Theremini and Melodic Modulation - 2nd Order Melodic Effects

WARNING: This post is not for those whose primary interest is playing the slow music of long dead composers (admittedly my original goal, but I kind of had a paradigm shift after hearing Gordon's music so I'm diverging in two directions now).

It's clear that the full potential of the Theremini is not unlocked until you start applying various kinds of MIDI control as virtually every parameter is controllable and you also can access a number of waveforms and other control features you can't from the front panel or app. (Perhaps Moog will unlock some of this hidden potential in future app and firmware updates, but through MIDI you can do things now you just can't in any other way on the Theremini).

Let's remember the Theremini is a Theremin on the front end and a wavetable-based synthesizer on the back end. It's controller was meant to be the antennas, so Moog does not support (at least yet) the ability to send MIDI note data. You can not play it through MIDI like a normal synth from a sequencer or notation program. However, what Moog did do is allow the user to control transposition from -64 to +63 semitones. Well guess what? You can use this feature to play the Thermeini like a synth - with one big difference. If you "program it to play a melody", the antennas are still active and have their normal control. This can create what I call a second order melodic effect or perhaps you could think of it as not frequency modulation but melodic modulation.

OK, let's start with how you can use your trusty MIDI sequencer to play the Theremini. The concept is that we'll place a fixed object in the pitch field (I used a mic stand) to play a constant note. Then you can create a MIDI file of notes to play. The MIDI notes themselves have absolutely no effect on pitch. Pitch is being generated by the pitch antenna on the Theremini. So in the sequencer, I can create a set of repeated pitches on whatever rhythm I like. In this case I used the pitch content (but not from MIDI notes) from Bach's Cello Prelude #1 in G Major (though I was not at all concerned about what key I was going to wind up in). The base key was totally based on whatever pitch that mic stand was playing. 

Here's the trick. In the sequencer I create a MIDI continuous controller lane (on CC102 = Theremini Transposition) and I tagged a flat CC102 value for the duration of each note coinciding on the NOTE On message. Because MIDI goes from 0..127 and the transposition maps -64..+63 semitones, I started my base key on CC102=64. This puts me starting at a point where I have lots of transposition headroom above and below the starting pitch.  So if CC102=64 maps to a G, then 65 would be a G#, 66 an A, 63 an F#, 62 an F, etc. Then I did the hard part of putting in a CC102 value by hand in the sequencer for each of the notes of the piece (arrgh!). Because the Theremini was set to play a constant note, when I played back the sequencer, the transposition changes change pitch as desired. The pitch is really still the same on the Theremini antenna, but the digital transpose function creates the change in pitch that basically allows me to play the piece. 

I can also create a controller lane for volume and add a dynamic shape to the piece. And if I wanted to I could add a shape to control filter resonance, change in patch, whatever I like if I want to create really nice dynamic changes in sound. The only drawback is repeated notes because there is no envelope I can set for each note (as Gordon pointed out). So if say CC=66 gets repeated three times because Bach repeated notes, the Thermeini is really still playing the original pitch and transposition is not changing for that time frame - hence you get a held tone, not a repeated tone. I would have to go in and bring the volume down to 0 before the end of the note and then back up again for the next note to simulate a repeated note. But that's not my intent here.

So here's the result - using the "North Pole" patch and some reverb of various kinds in addition to adding a Waves octave doubler.

Theremini Playing Bach through Sequencer

Now, you should be asking: "What in the world does any of this have to do with theremins or Theremin World as you have only treated the Theremini like a synthesizer and you could have done it much better if you just used a Little Phatty (or synth du jour) that processes MIDI note data". And there's the rub. I never actually intended to play the piece as is.  Sorry Herr Bach! 

I'm now going to lose that mic stand as it was only there so I could easily test that I programmed the right notes. Now when I play back my sequencer and as that Bach piece spews out, I can play the theremin as intended and all those transpositions will take on a new meaning as they shift to the pitch I'm really playing. But I won't be playing notes based on my normal use of that pitch and volume antenna. The "notes" that will be played will actually be the Bach transpositions applied to the current pitch. As I alter pitch I will in essence be modulating that Bach piece in various ways. Bach in this case becomes the sound source.

Theremini Melodic Modulation on Bach

Now of course I don't have to use Bach as the transposition material (actually more original not to). I could draw in numerous CC102 transposition shapes in the sequencer to create a world of different glides, slides, (and as Gordon points arpeggios) etc. Also my transpositions here are all moving slowly to match the notes, but because this is continuous MIDI controller data I can create all kinds of very quickly changing transpositions on single notes that will totally change the sound of the original. Also I can dynamically control pitch correction and create all kinds of interesting microtonally shifting patterns as I play.

So for those that are interested in coaxing more potential out of the Theremini, read the end of the manual where they discuss the MIDI parameters and have some fun!

I can't think of a better compliment than to have inspired someone, so thank you. :-)

Boy, am I going to have to learn more about MIDI. Using transpose as a sort of arpeggiator had occurred to me as a possibility, but using as entire composition as an arpeggio - that I hadn't conceived. It makes for a very interesting proof of concept. Hearing this, I think this method could be well applied to making Philip Glass style pieces. (I saw a Glass concert from very close to one of the keyboard players - they must do special exercises to stop their hands from cramping up!)

