Moog Theremini!

If it hadn't been for engineers and players here exposing the flaws which excluded the theremini from being a theremin, the theremini wouldn't have been fixed.

Those (majority) of punters shouting about how wonderful it was (when in fact it was an unplayable effects generator not a theremin) would have won the day if us "naysayers" had gone along with the crowd of incompetents declaring it a theremin..

I do not regret or retract a single word I said about the theremini - I will admit to being surprised that (if) the latency issue was fixed by a simple firmware change without this having other adverse side effects.

Fred.

And no firmware will fix the apparent lack of ESD protection, nor the low antenna voltage swing.

YOU TELL 'EM FREDDIE!

"YOU TELL 'EM FREDDIE!" - Coalport

LOL ;-)

Peter, it actually doesn't make one damn bit of difference.. All we managed to do was to get Moog to fix an unbelievably appalling 'bug', and, in so doing, probably wiped out the cottage industry who otherwise might have survived on the few who really wanted a theremin.

Looking at Lydia playing the theremini, it still doesn't look good to me - I note she never played a complete piece, and it looked to me as if there was still quite a lot of latency (gestural bandwidth is still low) and she was making far greater movement to get vibrato than I am used to seeing..

I dont think I have ever heard Lydia playing as badly as she did on that demo - it only sounded ok when she was doing the looper etc, but the small bit of "the swan" she did was IMO well below her usual standard. (in terms of playing, IMO her demo of the Gakken was far better)

But it will be good enough for the masses - they didn't notice 100ms, so wont be bothered by say 10ms. I am damn sure the theremini hasn't yet attained the 60us claimed for it before the fix! LOL ;-)

The fact that they got Lydia to do a demo before the official update has been released shows one thing - the reason no one played the theremini before the fix was because no one could play the theremini before the fix! - And Moog KNEW this when they put the theremini on the market!

Fred.

Is it just me, or is it kind of weird to see a Theremin make overtly synthy sounds?  I've come to expect bowed string or vocal sounds from a Theremin - trombone might be OK too if they could get it, or I suppose any traditional source that is naturally glissando and rich in harmonics.  I'm not normally so straight laced when it comes to music in general, but the Theremin is somehow in a different category for me.  Rather like watching someone play "wailing guitar" via keyboard - no matter how masterfully it's pulled off IMO it comes across like a dog walking on its hind legs - i.e. a neat trick, but showy and impractical.

Someone once said, "The theremin is like the elephant ballet in a circus. It is not the beauty of the dance that delights us, but the fact that the great beasts can do it at all."  LOL

I think it is worth mentioning that Lydia's demo was made in August, before the firmware upgrade. I think it is a testament to her ability that she could play it that well. (Please note I am not likening her to an elephant by saying this.)

I also think it is no coincidence that this video appeared very shortly after Moog gave its official beta testers leave to discuss the upgrade. Lydia is one of the testers. She recently indicated that the upgrade was good in a Facebook thread.

"Looking at Lydia playing the theremini, it still doesn't look good to me - I note she never played a complete piece, and it looked to me as if there was still quite a lot of latency (gestural bandwidth is still low) and she was making far greater movement to get vibrato than I am used to seeing.."  - FredM

Thanks for pointing that out!  Here and there it seems to take her longer than usual to hit the pitch.

At 4:10 to 4:30 her vibrato movement is quite pronounced and quick, but the Theremini barely responds to it. 

Around 8:00 she's making really exaggerated fast sweeps, I wonder if Moog Inc. asked her to do that? 

All through the video she's standing rather close to the Theremini and her right hand is also generally quite close to the pitch antenna - she's obviously dealing with the non-linearity of the pitch field, the far field being so stretched out it's almost worthless.

I wonder if the new firmware is able to expand the playable pitch field?  I don't mean in terms of linearity, but the actual useful outer field limit.  The small voltage swing might cause the useful response to poop out prematurely due to intrinsic oscillator noise and environmental noise.  The original firmware has the mother of all integration going on, so if the new firmware increases the bandwidth (?) I wouldn't be surprised if this shrinks the useable pitch field somewhat due to SNR issues.

I still can't figure out why they went with such a small voltage swing on the antennae (Hanlon's Razor?).

Dewster wrote: "Here and there it seems to take her longer than usual to hit the pitch."

That is probably because Lydia's demo was made in August, before the firmware upgrade.

"That is probably because Lydia's demo was made in August, before the firmware upgrade."  - GordonC

Right.  I was just pointing out the obvious issues with the stock firmware (and hardware).

"Someone once said, "The theremin is like the elephant ballet in a circus. It is not the beauty of the dance that delights us, but the fact that the great beasts can do it at all."  LOL"  - coalport

Ha ha!