[i]"Guitar effects attempt to use digital signal processing techniques (DSP) to mimic the sound of a particular guitar, a particular speaker cabinet, a particular amplifier, a particular type of reverberation, etc. in various combinations. These have varying degrees of success, since the operating point the designer chose to use may not have been what you would have chosen. But these things do provide some interesting coloration to the instrument's tone." Don[/i]
Hi Don,
Working on pre-mixer waveshapes using DSP is certainly not what I am thinking about .. The basic control mechanism is far simpler than that .. 18+ control voltages configure analogue modules (which effectively form an analogue computer) - These CV's define the waveshapes for pitch and reference oscillators and route real-time control signals (CV's for pitch and volume) to this.. One can program the waveshapes to be a function of pitch and / or a function of volume..
Add to the above some post-mixer modules, and the instrument could, I believe, become an 'analogue' of the Theremin one was trying to "emulate".
"Guitar effects" which attempt to copy guitar, cabinet,amplifier,reverb etc are infinitely more complex than the task of duplicating the function of one analogue computer with another analogue computer.. Perfect emulation of accoustically derived and/or modified sounds is not possible "These have varying degrees of success".. It is IMPOSSIBLE to emulate the function of an analogue computer using a digital computer.
I think about it this way - most (if not all) analogue systems perform some 'computation' function.. one can think about a dedicated system (a system built to perform a single function - for example a EW Theremin) as a 'processor' where the 'program' is 'hardwired'.
If one builds a system of sufficient complexity, which can be reconfigured, one can 'program' it to become the same as an equivalent or lesser analogue system.
If one runs 'word' on a laptop, it is the same as if one was to run it on a supercomputer .. One (ignoring operating system stuff) can run anything on the supercomputer, but may not be able to run a program developed on this on a laptop.
[i]"Pre-mixer timbre effects are probably the least explored avenue for theremin design so far. Fred has some very interesting ideas there."[/i]
Thanks Don .. This particular area of exploration was instigated by postings in "the nameless place" where the operation of the Moog 201 was being discussed. The schematic of this Theremin hit me like a thunderclap when I (eventually) twigged as to exactly how it was working.
It was Bob who caused me to go into electronics (or certainly contributed), and Bob who has hounded my life by putting instruments onto the market just about when I had completed prototypes for similar... In reality, I was never anywhere close to Bob.. But the delusion that i was served as a motivating force.
If I do produce a Theremin based on complex pre-mixer manipulations, I will once again be walking in the great mans shadow.. But at least this time there is the possibility of advancing and extending his ideas, and not just being a "me too".
Hi Don,
Working on pre-mixer waveshapes using DSP is certainly not what I am thinking about .. The basic control mechanism is far simpler than that .. 18+ control voltages configure analogue modules (which effectively form an analogue computer) - These CV's define the waveshapes for pitch and reference oscillators and route real-time control signals (CV's for pitch and volume) to this.. One can program the waveshapes to be a function of pitch and / or a function of volume..
Add to the above some post-mixer modules, and the instrument could, I believe, become an 'analogue' of the Theremin one was trying to "emulate".
"Guitar effects" which attempt to copy guitar, cabinet,amplifier,reverb etc are infinitely more complex than the task of duplicating the function of one analogue computer with another analogue computer.. Perfect emulation of accoustically derived and/or modified sounds is not possible "These have varying degrees of success".. It is IMPOSSIBLE to emulate the function of an analogue computer using a digital computer.
I think about it this way - most (if not all) analogue systems perform some 'computation' function.. one can think about a dedicated system (a system built to perform a single function - for example a EW Theremin) as a 'processor' where the 'program' is 'hardwired'.
If one builds a system of sufficient complexity, which can be reconfigured, one can 'program' it to become the same as an equivalent or lesser analogue system.
If one runs 'word' on a laptop, it is the same as if one was to run it on a supercomputer .. One (ignoring operating system stuff) can run anything on the supercomputer, but may not be able to run a program developed on this on a laptop.
[i]"Pre-mixer timbre effects are probably the least explored avenue for theremin design so far. Fred has some very interesting ideas there."[/i]
Thanks Don .. This particular area of exploration was instigated by postings in "the nameless place" where the operation of the Moog 201 was being discussed. The schematic of this Theremin hit me like a thunderclap when I (eventually) twigged as to exactly how it was working.
It was Bob who caused me to go into electronics (or certainly contributed), and Bob who has hounded my life by putting instruments onto the market just about when I had completed prototypes for similar... In reality, I was never anywhere close to Bob.. But the delusion that i was served as a motivating force.
If I do produce a Theremin based on complex pre-mixer manipulations, I will once again be walking in the great mans shadow.. But at least this time there is the possibility of advancing and extending his ideas, and not just being a "me too".
