Hi & welcome! (and forum guidelines)

Aaaargh...  ;-)

It seems that the instrument is internally completely out of tune and/or that one of the volume coils is partially broken (happens sometimes after shipping). This may give these ghost tone and locking effects when you touch the volume loop.

If you paid more than $250 for it, return it.

If you paid less it is worth being shipped to me for reparation and upgrade at the same time.

I experienced the exact same thing when I took my Etherwave to Denmark to premiere a new piece this week. I can usually make this fault go away by turning the volume knob fully counterclockwise and retuning it while touching the pitch rod. Can this problem also be caused by insufficient grounding or is it always a symptom of bad internal tuning or defective volume coil(s)?

At distance, I can only use my experience and some statistics. But I can't do a thorough diagnosing. Bad grounding may make worse any existing problem.

If you see often the need to retune the instrument, grounded or not, there is definitively something wrong and you should try to find out the cause instead of repeatedly curing only the symptoms.

The partially broken 5mH coil is a common source for such problems, another is sometimes a partially defective diode D1 (which may look fine with the multimeter but the oscilloscope will show a breakdown at ~20V in reverse direction). In rare cases I have also seen ghost tones coming from the circuitry around the volume tuning stage (Q8 and friends) which started sometimes oscillating itself and which gave an unwanted amplitude modulation of the audio signal.

I know that Thereminists are often in a difficult situation. There are only a few competent service points around the world and money is also often an issue. But in some way you should see your instrument like a car which needs to be serviced in fixed time intervals or after a number of kilometers or miles...

BTW: I plan to improve the general situation starting next year and to offer weekend classes for people who want to learn how to service and fix theremins (semi-) professionally.

So I have a question here regarding pots and what nots.

I was wondering if I can change my pots out with precision pots so that they are not so sensitive. 

What do you think? Seems like it makes sense and would be fairly easy to do. Have you ever tried this or know anyone that has? 

Thanks. Love the bass module.

I want to take a class! I am in Ca. though. Mind having a roommate for a few? I should just go over there and do a synth tour. I've been getting into the modular world as well. Mainly research so far. Got any tips in that arena?

Hello, I'm going to be travelling quite a bit with my theremin which I use with a looping pedal, http://exclaim.ca/Music/article/leaf_rapids-vulture_song_live_video

and my etherwave plus is slightly too big for the pelican carry on case that I want to use for my pedals and theremin. If I shorten the body by a couple of inches everything will fit in beautifully, but will this modification affect the sound or playing other than getting used to the volume and pitch antennae being closer together?

Thanks very much, Cheers from Canada, Keri

Hello Keri,

Everything about a theremin is a fine balance, even taking the top off will shift the tuning a bit until it is placed back on. If you shorten the box do it on the volume loop side, 3" would be my suggested maximum.

Who ever does the mod may need to learn some basic theremin tuning so on your own new thread tell us when you get there. Every Thereminist should learn basic tuning.

You can buy a new wood box here if all else fails. Do not paint it black, it is not a red door, I mean some paints are conductive and will mess up the tuning.

Start a new thread, I think there is more input from others you will like. Then I will move all this info over there.

I like your bands sound...

Christopher

Hi, I'm new here...

A problem with the pitch field has just developed for some reason. I've been playing the Lost Volts LV-3 theremin for a year now, it's always been great, but after a break of a few months I've started playing it again and the pitch field has gone massive - bigger than the room - so I can't access the lower octaves at all. It's been kept in a hard case, dust free, so nothing has happened to it I can think of that would cause this.

This is with the pitch control turned all the way counter-clockwise by the way, which is the smallest field setting. And it behaves the same whether on 9V battery or connected to mains. I'm using it on a show, so I've played it in several rehearsal rooms and on stage in several theatres so far and behaves no differently in either space. In the same theatres on tour last year it behaved perfectly.

Any thoughts why this could have happened and what to do about it would be gratefully received!

Thanks,

Frank

Anywhere in United States to buy ESPE01 module ?

Is there any difference in the ESPE01 for a Moog Etherwave

or BigBriar Etherwave ?  I have both Theremins and need two units.

thank you

phippie,

Thomas Grillo in Jackson used to be authorised to install these modules (but his failing eye sight has got the better of him in this respect) so it might be an idea to get in touch with him.

Thomas is a member of Theremin World but I can't get his details here (not searching in the right place for the right thing!), however you can contact him here: thomasgrillo1701@comcast.net

The module extends the range of the EW and improves the linearity. Also makes the sound much smoother.

Would definitely recommend it.

Roy

Hi - new to Theremin World, and new to playing the Theremin. So far, it's as fun as it is difficult!

I built my Etherwave last year. It was working very well for about 6 months when it took a fall from mic stand height. Everything still "works", but it now has a growl in the tone. It sounds like two pitches in interference pattern. It is not audible at higher pitch, but approaching middle C (C4) the interference pattern slows to a wobble. At about middle C the wobbling stops. Then, continuing down to B3 it increases again. It's bad enough that I can't play near middle C because it sounds like there are two pitches at once.

I have tried adjusting the pitch knob, plugged it into other outlets and checked the antennae connections. I opened it up and looked inside but nothing appeared broken.

Could there be something inside the Theremin that could be adjusted to correct this? 

Hoping it's not broken already...

Thank you!

Ann