Moog Music Theremini Reviews

"In other words, the theremini is likely to be a big hit - because most people who buy it wont be bothered by things that would probably irritate the hell out of me, and for different reasons probably irritate the hell out of most thereminists."  - FredM

Yes, from what I've seen so far (and for whatever that is worth) I tend to agree.

Sorry everyone!  They all do it, but this kind of marketing gets under my skin.  I'll do my best to refrain from commenting in this thread until I've actually demoed a Theremini in the flesh as it were. 

" They all do it, but this kind of marketing gets under my skin." - Dewster

Yeah, mine too!  .... Almost enough to prevent me buying the bloody thing even if I wanted to! ;-)

" I'll do my best to refrain from commenting in this thread until I've actually demoed a Theremini in the flesh as it were. "

I would be real worried about doing that - Oh, it wouldn't be a problem if I loved the instrument and was able to come back with a glowing review and dispel the doubts I have presented here, and eat my past words... But if I hated it, and found objective grounds for this, coming back and expressing these would not be nice.. There's some "safety" when things are "hypothetical" and "IMO" - LOL ;-)

Fred.

Before I purchase a Theremini can someone tell me if this product is a “theremin” Leon Theremin would happily put his name on or is it just using his name for the commercial factor? Why did Dorit “not” play a real tune on it instead of making sweeping digital noise. What am I missing, why are they hiding something, why do you think this should be called a theremin? Comparing it against a theremin may be missing its purpose completely.

T

Touchless, I agree with your core sentiment..

But would Leon have happily put his name on the Etherwave? - or any of the multitude of "theremins" which are far inferior to the EWS ?

And I personally "agree" with your reservations regarding whats being demoed by Dorit and others - and question why nobody has played any of the theremin "classics" on it.. Now im not really into "The Swan" - But it is a piece that has become something of a "reference".

The reason why a "real tune" (LOL ;-) hasnt been played, and only "sweeping digital noise" are heard, MIGHT be because this is an instrument that appeals to the "Now" generation (hey, im showing my age here, big time! ;-) and if asked "can you play the Swan on it" would answer "Why would we want to ?" ... Or it may be that they cannot play it on this instrument, or at least cant play it in a way that would be worth listening to.

The best attempt at playing the theremini as a theremin that I have seen so far was Robonil:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6x-DsWjl5A&feature=youtu.be

And had I not seen this, I would still be in doubt as to whether the theremini had the 'right' to be called a theremin.. I dont like the sound much, and the linearity looks awful AFAICS, but it is as much a theremin as many other theremins on the market IMO.

Fred.

Theremini testing video now is available with english subtitles, just activate it on YT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6x-DsWjl5A&feature=youtu.be

i'm planning to do the second part only playing some tunes on it, regards!

From what I read here and there, and from people who sent it back after trying it out, can one say that the theremini is a nice instrument, but not for thereminists?

"From what I read here and there, and from people who sent it back after trying it out, can one say that the theremini is a nice instrument, but not for thereminists?" - Thierry

You could probably say that.. Jury is probably still out on whether many thereminists will think its "nice".

But if  "the theremini is a nice instrument, but not for thereminists" this still leaves the question - Who, exactly, is this a "a nice instrument" for? (I think children, teens, and those casual "musicians" who cannot afford real instruments, will love it - and the "Guitar hero" crowd and those a step up from the "Guitar hero" crowd perhaps.. This is a "Theremin Hero" "Theremin" as far as I can see - But I may be wrong ;-)

And hell - the "Guitar Hero"  "Guitars" sales probably exceeded the revenue of all the guitars they were pretending to be many times over.

The Theremini has a USB interface.. I wonder if Moog has spotted this potentially huge market... ;-)

"The series has sold more than 25 million units worldwide, earning US$2 billion at retail,"

Fred.

Hat tip to Jason (?) for posting this link to EETimes.com on the Theremin World FaceBook page. 

Moog Theremini Melds Analog & Digital

The DSP is named. Texas Instruments TMS 320 S2069 U. This means nothing to me, but perhaps to the EEs here?

"For the future, the next improvement will be an upgrade for the firmware that will add new capabilities that early uses have asked for. The team is also working on apps for Mac, Windows, and iPad that will allow users to easily edit all the parameters in the Theremini and load them in user presets over USB."

Cool!

"The DSP is named. Texas Instruments TMS 320 S2069 U. This means nothing to me, but perhaps to the EEs here?"  - GordonC

Beyond TMS320, I'm drawing a total blank on that part number.  I'm thinking yet another typo?

From TFA:

"The Teremini has two antennas, one the heterodyne described above, which controls pitch, and a second smaller one to control volume whose output runs directly into the DSP."

Misspelled the freaking name!  I think they may be saying the pitch side is heterodyned and the volume side isn't (which is actually what I'm planning to do).

"In the new Theremini we run the volume control signal directly into the DSP, which allows us to quantize the pitch with a knob"

Uh, what?  I think they mean "pitch control signal" here.  Or something.

"The Theremini has a small ring antenna (left) to control column and a telescoping vertical antenna (right) for controlling the pitch of a single note or any parameter in the internal or an attached music synthesizer."

Volume is way misspelled, and I could be wrong but I don't believe the pitch antenna telescopes?  Who the heck wrote this?  Par for the course when it comes to anything Theremini I suppose.

"Moog Music's Theremini is assembled in the US by a single person who is responsible for its (hopefully) high quality rating."

Hmm.  This I kind of believe.

Brains!  You can see that the speaker has what looks like a dual ported enclosure, which is good. 

There is a separate circuit board right under the pitch antenna, I wish I could get a better view of that.

Ah, here's an enhanced view:

Looks like some kind of pepper beef filling.  Who knew?

Dewster wrote:

Beyond TMS320, I'm drawing a total blank on that part number.  I'm thinking yet another typo?

I just saw that Ray B posted a link over on levnet. He spotted that too, and thinks the S may be an F.