Pitch Correct Guitar Pedal for Theremin

Posted: 1/31/2025 9:09:09 PM
nunucello

Joined: 1/31/2025

I have a Moog Etherwave standard theremin and enjoy playing it.  I have found when running the live signal through Logic Audio's pitch correct plugin, I have better results and enjoy the experience even more.  

But this live pitch correction needs a computer to be running.  I'd like something independent and affordable like a guitar pedal.

Can anyone recommend a guitar pedal which can achieve similar results ?

I've researched around and the best I can find so far is this:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/VTC1--tc-helicon-voicetone-c1

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.  

Thank You
nunucello 

Posted: 1/31/2025 10:00:22 PM
pitts8rh

From: Minnesota USA

Joined: 11/27/2015

In 2018 when I was starting out on the Etherwave I was looking for some magic box that would help as well. I ended up buying a used TC Helicon VoiceLive and tried some software apps, but I quickly learned that most pitch correction schemes that try to detect and then correct the theremin's audio are laggy and as the theremin volume gets muted they get lost altogether.  Low pitches are the worst because pitch detection lakes longer. The same goes with tuners (like guitar or chromatic tuners) that display your pitch - they are very slow and the visual feedback is not as effective as audio feedback. Overall the quest to find fast visual tuners or pitch correction devices was really not helpful at all, and now I can see it was not the right thing to do if one wants to learn to play the theremin.  I can't recommend any pitch correction tools either in hardware or software, and I would advise against using any.

My advice would be to completely forget about pitch correction and start training your ear by playing along with notes from a synthesizer keyboard or any instrument that can play sustained notes while you try to play in unison.  This will actually help train your ear and you can begin to develop the motor coordination to make the physical corrections based on your pitch errors.  Also some vocal training phone apps can be useful for seeing your pitch live on a display.  For Android an app called VocalPitchMonitor is widely used.

It takes time and a practice regimen that you can develop by watching the techniques of the pros on YouTube that can actually play well:  Carolina Eyck, Katica Illenyi, Lydia Kavina, Gregoire Blanc, Rob Schwimmer, Thorwald Jorgenson, and of course the old recordings of Clara Rockmore.

Posted: 2/1/2025 12:47:23 PM
dewster

From: Northern NJ, USA

Joined: 2/17/2012

"I have found when running the live signal through Logic Audio's pitch correct plugin, I have better results and enjoy the experience even more."  - nunucello

I'm likely in the minority, but IMO few, if any, instruments are crying out for active pitch correction more than the Theremin.  But, as pitts8rh points out, external non-integrated solutions have the triple whammy of quickly and accurately detecting which pitch is being played, determining which pitch is likely desired, and somehow reconciling these two via non-intrusive-as-possible correction.  

The main fly in the ointment is the lag introduced by detection.  Sound travels approx. 1 foot per millisecond, and we humans can tolerate many ms of transport delay here in the feedback loop, but inertial (low pass) delay is better tolerated as it is at least immediately headed in the right direction.  Pitch correction also requires an absolute reference, such as a highly responsive tuner, accompaniment, drone, or super perfect pitch sense.  

It may seem paradoxical, but I imagine pitch correction can actually help to develop one's pitch sense.

Data point two, but pitch correction also very much helps me enjoy the experience of playing the Theremin.  It's an integral part of my sloppy "technique" now.

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