Moog Theremini!

Sorry for the delay... and the added suspense. I'm in the middle of hopping and skipping in LA.  i've got a bunch of text written.  I've just gotta organize it.  One comment I can leave now is that I'm not disappointed with the thremini. It is misunderstood because of the heap of incomplete information about it.  Even folks at Moog in the demo videos are not painting it in the best light... For no reason other than most of them are not theremin players.

I'm very much looking forward to your write-up, Randy - after 150 posts of extrapolating from ropey videos it will be a relief to have some solid facts to go on. :-)

But while we're still shooting the breeze, here's a thought regarding Coalport's regular riff of "If it sounds like a theremin, it's a theremin." (Usually accompanied by "this doesn't sound like a theremin".) 

For the last five decades, starting with the tannerin and more recently with digital synths with the portamento cranked up, the general public has heard a lot more faux theremin than real theremin. So in the public consciousness, this is what a theremin sounds like - an electronic instrument with consistently accurate pitch. Which is what the theremini offers, and exactly what classical theremins don't sound like except when played by someone who has mastered playing in tune, which is rather rare. 

So, to most of the world, the theremini will sound more like a theremin than a theremin does.

Is the theremin a musical instrument, or is it an electronic device that can be used for a variety of practical purposes one of which just happens to be music?

Traditional musical instruments have a single purpose - making music. There is no other use for a violin, a tuba or a harp. Sure, you can use your cello as a doorstop but it is not at all suited for the purpose.

The theremin, properly persuaded, can make your birthday cake revolve. 

Pretty sure I've heard all of those instruments used in foley. 

Harp = swirly dream sequence.

Tuba = comedic passing of wind.

Violin = distressed feline.

It is "amazing" to see how much time, emotions and bandwidth are invested to discuss a device already three months before its coming to market and even before at least a few of the participants in this discussion have tried it out in a professional environment and setup.

Moog Music inc. has up to now presented it in a way which shows clearly that they have absolutely no interest in making their Theremins evolving towards professional music instruments as it was initially intended by Leon Theremin. They seem to be fishing in a completely different market where noise-generators of all kinds, the stranger the better, are highly appreciated by a mostly unmusical crowd.

That reminds me a situation when I was invited as a theremin expert to a synth festival back in 2009: Three guys were "setting up", "patching", etc. about 25 interconnected devices for hours (which was already enough painful for my ears) just to play a 4 minutes "piece" on a monophonic keyboard with a 1 octave range and turning hundreds of knobs at the same time. I don't remember the name of the piece but my associative memory retained keywords like "colon", "inflammation", and "diarrhea". But the "grand public" was very enthusiastic about the performance.

"When you say, it's art, then it's art"

Don't take my words wrong, please! Nothing against synths, nothing against the digital (r)evolution, even inside a theremin. But the Theremin was intended to be something special and unique with its own character and not whatever gesture controlled interchangeable sound or noise generator. That should not be forgotten.

Thereminists, be careful!

"Is the theremin a musical instrument, or is it an electronic device that can be used for a variety of practical purposes one of which just happens to be music?" - Coalport.
 
IMO, there are two answers to this - Yeah, here I go again ;-).. I think the theremin is a musical instrument in its original embodiment.. but the technology underpinning it is  more adaptable to other applications than the technology underpinning say a violin, tuba or harp.
So whilst one cannot (easily) use the concepts underpinning most traditional musical instruments for anything else, you can use capacitive sensing for a multitude of musical and non musical applications - likewise with heterodyning - likewise with analogue computing - all of which are integral to the theremin.

One trouble I think is with naming - Before the synthesiser, there was the analogue computer - this was capable of being a synthesiser without any profound modification - When Bob Moog performed such modification he created the synthesiser (well, he never actually invented the concept, he merely refined and standardised it to the Volt/Octave topology we know) and for a long time people called synthesisers "Moogs"..

If this had stuck, if "Moog" had been a generic word for "Synthesiser" today, what would be a "Real Moog" ? .. And if digital hadnt advanced and analogue computing etc was the norm, would the name "Moog" perhaps have spilled int other, non-music related products?

"We" have lost the battle and the war IMO - There are now so many things which have almost no relationship to even the technology inside the theremin, let alone its musical function, that are being "tagged" somehow with the identifier "theremin" that theres no point fighting it - or certainly no point fighting in in the wider world..

