Electro-Harmonix "Ravish Sitar" with theremin?

I wasnt being entirely serious with my comments in my last posting ;-)

Reminds me a bit of Phil Collins (Genesis) with his tin of black paint and paintbrush next to his new synth back in the '80s on his "Top of the Pops" promo music video..

The story goes that  Phil requested a new Prophet 5  from Sequential Circuits, as a "freebie" - Well - they were a major band - and Phil believed that his "promotion" of an instrument was worth far more than the cost of the instrument.

Sequential refused to give him one for free - He "had" to have one - it was a truly great synth for its time (well actually, its a truly great synth whatever / whenever) , and was (I think) the first (Certainly one of the first) with MIDI (even though it was fully analogue).. So Phil bought one..

Phil then painted (or had someone do this) out the logo on the back - "Sequential" and "Prophet" were blacked out - and the tin of paint and brush in the videos were his way of making a rude gesture to Sequential.

I think that if anything "promoted" the Prophet (certainly in the UK) , this action by Phil did! - Everyone interested in synths knew it was a Prophet, and when the story got out, the fact that he "had to have one" even when snubbed made it even more interesting.. Also, the musicians I was with at that time felt Sequential were right, and admired their bottle.. "He's got plenty of dough - why should we pay more just so those rich b**tards can get free gear!" - LOL, those were the days I hung out with some real crazy lefties ;-)

Fred.

ps - I have removed this you-tube link (Phil Collins - in the air tonight) as Chris has duplicated it below.. One link per page is enough ;-)

If anyone's interested, I just saw a used Ravish pedal for sale on craigslist in Portland.  It comes with an expression pedal, which would be difficult to use while playing the theremin.  I have no idea if the seller ships:

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/3736724510.html

wowza! THat is a great ptrice! I might need to write that fellah :)

Thanks Dmi. Do you live in Portland?

My guess is that, as a thereminist, you will be as disappointed with the Ravish Sitar as you were thrilled with the Talking Machine. It is not an effect that is going to be compatible with precision theremin playing.

It's hard to say what sorts of sounds it will produce for the FX brigade.

I think I'll bring my theremin to the nearest Guitar center and test it there... and fight people wanting to play the theremin when you want to test a couple of things. I try to go early AM. No one there since a lot of the frequent flyers are still recovering from their beer binging the night before :)

I don't mind when people want to try it... It the still drunk at 4pm waving their arms at the antenna like they want to see through a crystal ball that scare me!

I wasnt being entirely serious with my comments in my last posting ;-)

Reminds me a bit of Phil Collins (Genesis) with his tin of black paint and paintbrush next to his new synth back in the '80s on his "Top of the Pops" promo music video..

The story goes that  Phil requested a new Prophet 5  from Sequential Circuits, as a "freebie" - Well - they were a major band - and Phil believed that his "promotion" of an instrument was worth far more than the cost of the instrument.

Sequential refused to give him one for free - He "had" to have one - it was a truly great synth for its time (well actually, its a truly great synth whatever / whenever) , and was (I think) the first (Certainly one of the first) with MIDI (even though it was fully analogue).. So Phil bought one..

Phil then painted (or had someone do this) out the logo on the back - "Sequential" and "Prophet" were blacked out - and the tin of paint and brush in the videos were his way of making a rude gesture to Sequential.

I think that if anything "promoted" the Prophet (certainly in the UK) , this action by Phil did! - Everyone interested in synths knew it was a Prophet, and when the story got out, the fact that he "had to have one" even when snubbed made it even more interesting.. Also, the musicians I was with at that time felt Sequential were right, and admired their bottle.. "He's got plenty of dough - why should we pay more just so those rich b**tards can get free gear!" - LOL, those were the days I hung out with some real crazy lefties ;-)

Fred.

Interesting tale Fred! Now to this untrained eye it looks as if the instrument is supported on a D.I.Y. Black & Decker 'Workmate'!

My view on effects pedals differs slightly from Coalport's. (No surprise there, then!)

It is certainly true that many effects are not compatible with classical melodic music, whether played on the theremin or some other instrument, but many effects are compatible with precision theremin playing techniques. Echo pedals are a perfect example of this - while I use them exclusively for atonal music, I have witnessed some well known melodic thereminists (including Lydia) apply the same strategies I use (i.e. building up chords and arpeggios on the delay) with their precision playing skills and they sound just amazing!

I think the same may apply to this - sympathetic drones are not to limited to atonal music, as any bagpiper will tell you. For the ambient music that Amé makes, they could work very well.

It may be limited for precision playing in that one may not be able to use it with an expression pedal (for me the jury is out on that one - common sense suggests operating a treadle is probably going to throw you off pitch, but I have not seen a precision player using a treadle to confirm or deny this supposition.) Certainly it will not be possible to use two expression pedals simultaneously - I tried this once and it is not compatible with standing up!

It is notoriously difficult to predict how any effects pedal will respond to the theremin, an instrument for which they were not designed, but this example shows it applied to a bowed instrument, (along with several other effects) which is a tiny step closer to a theremin than a strummed or plucked guitar. Considering this along with the other examples given in this thread, I would rate it as "worth a try."

While I do not doubt the sincerity of the person who made the above video, and I'm sure the tribute was heartfelt and genuine, I can assure you as a former pupil of the late Ravi Shankar, that Raviji would have been horrified by this!

There is the suggestion of the sound of a dilruba or sarangi, but the timbre is screechy, strident and harsh, and the intonation of the player is "iffy" at best. The sound is squeaky, scratchy and quite unpleasant. This may have been the intention of the musician. Shankar was a perfectionist and would not have understood this performance at all.

The Ravish Sitar seems to muddy the musical waters, rather than lend the limpid clarity that characterizes virtuoso playing of classical Indian music. Here is a beautifully played piece for sarangi. Listen to the way it whispers and chuckles and sighs. 

No ravaged sitar here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQEdWYrdro8

I have inserted the video below (Coalports above link) because I really like it - not only the sitar, but those drums!

Listening to and watching this makes me think that the theremin might be usable as a replacement for the sitar - but not just by feeding it through some effect which modifies the theremins harmonics in a 'static' way.. I think the thereminist would need to have control over the dynamics and harmonics..

I think such a thing could be possible with a space-field "joystick" played by the thereminists volume hand.. IF there was any thereminist capable of precision playing of pitch combined with far more complex movements of the volume hand.

Alas, I doubt that anyone will manage - or at least I doubt they could manage to get it to "whisper and chuckle and sigh" the way one hears in the performance below.

" The sound is squeaky, scratchy and quite unpleasant" - Coalport (with reference to the "lament for Ravi Shankar" video, not the video below!)

 I agree - But I think this is down perhaps to ones hearing.. The unpleasantness is due mainly (IMO) to excessive higher harmonics.. Change the equalization (ideally with a tracking filter) and I can get it to sound ok to my ears. I suspect that many people will not hear these harmonics to an extent which would annoy them - Also, it will depend on their audio system - Playing it through my PC speakers it was unbearable to me - Through my small Harman Kardon's it was listenable, through my Tannoy Gold's via a parametric EQ it sounded quite good.. But almost anything through the Tannoy's sounds good! .. The sound from the video below via the Tannoy's though is incomparably better - Particularly when those drums kick in! ;-)

Fred.