Does anybody know this theremin ?

Hi, I'm interested in playing the Theremin, and I'm wondering what kind of Theremin to buy.
I surfed through many websites and found one Theremin for an acceptable price for me.
Does anybody know this product?
Is is playable with the additional volume antenna.

Thanks for your answers.

Alex

Theremin on eBay.de (http://cgi.ebay.de/THEREMIN-mit-6-Oktaven-ueber-70-cm-Incl-Netzteil_W0QQitemZ170160086393QQihZ007QQcategoryZ7797QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

I think this is a new theremin. I certainly haven't seen one like it before.

So what can we tell from the description and audio and video clips?

Well, it's a brilliant concept (I know this because I had the same thought a few months ago :-) a pitch only theremin with optional volume only theremin. (This means you can intercept the pitch only audio before it gets to the volume theremin - interesting for performers who use pitch preview - an audio feed to an earphone, so that the player can hear what note they will play when they raise their volume hand - amongst other things.)

If it's claim of six octaves over 70 cm is accurate then that is a reasonably playing field.

It is hard to tell how the instrument would sound near the hands of a skilled player - not least because playing style has some effect on timbre - but the midrange sounds quite good to me, and the low notes are ok, not so keen on the high notes - rather lacking in tone, but tunes seldom call for them anyway.

As to the linearity I will leave that assessment based on the video (which even has a ruler set out to allow you to see the linearity better - there's confidence for you) to someone with a better ear than me. I suspect it is comparable to an etherwave. (Apparently you need great big coils to get better than that - don't ask me, I'm not an electrician - and the box isn't big enough to house them.)

Interestingly the text claims it does not operate on the heterodyne principle, and does have good linearity, and produces a very pure sine wave. Doesn't sound like it to me. But then I am relying on auto-translation as I don't speak German.

Electromungo? Care to translate?

So, I was curious if I could find direct manufacturer information about this instrument. The photos on the ebay ad show an "FS" logo on the instrument, and the photos are served from a web site for FS industrial electronics. However, the front page is a blank site template.

I'm tempted to just buy one, but I'm a little cashpoor this month, and the shipping thing doesn't list the United States as an option.

Has anyone found an address of there seller?
One could pick up a Theremin on location they say, but I can't find out what their location is....
(And I'm in the Netherlands, so quite near.)

Rens

There is more on the front page of the website than when I first looked. Not much though. It appears to be under construction.

http://www.fs-industrielektronik.de/

The only documents stored on the site that Google is aware of (unless there are any that do not contain the word "and" or "und") are an English translation of the eBay text, and a document in German giving more information about the instrument.

The English text is here (http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:XIeyUG7iY_IJ:www.fs-industrielektronik.de/EBAY/Apollon/Artikelbeschreibung%2520englisch.doc+theremin+site:fs-industrielektronik.de&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk).

The German text is here (http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:0-nWcWBMwwwJ:www.fs-industrielektronik.de/EBAY/Bedienungsanleitung%2520Theremin%2520Opalin%2520gesamt.doc+%22Fritz+Soll%22+theremin&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&client=safari).

(Both links using Google to display a word document as html.)

The German text includes a name and address at the bottom, which coincides for the domain registration info for the website.


An auto-translation of the German text (http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2F66.102.9.104%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dcache%3A0-nWcWBMwwwJ%3Awww.fs-industrielektronik.de%2FEBAY%2FBedienungsanleitung%252520Theremin%252520Opalin%252520gesamt.doc%2B%2522Fritz%2BSoll%2522%2Btheremin%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26cd%3D1%26client%3Dsafari&langpair=de%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools).

Thanks for the quick reply.

They are 1,5 hour driving from the Dutch border. (45 minuten when you are driving 200 Km/h as is permitted in Germany :-)
So, from my hous 3 hour at normal speed.

Looking at the knops of this Theremin, wouldn't you say it lacks some settings and options compared to the Moog?

I must say, the sound is not that bad I think.

Rens

It does indeed not appear to offer any way of altering the timbre.

I guess if you want more variety you can shape the sound with effects boxes.


Having read through the available documentation, I would ask if the volume field can be reversed, so that moving the hand towards it reduces the volume, as is the case with the majority of theremins - and also it if is possible to turn the volume theremin on its side and replace the plate with a loop.

Interestingly, this has just appeared on mySpace as the "first featured theremin" of myspace user [i]thereministry[/i] based in Berlin. http://myspace.com/thereministry

I have posted a link to this thread in his/her comments, so maybe we'll be able to welcome aboard someone who knows a bit more about the instrument.

:-)


The myspace profile also includes this stunningly beautiful theremin...

[img]http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/9/15/1432744/Theremin_selfbuilt1.jpg[/img]

built by this guy...

http://thereminworld.com/news.asp?s=193

Wow!
Groovy!

Would it be playable?

According to his website it is a working instrument. I assume the Jetsons rings around the pitch rod are plastic and don't distort the EM field.