But IMO, we are now losing the battle in our theremin world - and upsettingly its Moog who seem to be the ones opening the stargate to our world and letting the rif-raf in ;-).. I think they did this because for whatever reason, "theremins" became "cool" - or at least what people thought were "theremins" were became cool.. When something is "cool" you can make money from it - and IMO most "cool" things are crap! - Ill bet there will be ignorami who will buy a "cool" theremin but wouldnt know what an RCA was if they saw it in a 2nd hand store for $400, and would just walk bye..

As for a theremin birthady cake revolver, well, I havent seen that yet ;-) ... But when it comes, it will probably get a place on TWs front page like the musical toothpick did... ;-) [or I think it did.. some things with as much relationship to the theremin as a toothpick certainly have :-]

Fred.

"It is "amazing" to see how much time, emotions and bandwidth are invested to discuss a device already three months before its coming to market " - Thierry

No its not "amazing" at all IMO ;-) ... Theres not much else going on at TW, and this is a classic type of thread which people want to get into - it has all the essential ingrediants - "Newness" "drama" "hope" "frustration" "love" "anger" "dissapointment" "fear?"-  Videos of people attempting to play - technical speculation involving the "heavyweights"  (mainly Dewster You and me ;-) and dragging in the musical heavyweights..  Subject matter likely to split us into our seperate camps with the strong potential for civil war with technical and musical folks pondering which bunch of renegrades to join .. LOL ;-) , as well as involving deep passions and challenging long established loyalties - ( and also being an excuse to vent all manner of off-topic or nearly off-topic opinions) .. And theres also been some damn fine humor! (particularly from Thierry - joking that he was going digital... ROFLMAO!!!  )

Its the perfect storm!  ;-)

I have really enjoyed your contributions to this thread, Thierry - Watching you trying to restrain you rage and failing to do so has been extremely entertaining! ;-) ... And its nice to be in full agreement with you for once!  I almost envy your restraint - If the theremini turns out to be a marvel, I will REALLY have egg on my face! ;-) ... but thats probably about as unlikely as you building a digital theremin..... :-(

Fred, I'm not sure if "rage" is the correct expression for what I feel... I perceive it rather as a kind of deception because the theremini seems to violate almost all principles and ideas which have been developed and discussed here and elsewhere for years. 

I'm sad because Moog Music went in what I think is the wrong way. There was a big step forward when they created the Etherwave Pro as an improved Etherwave Standard. The Pro has its weaknesses and design flaws but these could have been corrected in a kind of v2. Same for the Etherwave. I've demonstrated with my small modules that there is still a lot of potential in both these instruments and there are still other projects to improve them in my drawers. But instead of asking what the precision thereminist needs and what people had to contribute to satisfy these needs, they went towards "synth" and "profit".

Already the Etherwave Plus was nothing other than a lazy marketing gag: Without almost any research and development they tinkered Bob Moog's "Hot Rot" additions together on an additional small $25 circuit board which allowed them to sell the same Etherwave plus a few additional CV outputs as a "Plus" for $100 more. I guess that 90% of the Plus buyers never used these additional synth outputs or even know for what purpose they exist. They saw "Plus" and bought it because they thought that they would get something better. "Haha" thought the financial admins at Moog Music inc...

And now the theremini... Lower retail price will say still much lower production costs, means more profit. That seems to be the main reason to bring it to market. It looks like a toy and after what I've heard from it up to now, it sounds like a toy. Many people will follow the hype and buy it, it's digital, it's cheaper, it looks spacy and it's said to be easier to play. But I fear that these people will never experience the same feeling and obtain the same results as when playing a good or even professional theremin, be it digital or analogue, anyway. Thus, in the perception of the "broad masses" the theremini risks to be seen as THE theremin and in a few years almost nobody will know what a true theremin had been.

And that's finally the moment where "rage" comes perhaps in: When the marketing guys and the bean counters seem to win the battle against traditional lutherie...

We have discussed quite a few aspects of the theremini - the enclosure, the "pitch assistance", the digital synthesiser, Moog's marketing and so on, but I don't think we have talked about the adjustable pitch range.

While this interests me as an experimental thereminist for the possibility of having the full audio spectrum available to me, I have a distinct memory of Coalport stating that one of the strengths of the RCA theremin is that it has a pitch range of only a few octaves, greatly facilitating precision playing. It seems to me that this will be more instrumental in generally improving the quality of precision playing of thereminists using the theremini that the pitch assistance.

Peter - am I correct in attributing this observation to you, or am I having a senile moment?

It was Peter.

I think a smallish pitch range - within a LARGE, fairly linear playing field - likely makes the easiest to play Theremins.

Found it now... it's not about rage, it's just grief...