WANT TO BUY ETHERWAVE PRO

Jon,

Any updated on how your EPro repair is going with Moog?

Johnthom,

Still no reply.  It's been right at a month now.  I'll try to contact them for an update.  Looks like Moog service is slow indeed...

Hello all,

After no success getting a response by email, I phoned Moog Music tech department and spoke with Taylor (I might have miss-spelled that) directly.  He looked up my RMA number and acknowledged that they have had my EPro sitting there for a month going on a month and a half, but he made it sound like it got there just yesterday,  "We're running a little behind right now".  He said that it would be on the repair bench next week, but he thinks it will be a very easy repair, "probably a transistor".  When I told him about the two big black caps running so hot that they heated up the wood around the volume knob, he acted a bit more interested...

Assuming a successful repair, it looks like service is running into two months.  My EPro is the first that they have gotten in for a long time, but it looks like they are still able to service this legacy technology.

The theremin that I have been building, my prototype "Aria" model, is nearing completion.  A huge amount of woodworking for the curvy solid walnut casework has made this both fun and challenging.  While there is actually no new technology here (the heart is an EPlus), I have combined a number of unique features into one package, including a wired remote with multiple touch switches that fits on a fingerless glove on the volume hand.  The switches rest in the palm of the hand in a line, and a quick flick of a finger tip turns a standby on or off, allows an instant octave change, or can change the sound from pure theremin to human voice.  There are banks of control knobs on the case for various effects, and a volume pedal.  A complete internal sound system with 8", 10" and 12" speakers, and a vintage Fender amp head.  The sound is big, very warm and very classic.  The cost?  It won't be cheap, but will probably be somewhere in the neighborhood of the Wavefront classic, which is currently not in production.

I already have the components of my next theremin in the line.  It will be an all-tube instrument, and I'll be building all of the internals by hand.

Number three will be Keppinger hybridized with effects and sound system.  Number four will be a Wavefront suitcase model re-housed in my "Aria" cabinet with an internal sound system.

Keep having fun, all!

Jon

Jon said: The theremin that I have been building, my prototype "Aria" model, is nearing completion.  A huge amount of woodworking for the curvy solid walnut casework has made this both fun and challenging.

Your use of the walnut sounds very interesting, any photos yet?

Jon said: I already have the components of my next theremin in the line.  It will be an all-tube instrument, and I'll be building all of the internals by hand.

If this is a partial hybrid between old and new you might want to add my Harmonic Enhancer board. The vacuum tube RF oscillator can give a much fuller or fat sound than transistors which are more snappy from my experience. An audio waveform has very little that the eye can see in difference which makes it sound like a mouse getting its nuts squeezed and an almost natural human sound.

Always get a sound sample from any designer to validate their research, here is my tube wav, too many student designers have thrown schematics out there that have little value. Because it is old does not make it better.

I do not know if you are aware but the beautiful Wavefront classic had a Big Briar EtherWave board inside, a slightly improved sound but not very linear if memory serves me.

Jon, maybe you should start a Jon J thread and your adventures, I will move my post over there. We are going to have a lot to talk about. 

Christopher

Oldtemecula said, "Your use of the walnut sounds very interesting, any photos yet?"  

I'll be posting my first pictures in the coming month, when more of it is there. Right now the cabinetry is partly there, with the really challenging stuff (like cutouts and holes for controls) just done. I have more curved paneling to do, and I still have to mount the speakers system inside.  Then the final sanding and varnishing.  It's a huge job - especially the first prototype.  But It's turning out awesome.  I just installed a magic eye that irises open and shut in response to the motion of the volume antenna hand.  It looks amazing - it is the very same sort of indicator eye that used to be used in old radios/shortwaves.  I'll have that in all of my instruments, along with my wired remote hand switch.

