I want to know your thoughts on a pitch preview

Well leave it to me to stir this up.

This is coming from only an audience perspective.
I don’t play the theremin. Heck, I don’t play any instrument.

I have seen videos of musicians that play with a pitch preview and some that do not. Part of the appeal of a theremin performance from an audience standpoint is watching it being played. Watching the notes being plucked from the air.
From simply watching, I can’t tell if someone is using a pitch preview or not.
So it doesn’t take away from the visual experience.

If it allows them to be on the correct note at the correct time and the music sounds good, rather than having a sour note, what is the problem?

I, speaking for myself, don’t think I’m capable of using a pitch preview, I wouldn’t be able to listen to an earphone and distinguish with my other ear when I was raising the volume.

I guess you could ask the next guy that changes your tires, that instead of using a torque wrench, he should just “feel” it when he puts your lug nuts on.
Good luck with that…

A musical instrument is a tool for creating sound. Any enhancements that can be made to it which permit it to make the desired sound at the desired time with less effort on the part of the performer are improvements to the tool. Now, that's not to say everyone has to use the improved tool instead of the old one. For example, there are people who use hand tools to do woodworking even though power tools are available and factory-made furniture is available in stores at prices most people can afford.

To say that using a pitch-preview is "cheating" implies that a musical instrument is some sort of game or competition: it is neither.

Now, if one wants to view the Theremin as a kind of magic act, I can understand that, and under those circumstances I can easily see why a pitch preview would be undesirable... however, I don't think that's any excuse for anyone to criticize a musician who wants to use a pitch preview with their Theremin to improve the quality of their performance.

My Etherwave doesn't have a pitch preview and I'm not rushing to install one, but I'm also about to start work on a Jaycar theremin in which I hope to build in a pitch preview. (I know I've been talking about that project for months. I've been planning it for months... and all along planning to start it in January.)

Incidentally, I don't think the point of the pitch preview is seriously for you to pay attention to it with one ear while paying attention to it with another ear. I believe the point is to just put it in your ear and not think about it, and allow it to become something your mind will subconsciously learn to use in developing your instincts on finding correct pitch, and that this will enable such development to come more quickly, more easily, and more accurately.

[i]"I believe the point is to just put it in your ear and not think about it, and allow it to become something your mind will subconsciously learn to use in developing your instincts on finding correct pitch, and that this will enable such development to come more quickly, more easily, and more accurately."[/i]

Tom,

Well-worded post. Couldn't agree with you more.

[i]-- Kevin[/i]

I don't use one (and it often shows...) but I think it is a great idea and if it helps the performer then why would anyone have a problem with it?

My Zoom delay has a feature that will display what note is being played when the effects are not engaged and I have been know to use that feature occasionally.

Pitch preview is something you really need especially if you're going to perform in a recording studio, or with an orchestra, or band.

In these cases, landing on the wrong note WILL cost money in terms of spot erasures as Peter Pringle points out on his DVD, or worse, it could cost you in terms of how th public views the instrument, and can damage your reputation.

If you're just doing solo work, you can get along without pitch preview, as you have the luxury of improvising in a way the audience likely won't catch on to the error.

Until I decide to put the preview in my standard, or get the pro which has it built in (I think), I have to rely on pitch fishing like the pioneering pros did before preview.

I must admit wondering if I'd be destracted, but after reading the other post about getting used to it over time, I think I could get used to it.

It is fun, though to work without it to challenge my skills, but i don't think I'd want to be in a studio, or with a band, or orchestra without pitch preview when the time comes for me to go pro.

There's certainly nothing wrong with pitch fishing, it takes a lot of skill, and in loud rock band environments it might be impossible if not difficult without pitch preview.

Don't wait to get the pro just for pitch preview - it doesn't have it. It has a tuner output, which is handy, but not the same as pitch preview, as it doesn't cover the whole range of the theremin output.

I think I'd find it distracting.

Couldn't you split the signal (assuming you didn't have a tuner out) and use a Boss Chromatic Tuner? Seems like the best thing for it really. Visual guide without an interfering audible element.

Sure you could, but no chromatic tuner has response fast enough to be used for playing in realtime unless the piece is slooooooooow. And that's not even counting the time it would take for you to read it and respond appropriately. In the strictest technical sense, yes, you can hook the Theremin up to a chromatic tuner. In practical reality, it's not a workable solution or we'd have all done it long ago.

I dunno - The Korg DT-10 seems pretty good, I might borrow one from somewhere and see just how difficult it might be. Besides, were we talking about using this stuff to find every single note? That seems kind of silly, I would've thought you'd only need it to find the starting note and then your ears would do the rest. No...?

you need to surgicaly change something in the Pro to make the tuner output a pitch preview, don;t ask what, i just gave the info to my repair guy and said do this (please).
As far as it being a distraction, you can only really hear it when you bring the sound down. having for every note is overkill, but it's there.
Besides the opening note, it's good for jumps

Andy