Etherwave Pro??

"sample chips which hold the digitized tones"

sorry, but I have not seen any chips like this (sample playback) on the EW-Pro I looked at.. And I cannot see any components capable of storing wavetables or samples on the photos.. Also, the block diagram for the Pro (issued by Moog) has no mention of a sample playback section. (but then again - the block diagram hides the truth in a way which, in my opinion, verges on fraudulent)

I dont mind Moog witholding information - but I do hope that no one is deliberately feeding false information about how the Pro works..

This is one of the main reasons why I believe in freedom of information - Without official schematics, any explanation can be conjured.. And it is quite difficult to determine what is true and what is false.

In order to implement sample playback from Theremin circuitry, one has several options - but they all come down to requiring either frequency multiplication of the difference signal, and using this multiplied frequency to address the indexing through the sample memory.. Or they require digitization of the difference frequency and a microprocessor taking this data and using it to adress the wavetable.

I do not believe that any of the above circuitry is present on the Epro.

nothing to add about the epro, but in regards to steam bending... its actually quite simple.

just got to soak the wood for a few days or weeks and rig up a kettle to a bag, pvc tube, or wooden box if you want to get really fancy.

once the steam is billowing out, throw in the wood and cook about 1hour per 1" of thickness. pull it out and quickly bend it. Its best over a jig or form and the more clamps the better. A mild curve like the epro would be a piece of cake.
Grain selection is very important with the wood you are bending,..make sure it it runs fairly straight (looking at the egde of the board), and no knots or burls.

FYI if your project is small enough or microwave is big enough, you can nuke the wood for the same result. Soak it well and put in the microwave for 5-15 secs. As soon as it starts to sizzle, pull it out and bend a way.

A full set of photographs of the Epro boards is now available here, on Element-14 Theremin General / resources (http://www.element-14.com/community/groups/theremin-general-resources)

When I got my E'Pro I took it completely apart and entirely rebuilt it in maple except for the curved maple front which I ended up stripping, staining, and re-lettering so that it would match the new maple sides and back. I cannot understand why someone would design a theremin with an attractive curly maple front that can be seen only by the player, while the back (which faces the audience) was made of cheap, black, spray painted particle board!

I was tempted to eliminate the curved front altogether because you have to bend over in order to read the control dials on the part of the panel that curves downward and away from the player (toward the floor). Also, a theremin should never be stuck on a pole because the slightest movement of the platform you are on can cause the instrument to sway, so I built a more solid column for better support.

The E'Pro is an example of a new, original but ridiculously impractical design. Once again, engineers and designers failed to consult PLAYERS.

For anyone who hasn't seen what I did to my E'Pro, here is a video of it. (I also built the electric kantele but that I actually made from scratch).

E'Pro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgFsgkNmMg0)

Peter,
That kantele is an awesome work of craftmanship - absolutely superb both in construction and sound.. I am absolutely stunned by it and your performance using it.

As for the Epro - Technically, it is a verification of Moog's mastery of analogue wave-shaping and filtering.. It is this which gives the Epro its sound, not its tone generation!

"Also, a theremin should never be stuck on a pole because the slightest movement of the platform you are on can cause the instrument to sway" -

Thanks for that! My high-end Theremin's dimensions are similar to the Epro, and I had planned on mounting it on a tube similar to a loudspeaker stand.. perhaps I need to think of some other method... The trouble is getting the balance right between portability, cost, and stability.

"The E'Pro is an example of a new, original but ridiculously impractical design. Once again, engineers and designers failed to consult PLAYERS."

One of the problems I think us designers have is that we may not know the right questions to ask - I keep my eyes open and try to pick up any comments which (like yours above) are relevant to design issues - I also ask questions about anything I have any doubt about... But the trouble is likely to come from issues I have made "wrong" assumptions on.. I see most Theremins mounted on microphone stands - this has not seemed satisfactory to me (even the best stands seem too wobbly to me).. So I have opted for more robust support - But looking at the stand you have for your Epro, mine would still be comparatively wobbly.

Thanks for your comments - They are always (well - usually ;) helpful.. I am more than happy to get any input from players (particularly good players) - But it is probably the 'obvious' things which players think everyone must realize, and therefore do not comment on, which I will get wrong.

The amount of effort to make a repro is not worth it, IMHO. You'd be better off, in all likelihood, making an RCA reproduction....ah, and then there is the problem of finding tubes...

Still waiting on the next Moog Pro Series theremin. I do hope the enhanced Etherwave Standard was NOT the end result of the input session Moog conducted at Etherfest.

If and when Moog manufactures another pro level instrument, I won't delay in obtaining one (if its a great instrument) like I did on the Etherwave Pro.

Philip Neidlinger

I have asked myself many times why I did not pick up a E-Pro when I had the chance.

Hell, I could have scraped up the cash and bought two - one to keep and one to resel to pay for both of them!

Same here, especially when they were being sold to participants at the 2005 theremin festival in Asheville for a mere $900. That would have been the bargain of the century.

Just before the E'Pro came out, I was in the process of planning my HOW TO PLAY THE THEREMIN DVD, and I told Moog that I wanted to use the E'Pro as the main instrument for the lessons and suggested that they give me one free. They had already decided to use Pamelia Kurstin as thereminist and spokesperson for the E'Pro, so they declined my offer.

This turned out to be fortunate.

First of all, I was unaware that the bugs had not been ironed out of the instrument and it was foolish on my part to have suggested that I teach on a theremin with which I was unfamiliar.

The DVD that Moog ended up making with Pamelia ended up to be more of a personal endorsement of the new Etherwave Pro than a real theremin seminar - not at all what I had envisioned for my "HOW TO" DVD. There were no real "lessons" or explanations of technique and the focus was entirely on promotion. Pamelia, with her usual girlish charm, giggled her way through what was essentially an Etherwave Pro "infomercial".

As it turned out, Moog sold me an E'Pro for $700.00 and as soon as it arrived I tore the thing apart and rebuilt it using birds eye maple throughout. I also added a new pedestal and (with Bob's help) a pitch preview. I was never happy with the volume response until our French theremin colleague, Thierry Frenkel, designed his EPVM1345 module several years later.

Sadly, as we now know, when the Etherwave Pro was in its research & development phase, Bob was already ill with the disease that eventually took his life. In order to speed up the release of the instrument before Bob had to go into serious treatment, things were rushed through.

Bob died in August of 2005 and was gone for more than two years. But guess what folks....as some of you have already felt, he's baaaaaaack.........

No, it's not your imagination, nor is it wishful thinking, as your rational mind would have you believe. You have to bypass all doubt or that damn airship will sink right back into the swamp. LOL

[theremin music up and fade]

OOOOOooooo00000....

Sorry to take so long getting back here.

Coalport, Sorry to hear Moog declined your offer. I wondered why your lesson DVD was not done with the EPro. Now I know. Back when I was scripting up my DVD, I'd approached a few manufacturers who were tempted, but no bites, save one. Moog Music and Burns at least granted permission for visuals of their instruments to be used in my DVD.

FredM, So, I guess all of what I was looking at were ICs, and not memory or processor based chips then. Still, those things alone would make the EPro difficult to say the least to reproduce.

Not having opened my EPro, I could only see some of those guys edge on. After studying the photos of the boards, I realize fully what those chips are now.