Oldtemecula also said, "If this is a partial hybrid between old and new you might want to add my Harmonic Enhancer board"

I listened to your tube wav sample.  It sounds interesting, somewhat "Moogish"/EM to my ear.  That's nice, but I want my unfiltered tone to be pure tube. When I say "hybrid" I am referring to some effects pedal components like reverb/harmonizer/talking machine, etcetera.  I may even go with analogue/tube on some of the effects.  I am of course referring to my next theremin, which I will be building from scratch as a study in the earlier technologies.  I won't always be working with tubes, though.  My current model incorporates the Moog E-Plus.

"I do not know if you are aware but the beautiful Wavefront classic had a Big Briar EtherWave board inside".

Interesting.  I had heard that it was built on the Etherwave, but it sounded different from the current E's. It makes sense that the board is an early Ewave of the Big Briar vintage.  That does indeed explain the relative non-linearity of the pitch circuit response, which is one of the most common complaints of the Wavefront.

I appreciate all of your work and research, Christopher.  Will keep you posted!

Jon

Christopher,

I'm taking your advice and starting a new thread - "New Line of Self-Contained Theremins".

I will share my journey of prototyping and post pictures and sound files starting mid-October.  Soon there will be a link to my new website: "Songwood Instruments," where I will have theremins and musical saws up for sale and special order.

Your input will be most welcome, and thanks for the suggestion!

Jon

Hello All,

I phoned Moog Music for the second time today, for an update on the repair of my Etherwave Pro.  Spoke with Taylor. It has now been almost three months since they got my theremin.

The word is that is still hasn't even been looked at, "We will have to refer it to one of our engineers."  When I asked how long this could take, the answer was, "I really can't say."  I was also told,  "This is the first E-Pro we've seen in a long time," and "We normally don't work on these older, legacy units any more."  Bob Moog must be rolling over in his grave!!!  Anyway, I told Taylor that I would give them one more month maximum, or have it shipped back, unrepaired.  I probably won't wait even that long, if they can't even give me an estimate...I wonder why they even agreed to repair it in the first place!

Looks like I'm going to either have to tackle the repair myself, or find someone who knows E-Pros and would be willing to attempt the repair.

I will be posting a new thread, "Repair Needed on Etherwave Pro."  I will describe the problems in more detail there. If anyone reading this is interested, please reply.  This could be an interesting job for someone.

Until Later,

Jon

Update:

Thierry Frenkel has agreed to do the diagnostics/repairs.  I will have to ship clear to France (at considerable expense!), but I know that the work will be done right and that my theremin won't be sitting in some corner of Moog Music gathering dust.  

We sure need someone here in the USA who can repair our older solid-state theremins like the E-Pros.  I am fine with vacuum tube technology, building solid state from a kit, or doing minor mods on existing stuff.  But we sure do need a repair expert here in America!

Thank you, Thierry, for your willingness to fix my Pro.  I will post again later, after Thierry gets the repairs made.

Until then,

Jon

2nd Update:

I spoke with Taylor at Moog Music again today (11/03/16), expecting to have the EPro sent back unrepaired. To my surprise, an engineer had already been in to test it out.  This happens to be one of the men who was around when my instrument was actually built!  Anyway, he found a problem almost immediately.  The circuit board in the pitch antenna went bad (I'll write an update later, pin-pointing the exact problem after I get a written report from Moog).  They installed a new board, and have my EPro powered on for "burning in" the new circuit.  The problem appears to be gone, and now they are calibrating the EPro and preparing to ship it back.

I would never had guessed that the problem would be in the pitch arm.  I still can't believe it, but time will indeed tell.  And according to Thierry Frenkel, this doesn't explain the extreme heat present in the two big cement resistors on the control board, or the heat which can be felt in the wood around the register nob, which are indications of a major current draw from somewhere. And a pitch antenna short is at the RF level, and unlikely to affect the regulated power supply voltage draw.  So the most likely scenario is that Moog found a side issue but not the main problem.  

I should have my EPro back next week, so I look forward to doing some deep testing.  Will update you then.

Jon

Hey guys, for everything electronics, electrical appliances and accesories, you just got to visit Win Source (http://   www.    win-source.   net/      category/    all). They are the best online shopping superstore.