Gordon,

Thanks right back! You're the trigger that moved me to a whole new Theremin World of untold possibilities.

You bet. You can create arpeggios or slowing changing Phil Glass-like patterns and then you can dynamically modulate those patterns with the theremin control. Great idea.

There are free MIDI sequencers out there. The nice thing about some of them (like Cubase) is that you can not only manually input CC values (in terms of a MIDI parameter list) but you can also use your mouse or drawing tool to draw a CC pattern.

Rich

switched on bach? for the later funny absurdity of the second piece: i like that. the theremini really surprised me, by having midi input. finally one thing that works, without much complaints by myself. <|:°  not sure what the ethervox owners might think about that!

DAW and midi can be really fun and it's not sooo difficult, to learn. with mouse drawing you don't even need a midi keyboard. grab a iPad and something like "midiSequencer": have a Glass on the go! rudely said: F"*ç%&good!

Of course the Bach is a rather extreme example of using an entire composition as a modulated musical source. The technique, as Gordon points out, is probably going to be more useful as applied to creating original sequences that then can be modulated through normal theremin playing. I'm experimenting with that now.

I'm confused. rkram53 started out by saying that "This post is not for those whose primary interest is playing the slow music of long dead composers ".  O.K.....I'll go along with that.....then I clicked on the first link and got JESU, JOY OF MAN'S DESIRING (by that long dead composer Bach).

The link here should be the Bach Cello prelude (example of how to program the Theremini - though that's not the real goal of the thread). That's FAST music from long dead composers! Totally different thing when it comes to the theremin. I'd love to hear anyone play the Bach Cello prelude at that speed (or any speed) on a theremin (maybe with some sort of digital assistance).

Jesu - was another thread - an example of using semi-quantization to assist in playing melodies on the Theremini that I would not be able to play right now on the theremin that in tune. Playing Jesu on the theremin is challenge enough (and on my theremin bucket list). I feel like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr Hyde. Not sure in which direction to take the theremin/theremini. So I'm taking it in all directions.

Rich

Ha ha! Thanks for the best laugh I've had today.  

In all seriousness, Flight of the Bumblebee that is so much all half step motion is a much easier theremin piece than the Bach Prelude that is all arpeggios (at any speed) - though there are arpeggios in the Rimsky Korsakov accompaniment. In fact, if you mess up some of those semitones, the bees will still sound fine buzzing along quite nicely (and the buzzing sound of the theremin doesn't hurt there as well). But you miss any of those Bach arpeggios and you just hung yourself out there to dry. So the true difficulty of the bees is all in the articulation. 

This tells us all fast music by long dead composers is not at all created equal on the theremin. But let's start with this: How do we get really fast and distinct theremin and/or theremini articulations? (I mean really fast - fast enough that something besides a human hand must be involved).

This makes me bring up an amusing Gedankenexperiment. You just gave me the idea to issue the "Bumblebee Challenge!" Try and come up with an original interpretation of "Flight of the Bumblebee" using a theremin or theremini and any other processing desired - any interpretation is fair game no matter how off beat. 

On the Theremini, I think I can set up a fast repeating background ON/OFF volume alternation in my sequencer that will simulate a constant legato motion but with some reasonable articulation (not just all slurring). I should then be able to set chromatic quantization and in fact approach the speed and articulation of that cooked example as I control pitch in the normal way with the pitch antenna. Then I can tie that into a dynamic filter control to create a buzzing effect on the desired tones using a theremin patch. Might be a fun way to play around with some Theremini features.

I likely could set up a chill pedal control to do something similar with the Etherwave. On triggering the pedal to play, run the Etherwave through a modular synth envelope generator triggered by a fast timing source to generate the articulations and then control pitch of it as usual. Then chill when I want to jump, etc.

Gordon - what kind of effects do you use to create fast repeating articulations in your theremin pieces?

My go-to pedal for a lot of things is the humble delay. (I'm a great believer in constraints as a spur to structured creativity - having abandoned the constraints of 12TET (or any other tuning) I replaced them with the quite different constraints imposed by having a lot of echo.)

One way to create a fast run of notes is like this - set a repeat rate of 1 second and play a brief note (duration 0.25 seconds) every 1.25 seconds. After 5 seconds you will hear a continuous stream of notes each 0.25 seconds long and your next note will overlay the first note you played. Varying the speed at which you play notes against the fixed speed of the delay pedal creates a lot of variations on this. (It's like a rhythmic analogue of the heterodyne process, or a relative of Steve Reich's experiments with phase.) 

Recently I have combined this with a fairly unusual pedal - the GigFX Chopper which can make very brief rhythmic interruptions to a continuous sound. The speed at which the interruptions occur is controllable via the treadle of the device. This provides the second order equivalent of a foot operated mute and can function faster than one could tap one's foot or articulate via the volume loop, unless you have Hynotique's remarkable abilities. (One has to wonder just how many espressos she drank before recording that video...)

There is a similar but far more ornate pedal, the Boss Slicer which does the same thing and allows for more complex rhythmic patterns than the simple PWM of the Chopper. This might be preferable for non-delay-based music.