Moog Theremini Owners

"I'm well aware of another thread that shows mostly disgust and contempt for the Theremini, but I own one, I enjoy playing it, and I'd like to dialogue with others who are in the same boat."  - SapereAude

*crickets*

I keed!  ;-)  Welcome to TW Jamie!

"Maybe I am alone in my coming out of the Theremini closet?"  - SapereAude

I doubt that.

Have you tried my linearization technique of performing the near pitch hand calibration point about 5" away from the antenna? 

You might also want to play around with longer antennas to expand the playable pitch field - 3/8" plumbing is cheap (a chromed 20" faucet riser costs $3.51 at Home Depot).

Jamie wrote: "I'd like to make contact with other owners to share tips, advice and experiences."

Hi Jamie.  I recently bought a Moog Theremini.  It is my first theremin.  I play keyboard and guitar and have a lot of old synthesizers from the midi era.  I have found the theremini to be difficult to play well.  I have been able to use it for adding "special effects" to soundracks, but trying to play a structured song on it has been very difficult for me.  I understand Moog will be releasing a firware update at some point to address that.  I don't know if my Theremini has the latest update.  It would be great if when you turn the Theremini on, that it would display the firmare version that was installed.

I got the idea of marking the location of notes on a sheet of paper to help me learn how to play the Theremini better.  Don't know if that has been done before with theremins?  I posted a youtube video of the setup here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRdxUY56ua4

Hello Gary,

If you want a theremin that you can play as a theremin, send your theremini back and get a Moog EW or EW+..

See http://www.thereminworld.com/Forums/T/29283/moog-theremini?Page=35

There is no software update that will turn the theremini into a theremin! - not now, not ever!

Fred.

Hello Gary,

I saw your website, you are a Maker on steroids. I have a build you might be interested in if you are gravitating toward theremin adventures. We are now entering the Theremin Awakening period that began on October 8, 2014 with the Blood Moon. Some how I believe this new awakening will have influence on your creativity. If you like using old school electronics and don’t think everything should be built using Arduino & Logic then Bookmark my webpage where I will update in the future. My build uses three 8.2 x 3" pcb which I give away at no cost for love of the Art.

The Altermen – Original & Authentic Sounding

Christopher

Hi Jamie,

I'm one of those THEREMINI owners who thinks the instrument is a piece of shit and that Bob Moog is revolving in his grave. HOWEVER, I would really like to do something creative and interesting on it - I'm just not sure what. Frankly, I'm sort of torn between being a real promoter of the instrument, and being a cynical old curmudgeon who knows what a good theremin (I have seven of them including 2 RCA's) can really do.

You see, the THEREMINI is out there, and that's not going to change. I figure the horses have already left the barn, SO LET'S HAVE A RODEO! ☺

Hi Gary, and welcome to theremin world. 

I'm very sorry, but your idea of mapping notes onto a sheet of paper doesn't work. 

I ran the audio through a chromatic tuner. Here's a video of the result that I won't be posting on youtube...

When the light in the middle is green, the theremini is on pitch.

 https://www.dropbox.com/s/lr2kvlzeaejrctj/theremini%20sample%20analysed.mp4?dl=0

(For some reason, the video doesn't want to play in the dropbox player for me. Downloading it and playing it on my computer does work.)

"horses have already left the barn, SO LET'S HAVE A RODEO! ☺" - Coalport

Yeah!

Rodeo - "Today it is a sporting event that consists of events that involve horses and other livestock, designed to test the skill and speed of the human cowboy and cowgirl athletes who participate."

Trouble is that "speed" doesnt come into it with the theremini..

May as well try having a rodeo using tourtoises!

As for skill -

There is no doubt that there are people with the skill to do something entertaining with a tortoise..

But as far as I know, even they cannot turn it into a horse!

(so prove me wrong! ;-)

Fred.

Hi Gordan,

Thanks for running it though the chromatic tuner and sending the link.  It played for me well within dropbox. Definitely not much green at all.  Trying to play it without the notes marked on the sheet was very difficult for me and I tried many times.  I'm sure I don't have anything close to perfect pitch.  When I used the sheet I was glad about being able to get something close; it was the best I could do.  I have never played a theremin before. Thanks again for showing me how far off pitch I was.

Fred:  I have read many of your rants about the Theremini.  I get it.  The original poster wrote: "hoping this can be a welcoming and positive thread to support those of us who are using a Theremini."

This is my first day on Theremin World and I thought it might be a useful resource for learning more about theremins and in particular the Theremini.  As a newcomer is there anyone that moderates the group that can clean up posts such as from Fred in this thread? 

"As a newcomer is there anyone that moderates the group that can clean up posts such as from Fred in this thread?"  - Gary Honis

Don't take it personally.  Fred really knows his stuff and is super helpful, and straying topics can be interesting too.  One of the nicer things about TW is that mods aren't generally running around Judge Dredding people's asses or otherwise shushing us like we're in some kind of grade school library.

========

I don't know what to do with my Theremini.  I was going to sell it but Moog seems to have me on the hook indefinitely for the promised update.  The curiosity might kill me if I sold it prematurely and then everyone started wetting their pants over the latest firmware.  What to do... I wish Moog would throw those of us barely holding on a bone in the form of a timeline or window or something.