Etherwave Standard Module Installation

Hi all! Are you tired of that tired, cheap sounding theremin? Are you tired of not being able to play a ripping walking bass, but can't afford an Etherwave Pro to do it with? Can't afford to ship your theremin to Thierry Frenkel in Europe? Not handy with a soldering iron?

If you answered yes to the above, then consider letting me perform the installation of the ESPE01 Module in your Etherwave Standard theremin for you.

I've done it successfuly four times now, and two of the theremins belong to me.

The best way to cut shipping costs is to order the module from http://www.ethermagic.eu/modules , have it shipped directly to me from there, and send your theremin to me. I'll perform the upgrade, tune, and return the theremin.

My install fee is $25, and the theremin's owner pays shipping both ways. I recommend using UPS, and that you slip in a pre-paid return shipping label.

To cut shipping costs further, you need not include the antennas, or power brick.

See my web site www.thomasgrillo.com for contact information.

man, if that worked on my wavefront, you'd have it already!!!!

@Amethyste: Yeh, that's true, but from what Thierry has mentioned, there's a lot more work involved with the Wavefront to be done than I'm qualified to perform at the moment. For now, I'm only installing the ESPE01 module in Etherwave Standards. :)

although I'd never sell my wavefront, it's still sitting in the back of my room looking at me with a sad face... maybe I will try to play it tonight :) I'd be nice to improve it. maybe one day :)

Amey: Ditto

IHS --- Dana

Hey Thomas,

That's a great thing you're doing...I can testify that the mod not for the faint of heart.  Once enough people hear the change, maybe more talented musicians will give playing the theremin a go...

I'm sorry I've missed you guys...I had a cranial bleed at the base of my skull, followed by an unfortunate staph infection in my bloodstream, so I just got out of 2 weeks of hell in Vanderbilt's Neuro ICU.  These guys were awesome and saved my life twice within a week, so the fact that I'm neurologically intact is miraculous twice over.  I've bought myself 4 weeks of home IV treatment, so I'll have some time to catch up....Not to hijack your thread, but I knew that everyone on this thread knows me and would be OK with this..

Just one more hijack....If you ever have the first/worst headache of your life, don't screw around...get to the ER ASAP....cuz, as it turns out, the brain is important.....lots of love to all here...mollydad

@Mollydad. Glad to hear you're recovering. That is indeed frightning stuff. I wish you all the best for a full, and speedy recovery.

OMG Molydad!!! I hope you are doing ok!!! I was wondering where you went. Thought you might have gone on a vacation, but I guess not really! wow... i am so grateful you are with us, the theremin community (and myself) couldn't bear the loss of another thereminist and friend!

I hope you recover well, mollydad! 

"If you answered yes to the above, then consider letting me perform the installation of the ESPE01 Module in your Etherwave Standard theremin for you."

Thomas, I'm curious.  Could you reveal how you calibrate the pitch inductors post mod? 

With the YAEWSBM I did this with a scope probe near the antenna, looking for maximum amplitude while adjusting the variable oscillator, then adjusting the fixed oscillator to get zero beat.  Not sure if I just stumbled on a procedure that would or wouldn't work for all EWS's though.

@dewster: Hi, first thing I do prior to install, is to tune the instrument. Then I pull the board, do the install, and then I let the instrument warm up fully, then put the tuning lid on (has holes over inductor adjustments). Once she's warmed up for half an hour, I do the "quick retune", and then I roll up the sleeves, and get to work going back and forth between the L5 and L6. I'll start with L5 by giving it enough turns to go up an octave, then I go back to L6, and bring in zero beat, but back to L5, and up an octave again, and back to L6 for zero beat. I'll repeat this back-and-forth several times, with each time resulting in a higher pitch until I get at least a C or D in the correct octave range, and do a final zero beat adjustment. No scope used, just my ear. Before I started getting patient and doing the back-and-forth, I used to take L5 up into the nearly inaudible range, and then tried to get zero beat, but that resulted in even more work, so I settled on patiently doing the above method. There's also another method that works which involves touching the pitch rod and tuning for very high frequency, and then getting zero beat later.

I just remembered. Wilco Botermans mentioned to me that if you bend the pitch antenna lead up as high as possible to form an arc, you'll get the higher tuning as well.

Oh, I listen for desired tuning by holding may hand so close to the pitch rod that I can almost feel the metal near my hand. That's also where I start counting octaves on a theremin too.