What is an Authentic Theremin Sound?

I like sine tone, but can get boring. I like when tone changes, sometimes is more agressive and articulation is also important. I imagine that someone could make a pedal which controls amount of added harmonics, change timbre to more agressive when needed and back to soft or somewhere in between. So theremin player would be playing pitch, volume, timbre.


Touchless said:
[i]I would imagine there are university art students in wood, plastic, etc. that would enjoy blending our expertise and technologies.[/i]

I think I might help you as I am architecture student. Architecture is combination of science and art, we draw, design, paint, sculpt etc. I am going to make some theremin designs this summer. There is a great interior design professor who can also help me. All designs will be published here and on my future website in October(I'm in process of creating portfolio).

This is good, a slight change of subject towards the other issue!


Arsimantur said: Lots of good stuff!

[i] I imagine that someone could make a pedal which controls amount of added harmonics, change timbre to more aggressive when needed and back to soft or somewhere in between.[/i]

If I can capture the fading residue of the heterodyne occurrence, then in nature it would be a perfect sine wave. This I have done, I need to research another stage to add timbre to this elementary sound wave, that all sounds evolve from. Hmmm…

Arsimantur said:
[i]Architecture is combination of science and art, we draw, design, paint, sculpture, etc. I am going to make some theremin designs this summer.[/i]

Why don’t you live near me? It was another balmy day at 65 degrees F. My approach is to stand the Art design on a fine wood pedestal, guess where the electronics go? The antenna becomes part of the Art while the volume control is separated from the main structure in its own design. The volume loop can be any metallic design (a metal leaf, etc.) while the main theremin is “not” forgiving. Build all your electronics in a modular fashion to maximize the use of restrictive spaces.
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GordonC wrote: "....do you want to melt the heart of a fair maiden and dance with her in sun drenched meadows or do you want to fire up the blood of the troops and lead them into battle on the killing fields?
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Yabut, Gordon, what if you want to fire up the blood of the troops and then dance with them in sun drenched meadows?

Well, coalport, if I wanted to do that I would buy a fiddle and play the Gay Gordons.

[i]a pedal which controls amount of added harmonics[/i]

For instance, a Wah pedal. My Crybaby is basically a low pass filter. With a bit of resonance so when you hit the frequency just right you get a pretty pure sine wave. I think there's some distortion going on to increase the harmonic content before the filter too.

I have been experimenting with it for a couple of months or so and I like it. I should mention that I do not play classical theremin or any music that requires specific pitches (i.e. 12TET) so can perhaps spare a little more focus to my foot movements than a classical thereminist.

However I also note that I do not feel that using it need physically affect one's pitch accuracy - a "tai chi" stance works well, with one's weight evenly shared by both feet and the lower leg carefully positioned directly over the hinge of the pedal so that the foot can rock without moving the leg at all.

The hardest problem I have had with it was in resisting the temptation to rock it back and forth all the time going wah wah wah on every note! (It's comical, so worth doing in the right circumstances, but mostly not.) That it is usually best played slowly also helps with the player not wobbling about on account of it.

Also, having one foot higher than the other is a little tiring after a while. If I wanted to play for a particularly long time I might look into a platform shoe for my other foot.

Here's a recording on youtube from soon after I first tried a wah pedal (not a Crybaby, a Snarling Dogs Mold Spore, so the range of timbres is slightly different and the resonant peak is, in this instance, less pronounced. I like both it and the Crybaby, but the Crybaby has the advantages of simplicity, availability and economy.)

Dance Of The Flower Pot Men (http://youtu.be/7zfRSuUS92E).

Touchless states:
The last sound on that track is cranking up the second harmonic to where it is slightly more dominate than the fundamental frequency. This only sounds interesting in the lower octaves otherwise you hear the two harmonic voices battling one another.

I was listening to your sample and It really caught my ears when I heard the harmonics in the low range, that is really interesting... I can imagine all sorts of possibilities in my mind!!!

Touchless. I'm delighted you enjoyed my little video. :-)

[i]high-tech add-ons like those some of you won’t tell me about![/i]

Do you mean auto-tune? Hahaha! It is possible some theremin is auto-tuned. Well, some is certainly auto-tuned - you can hear it like a sore thumb. But I suspect there is some that is done with subtlety and finesse - just a little tweak here and there to iron out a few rough spots.

(And before anyone jumps in and says "I can always tell." No, you probably can't, anymore than you can always tell that a photo has been photoshopped. Consider that [i]every[/i] photo in a magazine, [i]every[/i] TV show and movie these days has been digitally treated in post-production, not just the ones you can point at and say Ha! That's not real!)

If you are going to pitch correct a theremin, cello, harp or voice, there is a better program than Auto-tune to do that. Of course, that program is only to be used post production.

Look for "Melodyne". That program is amazing, you can do so much with it... and Gordon is right... You CANNOT always tell when it is being used. If you are WAY WAY off pitch, you might be able to discern but usually not. I use Melodyne on some parts in my music. Especially when I do harmonies and some parts are a nano pitch off... It really eases my recording session and can save hours of work ( and frustration )!

Amey, you did not use Melodyne on your recent theremin rendition of O MIO BABBINO CARO. Why not?

Not going to reply to you, Coalport.

I see Melodyne as a tool to aid perfecting or modifying a sound or project. An Aid just like Pitch preview is for the Theremin.