Polyphonic Theremin from Moog

Posted: 3/31/2011 8:46:22 PM 1

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

Dorit Chrysler just emailed me with this demo she just did of a polyphonic theremin. I can't believe it. Frankly, it did not sound very well in tune, but then, it was just a demo. And we thought doing an internal tune was touch on the monophonic theremin.

Here's a link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stobfk1Mfjk

Posted: 3/31/2011 9:02:37 PM 2

FredM

From: Eastleigh, Hampshire, U.K. ................................... Fred Mundell. ................................... Electronics Engineer. (Primarily Analogue) .. CV Synths 1974-1980 .. Theremin developer 2007 to present .. soon to be Developing / Trading as WaveCrafter.com . ...................................

Joined: 12/7/2007

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[i]"it did not sound very well in tune" - Thomas [/i]

You are right about this, Thomas..

[b]I[/b]so [b]D[/b]irectional [b]I[/b]nductive [b]O[/b]scillator [b]T[/b]echnology does have a tendency to go out of tune at this time of year! - And Moog were never much good on polyphony anyway.. Polyphony depends on oscillators staying in tune with respect to each other.. Last month, the Earth's centre of gravity shifted slightly, and the length of a day changed (by a few microseconds I think) - and whilst this may seem trivial, a few microseconds becomes significant for the higher harmonics at theremin oscillator frequencies - so shifts in reletive frequencies of the IDIO(T)'s becomes more noticable.

Fred.

Posted: 3/31/2011 9:06:03 PM 3

Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

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By the way I just looked at the calender. I fear this well may be a cruel April fools prank. But we'll just have to wait and see. ;)

Posted: 3/31/2011 9:40:20 PM 4

Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

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FredM wrote "Iso Directional Inductive Oscillator Technology"

Take a look at the first letters of each of the above. OMG...;)

Posted: 3/31/2011 10:00:40 PM 5

FredM

From: Eastleigh, Hampshire, U.K. ................................... Fred Mundell. ................................... Electronics Engineer. (Primarily Analogue) .. CV Synths 1974-1980 .. Theremin developer 2007 to present .. soon to be Developing / Trading as WaveCrafter.com . ...................................

Joined: 12/7/2007

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IMHO, the only really "cruel" aspect to this joke is the inference that Moog engineers are actually developing any new theremin..

If Moog were to take the technology in their possession (Particularly the E-VOX technology) and couple this with their CV synth circuits (let alone MIDI) they could have produced a theremin years ago which would have satisfied the requirements of every thereminist - at a price not much higher than their slim phatty.

But instead, it seems to me they are almost going out of their way to wind-up the theremin community - bringing out a guitar when the community was expecting an E-Pro replacement, and then this...

Oh well - their choice.

Fred.

Posted: 3/31/2011 10:07:38 PM 6

Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

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Indeed. I was quite let down on learning of the guitar reveal at a theremin event.

Posted: 3/31/2011 10:37:57 PM 7

Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

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There is this at Moog Music's site.

http://www.moogmusic.com/theremin/?section=product&product_id=21416

Posted: 4/1/2011 12:01:44 AM 8

RS Theremin

From: 60 mi. N of San Diego CA

Joined: 2/15/2005

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When Lev Termen created his polyphonic theremin, he held a switch type device in his hand, though not quite polyphonic, if you’re curious of what it might have sounded like then click on this April 1st mp3 link. The Master (http://www.oldtemecula.com/theremin/sounds/3x6octaves.mp3) [i] - Specifications subject to change without notice [/i] -

My impression of the video is that beautiful Dorit Chrysler is just controlling the "volume" of a prerecorded sound track. [i]IsoDirectional Inductive Oscillator Technology[/i] - Oh come on… now I know why I retired, but I won’t be forgotten.

Christopher
.

Posted: 4/1/2011 12:14:09 AM 9

Jeff S

From: N.E. Ohio

Joined: 2/14/2005

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Well, they (Moog) certainly went the extra mile this year with that video. They do like to yank our chains, don't they?

I wouldn't mind having a few of those racks in the background though. (Behave!)

Actually, at the 2005 Ether Music festival, Dan Burns demonstrated a multi-voice theremin. Not being an expert in music terminology, I can't say if it was actually "polyphonic". However, it did produce three separate voices that could be tuned independently. I don't have any audio, but I do have a couple of photos.

Posted: 4/1/2011 9:12:34 AM 10

Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

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Hi JeffS, Yeh, they really went that extra mile, and then some on the video. :) I must admit, I was getting a bit of rack envy my self.

The Burns poly theremin was real. Unfortunately, Dan was living in New Orleans at the tine Katrina went through, and the instrument was permantly damaged.