hckrnws
There are still several companies who build it. Get one from Doepfer (German Manufacturer) here and connect it to a modular system or a semi-modular synth like a mini moog.
https://www.thomann.de/de/doepfer_a178.htm
live in action: https://youtu.be/1mIferngPqY
or from stylophone:
https://www.thomann.de/de/duebreq_stylophone_theremin.htm
live in action: https://youtu.be/NNn-se0S4Ww
As a now inactive theremin player (but I will go back at some point!) I'm sad to learn that Moog isn't making real theremins anymore (the theremini isn't one).
The Moog Etherwave (Standard/Plus) wasn't the best theremin, but it was always extremely solid in terms of bang for the buck, a standard, easy to set up, reliable option with lots of other players you could ask for help, accessories (carry bag, mods, etc.) so it was the most logical recommendation for most newcomers.
There were (and probably still are) great choices from smaller makers as well, in fact I own one in addition to my Moog, but they were more adventurous choices that didn't offer the reliability and newbie-friendliness of the Moog at a comparable price. Many players would have their pet underdog theremin that they would personally use and prefer to the Moog, but would still recommend the Moog to newcomers because you just couldn't go wrong with it, and others were either expensive, fickle, unsupported, inconsistent quality, difficult to set up, difficult to source, etc. I don't know if newer options will have changed this.
the Doepfer A187 I returned immediately, it's barely usable. I got the OpenTheremin instead and I love it
OpenTheremin is great. I have a v3 (which I'm trying to port to TinyGo for fun) but v4 is apparently awesome.
Lost Volts too: http://lostvolts.co.uk/
"Good Vibrations" was actually recorded using an Electro-Theremin [1] (emphasis mine). It was essentially the same but sported more traditional knob controls. Also if you ever hear a Theremin-esque noise in an Elmer Bernstein soundtrack like "Heavy Metal" it was actually an Ondes Martenot [2] which is distinct from and less similar to the classic Theremin.
I'm a lot of fun at parties.
Chatting with a theremin expert would easily beat the vast majority of my party conversations.
Angelo Moore from Fishbone uses one on occasion, but... IDK, not sure I love it compared with, say, his playing other instruments.
"The Thing" Requires a mandatory mention [0]. Same principles and same designer.
It was a very sophisticated covert listening device (bug) for its time that went undetected for a long time. It did not have a conventional power source such as a battery or mains connection.
My first intro to this was the fascinating book The SpyCatcher.
[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_(listening_device)
The "digital one" Carolina refers to is my open source D-Lev design: https://d-lev.com/
Impressive!
Do you know if there are any affordable "theremin" like MIDI control devices that enable free assignment of parameters to the antennas? For example, I could have both antennas control pitch, independently of each other, and amplitude would be set to a fixed value via a knob or on a device that the "theremin" sends its output to.
Here's Carolina playing the D-Lev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vjJ2SG5cVA
She's a super sweet person, and a consummate musician!
Rob Scallon did a video with Carolina a few years ago, where they go into a bit of detail about how you play the thing and how it words. If you’re interested in the theremin, it’s a pretty good watch.
I built a theremin in the early 80s for a school project. Had to get the local library to obtain books and other printed resources on it so I could make one. Sadly no pictures survive, and the device itself is long gone. Didn't think to document it at the time, beyond the hand in materials for the project. I was 14. I have wondered about getting a modern one though. They're so cool.
The theremin is a fully electronic instrument that could sound like anything at all — so why does it sound so unpleasant?
Originally because it produced sound by heterodyning two sine waves.
Modern ones (the Moog ones I saw 20 years ago) have tunable waveforms but still hark back to that original sound.
I like the sound. In the sonic tradition of the cello.
It was designed in 1920, before digital computers, and is made using a very small number of electronic components. So, they couldn't have made it sound like whatever they wanted, at the time.
Depends on which theremin, in which hands, with which effects, or lack thereof.
Does this sound unpleasant to you? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=62lT9XsZVio (maybe it's subjective, but it sounds very pleasant to me).
To me it does sound unpleasant, like out of tune in a bad way (and I love untuned, atonal, experimental electronic music and use my own modular synth often, as a point of reference). Like the OP, I never understood the appeal of a theremin.
I quite like the sound of a theremin played well, but that particular example sounds out of tune to me too.
The comment in the other reply to the parent comment, as well as what I've heard of Carolina Eyck's playing, do sound pleasant to me though.
There's a mod you can get for a Moog Etherwave that extends the range and smooths out the tone. I had it added to mine and it was totally worth it.
Fun fact: there in was used in recording Teen Age Message to extraterrestrial civilizations: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teen_Age_Message
I recently watched her live, introducing to the Theremin "for families", with a pianist. It was ok but too verbose and dumbed down (probably not by her, by her hosts). I'd try to attend her shows for grown ups instead, even with kids.
This was a case where the novelty of the instrument stood in the way of the performance.
What stood out to me most is how personal the instrument is. The idea that the theremin tunes to your body and environment - that you become part of the instrument - feels almost mystical
Indeed. The drawback is that it's kind of a solitary instrument. No one can move near you or they get you out of tune :)
And here I thought it would be the antagonistic undecagonstring...
She's really good. Here's an example of her covering a well known piece by Morricone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajM4vYCZMZk
From the headline I kind of expected it to be about some more contrived apparatus, something that was built ad hoc and is constantly close to self-disassembling from being used, like Wintergatan's Marble Machine:
i didn't know the marble machine, thanks for the discovery!
265M views! - amazing
Half of those are probably mine. She's absolutely amazing.
A tribute to Lèon Theremin:
The synth company SOMA has an interesting new theremin-like synth called Flux, that uses magnetic "bows". See:
From the articale ....With its sci-fi antennae bristling left and right, Russian physicist Leon Theremin’s novel invention of 1919 remains the only musical instrument you play without touching anything. “Aerial fingering” was the technique devised by the inventor’s original Lithuanian prodigy, Clara Rockmore, in the 1930s.
......
Jarre plays a laser harp: https://youtu.be/nuM2Jw78u8Y
You could make the case that he has to "touch" (there's a physical interaction where his hand/glove blocks the light) the laser to trigger the note. I'm not even sure it would be that pedantic - there's a definite physicality to it that the theremin doesn't have.
Good point.
Many stringed instruments, the actual sound is made by whatever the strings are attached to, so there's a similar distance between touch and sound.
With percussion, it's quite direct, as with many wind instruments.
A 00's Roland with a D-Beam (or Two!) can be played without touching.
Jack White uses a theremin in "Fear of the Dark", just so you know that it can be used in rock music, too.
Dawn, got excited for a Maiden cover there
Thanks for the correction, Freud would have been be proud of me.
Jimmy Page was using a Theremin in a rock context in 1969!
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