Moog Theremini!

One thing that I do find exciting is that it's a midi controller. Did I read that right?

There are tons of midi controllers out there. No need to mutilate Leon Theremin's original invention for that! 

People should always think about what Clara Rockmore (who even disapproved the Etherwave theremin) would have said. To play the theremin in the right way, you need neither CVs, nor Midi, nor Wavetables, but Music in the mind and long, long years of hard and painful study and practice:

http://youtu.be/HSBReO4MOo4

"One thing that I do find exciting is that it's a midi controller. Did I read that right?" Merula

Yep - USB "Midi" output.. This probably means it can only drive other MIDI equipment via a PC or USB equipped instrument, and this provides another potential ground-loop path (which MIDI connection doesnt)

It also outputs CV..

No data on latency - but if the engine is digital then (unless incredible stupidity is involved) there should be none of the latency and LF tracking problems one gets from pitch-voltage or pitch-MIDI conversion.

I like the sloping control panel, but not enough knobs on it! - Hell, I was expecting that if Moog ever brought out a new theremin, it would be a real theremin - with perhaps some of their analogue synth stuff thrown in!

A digital musical toaster is what they give us! - Get rid of the E-Pro, leave us waiting for years, then bring this out!

LOL ;-) But now that I have recovered a bit from the shock, I can see that what theyve done makes perfect commercial sense! - This instrument will sell (if its price is right) - its placed exactly where the main market is - a toy for the musical-wanna-be masses..

And why not ?! It will bring pleasure and musical outlet to many who probably wouldnt otherwise be able to play happy birthday even on a keyboard - at least when they get it wrong on the "theremin", even with auto-pitch, they can blame the difficulty of the instrument!

We here are just a load of commercially valueless geeks, and no one gives a s*it about us or our theremin aspirations except us! - The real market is in musical toys and toasters!

;-)

Fred.

""Fisher price" would be a better suited trade mark." - Thierry

How about "Breville" ;-)

From the next posting:

"Can't understand, Fred, why you call it a toaster... For me it looks like a radio alarm clock..." Thierry

Hmmm.. Yours is perhaps more accurate - even the toaster I was designing never had an antenna! - I think its the fact that I was commissioned once to build t synthesiser into a (working) toaster which skewed me to thinking about toasters.. And it does look like a sanwitcvh toaster!..

But Roy is right! A teas-made .. with built in toaster! ;-) .. And the "loop" is probably just adequate as a "snooze" touch sensor!

The new Brevill Sandvich Theremin Toaster - Great - Makes lovely melted cheesy sounds!

This particular model has its loop at the front - but hey, who cares? Nobody uses the loop anyway..

Can't understand, Fred, why you call it a toaster... For me it looks like a radio alarm clock...

...and if you are right about what the unmusical masses want, that means to me that the world is full of morons...

"I wonder if theyve bothered to put any ESD protection into that toaster?"  - FredM

My bet is it's a bog standard EWS front end with a low powered processor tacked on.  Though the low end of processors can be fairly impressive these days (48MHz 32 bit ARM with lots 'O goodies for $20).

Electronic musical instruments have been going the wrong way for a couple of decades now.  Dumbed down interfaces, etc.  I almost can't bring myself to review yet one more digital piano with a pitiful 16MB of samples.

'But now that I have recovered a bit from the shock, I can see that what theyve done makes perfect commercial sense' - Fred

Of course it makes perfect commercial sense:
I can imagine a Moog brain storming meeting...

Q.The theremin is difficult to play, how can we make it easier?
A. Give it auto tuning and pitch correction and a nice cuddly-new-happening-age-futuristic-look

Q.How much should we charge for it?
A. Just enough so that people who would like a theremin but feel it would be too difficult to play would pay.

Sorted!

Edit-I've seen that it's going to be on sale for around £250-ish, so how much will it retail for in the Uk given that the moment things cross the Atlantic they gain around £80-100?

By the way, I don't think traditionalists should worry since those who play 'real' theremins can be (rightly) smug in the knowledge that they can and those who own 'real' theremins (E-Pros etc etc etc) know that if they ever wanted to sell them, their resale values would hold...

Thierry, Fred I have a suggestion...not a toaster nor radio alarm clock but a new age Teas Maid! :-)

"...and if you are right about what the unmusical masses want, that means to me that the world is full of morons..." - Thierry

There I was thinking that the only people who hadnt realised this, were morons!  ;-) LOL - Just goes to show how wrong I can be! ;-)

"not a toaster nor radio alarm clock but a new age Teas Maid! :-)" - RoyP

Yeah, spot on! (see new comments above my Breville theremin toastie picture) - The more I think about it, the more accurate - Gets me thinking about some Chinese white goods (kitchen appliances) manufacturers I have designed for - They may have some old stock of food processor casings or the like which they could modify to be thereminis - In fact, a food processor modified with its beaters flapping could make a mechanical sequencer for a theremin circuit.. I can see it now - The Kenwood Theremini with mechanical mixer! - In fact, integrate a new Dyson "Digital" vaccum cleaner and one can get a toasted cheese sandwitch while beating a cake and cleaning your home, all accompanied by theremini which sticks strictly to a musical scale and cheesyness of your choice!

;-)

"Can't understand, Fred, why you call it a toaster... For me it looks like a radio alarm clock..." Thierry

Just realized what makes it look like a sandwitch toaster to me..

Its the pathetic "loop" - It just looks like a handle to open the toaster with - you know, flip the top hinged section back, place the bread and cheese / onion / ham / tomato on the bottom plate, close it, set the time temperature etc, and wait for the 'ping' when its done...

Yeah.. I love toasted samis ;-) I have a large toaster I bought to heat up circuit boards with, but never got to using it for that... ;-) 

... I know I jumped the gun a little bit... But that's me... I love to live my feelings fully. :P

My friend pianist Doug Hammer is at NAMM and posted a short video og the "Theremini: on my Facebook page... The sound is .... meh.

Oh well... (running back upstairs and keep on practicing my non auto-tuned Epro)

Wow. You guys do realise that the Big Briar/Moog Series 91/Ethervox/Etherwave Pro family are in fact gesture controlled analog synths? You do realise that the Ethervox (which cost over $3k and sold a grand total of 47 units) had digital circuitry, MIDI and a quantiser built in, which Peter Pringle has raved about for its ability to control Roland MIDI modules for soundtrack work? And somehow Moog bringing this into an affordable instrument (where it can be bypassed) is a betrayal of their legacy?

Reminds me of when the E-Pro was introduced - the biggest reaction I remember was the moaning about how unsightly the rear of the cabinet was. That all went away quick smart once it was discontinued after 480 were built and the prices went to Saturn...

I do agree that the internal speaker is possibly not a great idea-Bob learned from his first theremin models that external amplification was the key, but I think it will snare a lot of people who want to graduate from Gakkens...