My first two week with a Theremin!

Posted: 7/20/2016 8:45:34 AM
Zamu

From: Cagliari, Sardinia

Joined: 7/9/2016

Hi, I'm Samuele and I'm a beginner thereminist. 
I use a Pegna Theremin and I love it :) I play already the guitar and the ukulele, and from two week I've started with the theremin. Those are my progress! :D https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyLwY4FSnUc
Posted: 7/20/2016 1:03:05 PM
dewster

From: Northern NJ, USA

Joined: 2/17/2012

Hi Samuele,

You seem to be doing great for 2 weeks in!  It's quite interesting to see the Pegna in action as well, so thanks for the video!

I think playing any instrument you have to tune, like guitar, is good pitch training for Theremin.

Posted: 7/20/2016 1:14:02 PM
Zamu

From: Cagliari, Sardinia

Joined: 7/9/2016

"Hi Samuele, You seem to be doing great for 2 weeks in!  It's quite interesting to see the Pegna in action as well, so thanks for the video! I think playing any instrument you have to tune, like guitar, is good pitch training for Theremin."

Thank you :) I'm trying to play with Carolina Eyck finger tecnique.
This theremin has really good 3 octaves linearity

so it is quite simple to find the notes  with her tecnique (quite simple for a theremin, but not simple at all! :D ).
I hope to meet some advanced thereminist here to give me some hints :)

Posted: 7/20/2016 1:46:17 PM
oldtemecula

From: 60 Miles North of San Diego, CA

Joined: 10/1/2014

Samuele said:  “I'm trying to play with Carolina Eyck finger technique. This theremin has really good 3 octaves linearity so it is quite simple to find the notes with her technique”

I like both of your comments as great starting points in theremin play. Google-ing your town you live in a very classic place where music would just ooze out of the surroundings.

I have spent 15 years trying to capture the classic theremin sound, here is the best example I have ever found. When I hear this it makes me sad how the digital designers have missed the point. The Theremini surprised

Christopher

Posted: 7/20/2016 2:12:08 PM
dewster

From: Northern NJ, USA

Joined: 2/17/2012

Yeah, I don't know why there isn't an explicit female voice in the Theremini.  Here's "synthguy" over at Moog Inc. responding to the criticism:

"As far as human voices, it's a wavetable type synth instead of a sampler, which tends to make different types of sounds, although one of the contributors here has already made a patch that sounds quite good as a voice in a musical context!"

The thing to do IMO is start with good vocal synthesis and go from there.  The Theremini has poor noise rejection, slow response, terrible linearity, and they picked the wrong synth engine.  Their designers don't seem to understand the product at all, which is ironic in the extreme. 

Posted: 7/20/2016 5:09:19 PM
Zamu

From: Cagliari, Sardinia

Joined: 7/9/2016

I tried the theremini, I'm not an expert but I did not like the slow response and the difficult setup. But I found the linearity really good, it seemed fake :D but tune my octave range with my hand was pretty impossible.

My theremin now has some knobs to balance linearity/logarithm, pitch field etc and I can suit my hand range.

I like the sound too, but for the moment my interest is stay in pitch and play. When I learn it I will look for my sound :)

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