Mods for the Moog etherwave kit

Hi

I am a violin player looking into theremins.
I might be buying this kit soon
http://www.amazon.com/Moog-Music-Etherwave-Theremin-Kit/dp/B0002GXQF8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312169049&sr=8-1

Is there a way to set this up so that I can control the pitch with the left hand (the way it's done with violin) while having the controls facing me?

Also, has anyone done anything cool with that block of wood?


Thanks!

You can easily set up your theremin to be a "leftie" (i.e. pitch on the left, volume on the right) but this is something only left-handed people find advantageous. The two most celebrated thereminists of the decades following the invention of the theremin (Clara Rockmore and Samuel Hoffman) were both professional violinists, and both played the theremin in what is now considered the "traditional" configuration, with the rod on the right and the loop on the left. Lev Termen himself, the inventor of the instrument, was a cellist who bowed with the right hand as all cellists do.

So why isn't the theremin configured for pitch control by the left hand, the way it is on all fingerboard instruments - violins, cellos, basses, lutes, guitars, etc. etc.?

It is delegated to the right hand (in right-handed thereminists) because that is the hand with the greatest dexterity. The early thereminists experimented endlessly with all possibilities and it was unanimously decided that the traditional theremin configuration was the best and most efficient one for the instrument.

Be all that as it may, it has not stopped each successive generation of thereminists from experimenting with exactly what you are proposing. Most of them do it unaware that it has all been done before and, for various reasons, ultimately rejected.

Another thing that has been endlessly experimented with is reversing the action of the volume antenna - modifying the response so that volume gets louder as the hand approaches the loop and softer as it withdraws.

Experiment all you like, but you should be aware that many others before you, with the same knowledge and background as yourself, have been there & done that and ultimately decided against what you are proposing.

In answer to your second question, yes, plenty have people have customised the enclosure or their etherwave. Unlike an acoustic instrument, the box has no effect on the sound of the instrument, so you can do what you like with it, within certain limitations.

The first limitation is that you should not change the layout of the circuit inside the box, including the foil rectangle beneath the wire leading to the pitch rod. As the circuit has radio frequency components the layout is critical - changing it will change the way the circuit operates, probably adversely.

The second limitation is that you cannot introduce any metal or other conductive material to the enclosure. This includes metallic or carbon based paints. Again they will have an adverse effect on the theremin circuitry.

In all likelihood any redesign of the enclosure will necessitate a retuning of the internal trims for the circuit. This is not as scary as it sounds, but you may wish to seek advice before doing so, or at the very least have a backup plan which involves sending it to an expert for fixing if you make a complete hash of it!

Ah i see. I'll try to learn it the regular way, seeing that many theremin players including Rockmore and Theremin himself had learned to play classical instruments beforehand.

Also, do any of you know if it's worth the money to buy a etherwave plus rather than just the regular etherwave?

Thanks!

There is no difference between the etherwave standard and the etherwave plus in terms of either playability or waveforms. The only reason to choose the plus rather than the standard is if you want its CV capabilities.

(And if you buy the standard and later realise you did want to use its CV to interface with analogue effects or synthesisers, then there is a kit available to upgrade your standard to a plus.)

For me the great advantage of the Etherwave Plus over the Standard is that it has pitch preview, which many thereminists find invaluable. Without pitch preview the only way to find your starting note is to quietly fish around until you find it. This is a pain if you are recording or playing live. With pitch preview,using an earbud you can silently find notes without audibly "pitch fishing".

A pitch preview can easily be added to an Etherwave standard if the player wishes to have it. The need for a preview is dictated by what kind of music the musician wants to play. For the avant garde experimentalist it is probably unnecessary. For the advanced precision player, it is a tremendous advantage.

I always encourage budding precision thereminists, if they are serious about the instrument, to start using a preview as early as possible and to use it all the time. People who have the preview option on their theremins but who only use it when they think they are going to need it (such as for a live concert or studio work) are sometimes thrown off by it because they're not used to it.

Thereminists who regularly use a preview can play very nicely without it whenever they want. The opposite is not true.

Oops. I completely forgot about pitch preview. I stand corrected.

Peter, I agree. For the experimentalist, a pitch preview is not such a big deal. That is probably why it slipped my mind. What is useful, however, is an effects return loop - a means of inserting effects after the oscillator and wave shaping, but before the volume control - a part of the mods I had done to my ether wave by Thierry. The reason being that many effects are fitted with a noise gate, which makes it impossible to play pianissimo. A return loop defeats noise gating.

It also means that an external source can be played through the volume loop. Many of the low budget sound making devices beloved of many in the wider electronic music community have a fixed volume output and, to give my favourite example, a stylophone with a volume loop is orders of magnitude more expressive than one without.

(I note with interest that the Subscope theremin that Dominik very kindly mailed to us to demonstrate at Hands OFF! 2011 was fitted with a return loop. :-)

Gordon ~

Did you have the chance to try Dominik's (Subscope's) Theremin? If so, what are your impressions?

Too bad that on his website, no prices are listed.

Actually, no. But I have tried a Subscope at a theremin event in Germany a while ago. It is based on a Jaycar kit, but with modifications to the circuit. My Kees Enkelaar theremin is also a (differently) modded Jaycar, and has a similarly non-linear pitch field, although the volume field of the Subscope has a better response than the Kees.

I rather like the tone of the Subscope. It is beautifully made - Dominik builds only a few each year, when he finds an interesting enclosure to put it in, so no two are alike. Thierry mentioned that a good way to proceed if you want one is to first find an interesting box for him to build a theremin in and see if he is interested. Or to watch his eBay and bid when one of his theremins becomes available if you do not have a particular box in mind.