New guy - with a holiday greeting

Hello,

This is my first post here - just discovered this page/forum. I've already found many great and useful posts.

My new years resolution for 2008 is to get better on the Theremin - be more regimented in practice etc.

To get an early jump on it, this year the audio greeting I sent to friends was a version of one of my favorite holiday tunes on the Big Briar signature Theremin I bought years ago.

Here's a link to an mp3 (with an intro by my daughter):

http://www.netherotarecords.com/
Xmas07/ChristmasTimeIsHere.mp3

From this track it may seem that I'm pretty good, BUT don't be fooled: this performance had to be cut together from several takes - and I fixed some flat and sharp notes with digital transposition. There were also about 13 passes that sucked outright before I got to takes that had good sections. So, I'm not as good as this sounds. If I had to do it live it would be pretty rough - but it forced me to practice!

Anyway, I look forward to checking in here and reading more from everyone.

For now, here are a few questions:

1) As I mentioned, I have a Big Briar signature seriesmodel - it that pretty much the same as the more recent Moog Etherwave theremins?

2) Does anyone have experience with the Wavefront Classic? How does it compare to the Etherwave and Etherwave Pro?

Best wishes and happy holidays,

Eban Schletter
http://www.myspace.com/ebanschletter

Don't be ashamed of editing your recording. That's what editing tools are for. If you are planning to perform live, you need to be able to knock that performance out of the ballpark. If you just want to put out great recordings, if you can fix it in the computer, it's perfectly valid to do so.

The Etherwave has undergone several board revisions over the years. If you have a "Big Briar" model, it will have undergone several revisions (at least 3, I think) since yours was made. Some revisions were more significant than others, but the basic features of the instrument have not changed. "Uncle Howie" Mossman, noted theremin technical expert, speaks very highly about the quality of the most recent boards relative to the earliest ones. Moog Music will sell you a new, current model, replacement board for about $150 (IIRC) if you contact them. I am planning to replace the board in my Big Briar Etherwave when I have more time to do so.

I haven't used a Wavefront but they're very well spoken of, especially if the owner paid to have air coils installed.

I have a Wavefront classic, a Pro and an older Big Briar etherwave.
These days I'm playing the Wavefront the most, but the Pro is better for gigs, easier to move and set up. I want to try one of the new etherwave standards, I've heard (also from our beloved theremin uncle) that it's really similar to the Pro.

Andy, here's me and my classic