's actually not true. That was a female singer and a violin.
You may have been thinking of "The Day The Earth Stood Still' from 1951 that was one of first and most prominent uses of the Theremin in a movie score. It was also used a lot in movies just for sound effects, not necessarily "music".
Another popular misconception is that a Theremin was used on The Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations". Actually it was a one-off copy built by a guy named Paul Tanner. He called it an Electro-Theremin even though it was mechanical. It had a long slide like a trombone that you used to change the pitch and a rotating knob that you used to change the volume. The audio source was a Heathkit tube audio oscillator. Interestingly, this one off Electro-Theremin was also used on the TV show "My Favorite Martian".
Lots more detail on Wiki or check out www.thereminworld.com
Posted 2020-04-03 10:47 PM (#551760 - in reply to #551758) Subject: Re: strange instrument
Joined: June 2002 Posts: 6191
Location: Phoenix AZ
nerdydave - 2020-04-03 8:37 PM
Where the heck does Dave learn all this obscure stuff??
I Like Rabbit Holes !!!
I first heard/saw a Theremin in 1975. Patrick Moraz of Yes had one as part of his keyboard rig for the Yes concert at Roosevelt Stadium in N.J. So I started researching it a little bit which was quite a chore in those days but very slowly over many years the dots started to connect and then sometime in the mid 90's I find a book all about Lev Theremin and I was fascinated by that rabbit hole. Then along comes a documentary movie about Theremin and soon after comes the internet and the whole thing just explodes.
But it was finally the book ANALOG DAYS by Bob Moog that really turned me on it and I just knew I had to have one of these things, even if it was just the little beginner version.
thereminworld.com is a treasure trove of information
Posted 2020-04-04 1:04 PM (#551777 - in reply to #551698) Subject: Re: strange instrument
Joined: June 2002 Posts: 6191
Location: Phoenix AZ
More rabbit hole info (I call it quarantine-pedia) ...
Lev Theremin never got a copyright on the name "Theremin". So there have been many instruments that have employed the technology and called themselves "Theremins".
The original design by Lev Theremin (including the very recognizable cabinet) was sold to RCA back in the 30's and these vintage "RCA Theremins" are what most people would call the "real" Theremin and they are ultra collectable. The last one I read about that changed hands went for $30k. Other companies came along and produced their own versions of "proximity controlled oscillator based musical instruments" and marketed them as "Theremins".
Further rabbit hole story ... in the early 60's Popular Electronics magazine published a build-your-own article for a basic Theremin and a teenager named Bob Moog built one. He later cut his chops on being one of the only people in the world who could actually repair and calibrate the old RCA Theremins. Bob went on to tinker with a few Theremin like designs including the use of ladder filters and overdriving the oscillators to get a "fat synthesized sound" which became the famous original Moog Synthesizer.
Posted 2020-04-05 1:07 AM (#551783 - in reply to #551698) Subject: Re: strange instrument
Joined: January 2006 Posts: 1477
Location: Michigan
one good thing about these instruments is you will never have to replace strings or have to tune it. what powers these batteries or electric this might a good time to learn how to play one since most of have a stay home curfew .GWB
Posted 2020-04-05 10:05 AM (#551785 - in reply to #551698) Subject: Re: strange instrument
Joined: June 2002 Posts: 6191
Location: Phoenix AZ
Powered by normal a/c. Actually you do have to "tune" them, but it's more like a calibration that just takes a few seconds. You put your hand/fingers as close to the antennae as you want the highest pitch to be, and then put it as far away as you want the lowest pitch to be, Same for the left hand volume loop.
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strange instrument
