Kees Enkelaar Sample

I though if anyone would like to hear a sample of an Enkelaar theremin that they could listen to a piece that I have written "The Funeral March" that David Vesel kindly played on his Spellbound radio show on the 09/11/05 show. The whole track is made up of a Kees Enkelaar. The track sounds a little distorted on the show which I think is maybe the way I turned it into an mp3, but i think it shows what the Enkelaar can do.
Im sorry that this is also a shameless plug to listen to it. Its sandwiched between Howard Mossman and Bighair. Hope people like it.
Its under my real name Kevin Sinnott.

Thanks for the pointer! I've been wondering what one of these sounds like, especially since people claim it's not a "playable" instrument (or rather, the Jaycar theremin it's based on). I'd love to see a breakdown of all the mods that Kees does to the Jaycar kit.

Jason, Im a pure novice to playing the theremin, but ive got to say the Kees is definitely playable.
Ive got an Etherwave Pro as well now and i can honestly say I love them both for different reasons.
I think the Kees has a much more creepy sci-fi vibe than the Etherwave but obviously doesnt play quite as well (im not good on either so it doesnt matter that much) and i can do stuff with it and play with the antennae and get great effects that the Etherwave wont do.
the volume control loop is better on the Etherwave, people talk about "snappiness" the Etherwave has, the Kees definitely is snappier to come in.
Im thinking about getting the jaycar kit or the theremax kit so i can build one and try to find out a little of what makes a theremin tick. probably pointless getting the jaycar though because Kees has already made it so good anyway.
185 US dollars is a steal, and its hand made to order.

Thanks for the review/opinion sinno. Do you know if Kees Enkelaar is currently selling his theremins? I know there was a pause in production earlier this year.

For folks who want to hear "The Funeral March", I've uploaded it here (http://www.thereminworld.com/sounds/KevinSinnott/the_funeral_march.mp3). Thanks to sinno for sending me the track!

I just got an e-mail this past weekend from Kees. He's planning on finishing up his current orders and put the order page back up by the end of this week. I'm buying my first theremin from him. It looks and sounds (if the mp3's are to be trusted) beautiful. I can't wait to get mine so I can start playing it.

Hi Sinno et al.

Just caught Invasion (Part One) on Spellbound. Good stuff. I take it that was an Enkelaar too?

Kees has stopped taking orders to get on with processing again - I guess demand outstrips supply - but I managed to get my order in during the brief window of opportunity!

So, rather than pester him while he's building my theremin - I'm going to post a few questions here.

First - what sort of time period am I looking at for delivery - about a month or so?

Second - am I going to get stiffed for import duty *and* VAT? - from the look of the customs and excise site I am anticipating adding a third onto the cost!

Third - what additional bits and pieces should I get so I'm ready to go when it arrives? So far on my list - a mike stand, Peter Pringle's DVD. I already have an A/D converter so I can hook it up to my laptop, and I guess it will be ok to just plug a pair of headphones straight into it so I can practice without annoying everyone in earshot?

Also do I want to hold off getting a mains adaptor until I can show the socket to the man at Maplins and get the right fitting, or can someone let me have a product number?

Thanks.

Gordon Charlton

Hey Gordon, yeah it was my Kees theremin on "Invasion", you and Edweird have made a good choice of theremin, its beautiful.
Right first off I ordered the theremin on 30/11/04 and got an email off Kees on 10/12/04 to tell me he had built and sent it. I received it on 24/12/04 on Christmas Eve, so not too bad going seeing as it's come all the way from Tasmania !!! I also didnt pay any sort of duty, just the amount over paypal that Kees asked for.
You can use the theremin straight out the box with the battery until you get an adaptor. Im using a 1200ma 9v + adaptor (that make any sense ? im not into electronics!!!) but Kees will send you an email with all you need to know before you get the theremin. Hang fire on the adaptor till you get the email off him.
Ive never plugged headphones into it, unless they work through the jack plug out i dont think you can.
You deffo need the mic stand. Ive ordered Peter Pringles dvd too, that dude plays it amazing, cant wait to see it.
I just plug mine straight into my soundcard on my computer and it sounds boss :)

I ordered mine on Monday with the mic stand attachment for the flexability. I'll be playing through an amp (I have several to choose from including a 1950 Gibson) and throwing a mic infront of it for recording. Call me old school, but I'm not really sold on direct for anything other than bass. I'll of course have to spend sometime learning to play it before I start throwing it into my album work, though. ;-)

Thanks. That helps a lot.

The first one I found on the net that was in my price range was Tony Bennett's 008 - I was sorely tempted - you gotta love his website ( http://www.no1derland.com/ ) but I couldn't find a single review. The general opinion seems to be, either build it y'self, stump up for an etherwave or a Kees. Well me with a soldering iron is not a pretty sight - I tried it once. So not a difficult choice to make. :-)

Gordon

Wow. I hadn't seen those. They're pretty wacky looking. I found Kees pretty quickly in my reserch beyond the Moog. There was a guy in Wisconsin that I found too by the name of Chuck Collins (http://pages.prodigy.net/chuckcollins/homepage.html). His only had the pitch antenae. I have a Morley volume pedal so I could've used it, but I really didn't like the samples on his site. Too many effects. I wanted to hear what it sounded like clean. Kees samples were much better.
BTW thanks Sinno for reassuring me on the purchase as well.