Moog Theremini!

"Oh, I was able to demo the ESPE01 enhanced Etherwave Standard in all her glory to the rep. He was amazed, and even asked him self why Moog Music was not licensing that module all this time. :) "  - Thomas Grillo

Jesus those guys are in the dark.

... They are actually clueless.

@Ametheste: @dewster: Yeh, unfortunately, this seems to be the case. When I offered some suggestions for other areas of improvement, like a wooden case instead of the fragile, and cheap looking plastic one, the reply was "we're trying to achieve a certain price point". Frankly, I feel the Theremini is only going to drive prospective would be thereminists away once they figure out how unplayable the device is, as well as give Moog Music, and the theremin it's self a bad reputation. I said this to the sales rep, too.

I also recommended the Theremini production be temporarily discontinued, and existing units be recalled for modification. The rep seemed in agreement with that after my extensive testing, and evaluation. I only wish they'd don this tag-up BEFORE releasing Theremini to the public. At least they're dong it now, anyway. LOL

... Could be a tad too late, since a lot of players already have made up their mind about the THeremini already.

Though the "Kensington Lock Slot" is a nice added touch :) 

@Amethyste: Kensington lock? What the bloody L would any theremin need a Kensington lock for? LOL ;)

Thomas,

Did you actually get to play to the point where latency was noticed?

IMO, linearity is probably comparatively easy to fix - but a theremin ain't a theremin if it doesnt respond almost instantly, and if vibrato depth, for example, is a function of vibrato speed - because the latency is so awful.

Fred.

@FredM Yes, I forgot to mention the latency issue. I did notice some, but was more distracted by the other issues, so maybe they fixed that issue in the model that was brought to my studio. I did notice it was impossible to vibrato when in quantizing mode. As soon as quantizing was out of the picture, I was able to vibrato. I'm sure latency is likely caused by the fact the theremin's original heterodyning has to go through the synth / memory board circuitry prior to reaching the audio output.

Tom, thanks for the review.

Instability, non-linearity, and latency add up to an unplayable instrument.

This from the same company that brought us the Voyager, Little Phatty, Moogerfoogers, vintage synths such as the minimoog and Moog Modulars, the Moog Guitar, and the Etherwave Pro.  A plastic instrument with no (apparent) appeal to professional musicians seems to be quite a departure for them.

@kkissinger: Yeh, I won't even call it an instrument. It's just a noise toy, or "device". I think if the rep had offered to leave a Theremini with me in it's current state of development, I would have declined, and asked him to remove it from the premises without hesitation. LOL

@Thomas Thanks for posting the tip replacing the pitch antenna with the antenna from the E-pro. I tried using the antenna from my Etherwave Plus (mounted upside down because of the compression ring) and can confirm a much improved linearity making the Theremini almost playable. The latency issues still have to be dealt with of course.