"Cheers, Jim. I don't drink beer..."

It's a skill

Attention persons in Europe looking for a Moog Etherwave Pro:

The seller of the E-Pro (who posted second on this thread in April ) still has the Etherwave Pro Limited Edition for sale. He contacted me on my public Facebook page, with the same email address.  He perhaps does not wish to post again on TW. I am unsure, because I suggested to him that he create a new post here on Thereminworld, but I received no reply.

Anyway, the Etherwave Pro he wishes to sell is not the same one posted on Ebay (the excessively high priced one from Florida). This E-Pro is a limited edition model in perfect condition. The seller is from Italy. His name is Giuseppe Paternò and his email address is:   peppekaa@libero.it

Anyone interested should email him directly.

Hi Folks!  I'm new to the Theremin World forums, but have followed the posts for a while now.  Last year (2015), I purchased an E Pro from Ebay for about $5000.  It is serial number 0024.

I refer back to post #15 ("Want To Buy An Etherwave Pro" forum).  Randy George referred to the instrument which I now own.  It turned out to be a really great theremin, until recently.  Last year I installed one of Thierry's modules, with excellent results.  Things went well for months, until the pitch began to drift at random.  Now I've lost the whole upper range.  No adjustments/calibration are effective, so I think that my E Pro has a problem in the circuitry, beyond my limited knowledge of electronics.  No loose wires or connections that I can find.  The two main capacitors do seem to be running awfully hot, and I can feel heat around the volume knob, coming through the wood facing.  I  took out the add-on module and returned to the original configuration, with no results.  So, I'm sending it off to Moog for service, before this thing self-destructs!

I look forward to getting my theremin back, in more ways than one!  In the meantime, I have my Etherwave Plus, which I built from the kit.  The E-Plus is an amazing instrument, although the tone falls considerably short of the E-Pro.  I have it hooked up to a Boss Giga Delay pedal as well as an octavator/harmonizer and a volume pedal.  I can get a gorgeous higher octave at a toe click, so I have 6 octaves even without an expansion module.  The E-Plus is of course equipped to drive effects through its added-on sockets, so it sounds pretty amazing when I run it through various Moog effects pedals, such as the MoogerFooger and loopers.  Still, the E-Pro sounds better, even without any enhancement.

I see that E-pros have reached the $10,000.00 mark recently.  I know that this sounds like a lot (it IS a lot now, but may not be in coming years), yet we must bear in mind that the E Pro is the ultimate "limited edition" instrument.  Who knows!  Someday they may be considered the Stradivaris of the theremins. Since only five or six hundred of those Stradivarius violins were ever made, they quickly became very valuable.  Well, only a rather small number of Etherwave Pros were ever made.  Those of us who have them should hang tight to them - they will continue to increase in value and importance as Robert Moog and his predecessors come into their own very important places in the continuing history of music.

I will post an update when I get my E Pro back from Moog.  

Jon "Glass Man"

Hello Jon, welcome.

I'm very interested in how your repair gets on with moog.  I have not found them very responsive on the subject of the Etherwave Pro.  I get the feeling they'd rather not deal with it.  Please reply with your results.  I own an EPro and occasionally worry about finding myself in a similar situation.

Thanks.

"The two main capacitors do seem to be running awfully hot..."  -- GlassMan

I take it these are large electrolytics for the power supply?  If so, are they visibly bulging or leaking at all?  Distressingly often, electrolytics are the Achilles Heel of electronic equipment (the first thing to go).  They don't necessarily have to bulge or leak when they go bad, sometimes they look just fine but the ESR (equivalent series resistance) has drifted up and beyond what the circuit was designed to tolerate (i.e. they make good looking corpses).

If I were you I might check the power supply rectifiers as well.

Hello Again!  Thanks to Dewster and Johnthom for your replies.

Moog promptly agreed to accept the E-Pro for repairs.  They have had it for several days now, and I hope that they have someone on board there who can service one of these earlier models.

Dewster, I do agree that at least one of the problems may be the two large capacitors that are housed on the smallish circuit board just above the power supply. They are black and bulgy, like old ceramic caps.  They might be expected to run warm, but I don't think they should be dangerously hot like these were.  The unit still powered on okay and even played, but without its upper octaves, and wildly unstable despite all adjustments.  I hope I can get a detailed description of the problem from Moog once they've completed their troubleshooting.  I will post an update soon.

Right now I'm building my conception of a professional-quality theremin.  I am housing Etherwave-Plus circuitry in a 4' tall walnut case.  The case contains its own sound system, incorporating a folded-horn speaker design and full amp circuits.  I am building in a volume pedal as well as delay and harmonizer pedals.  The controls for the sound and effects will be conveniently placed just below the E-Plus controls, and most of the knobs will be wood.  There will be a touch-sensor standby switch similar to the design now being used in the new Burns pro theremins.

I'm also putting together a similar instrument based on the Keppinger vacuum tube system.

I will post updates in the near future.

Jon

Jon said "I am housing Etherwave-Plus circuitry in a 4' tall walnut case."

Did you build this or purchase, the way I imagine this, it could be nice.

I always marvel at EM builders as what they are doing is making a theremin using one of the most complicated approaches for such a simple device.

What does the Keppinger offer that you are after, I have never heard one that sounded the way I would want?

Before I knew what I was doing this was my tube sound, it is cleaner today. Do you have any interest in my approach?

You seem to have good theremin building skills, that is becoming rarer and rarer. Do I know you?

Christopher

Christopher said "Did you build this or purchase, the way I imagine this, it could be nice.

I always marvel at EM builders as what they are doing is making a theremin using one of the most complicated approaches.

What does the Keppinger offer that you are after, I have never heard one that sounded the way I would want?"

Hi, Christopher! 

I am building this from scratch, as a work of art.  Why?  For the love of the theremin and fine woodworking.  Also for a desire to put all of the things I like about theremins into one beautiful package.  I've been building and playing unusual instruments since childhood.  Following a horrific car crash in 2009, I was forced into early retirement, and can now devote lots of time to this wonderful work despite my handicaps.

I've been exploring the major theremins systems that are already out there.  I started with the E-Pro because I do some serious composing and recording, and wanted the best I could get.  I then put together an Etherwave-Plus, which got me deeper into the guts of electronic theremins.  A few days ago I finished the assembly of a Theremax.  Now I'm putting together a Keppinger.  The Keppinger will be my last exploration of what has already been done.

Right now I still haven't experienced the first-hand playing of a Keppinger.  I don't expect it to exceed or even equal the Etherwaves, but It is interesting simply because it is very close to the original analogue theremins.

So far, I think the  Etherwaves set a standard of overall quality and performance.  But I want to create working prototypes using both the electronic and tube systems, with the long-range goal of hand-building a limited number to sell to people looking for something a bit outside of the box.  My interest is in fully self-contained instruments that combine sculptural beauty with versatile functions.

It is very rewarding to be able to devote more of my time to this.  I'm just one guy with a passion and time on my hands.  But beyond me, the theremin seems important to the future of music, and I think that all efforts need to be made to continue its development.

Thanks!

Jon

Jon said: " So far, I think the  Etherwaves set a standard of overall quality and performance."

I completely agree but today we might do better.

So we have not met, interesting as I have been on this TW board for 15 years. Before my avatar was RS Theremin.  Somehow my theremin knowledge became clearer over the years.

I developed the knowledge to make every analog theremin better, pitch & volume. visit This TW thread

We will have more to talk about I am sure.

Christopher

Jon said: "But I want to create working prototypes using both the electronic and tube systems, with the long-range goal of hand-building a limited number to sell to people looking for something a bit outside of the box."

I keep saying I want to retire from all this madness and now you come along. I can share knowledge with you that has stymied the engineering community for a long time. There are at least a half a dozen phenomenon about the theremin an engineer who only models will never find or recognize. I do think you will profit from our meeting. I have been to the place where the children all wore flowers in their hair.

Christopher