Progress Reports

while hanging off the ceiling, it was probably the bespoken ondist, i remember from here:http://www.thereminworld.com/Forums/T/24575/whats-a-terrapin-part-2?Page=1

"My design days have concluded, never had anything to sell, taught several hundred University Students to do what I do, just waiting for the Big Event fireworks."  - RS Theremin

History tends to forget "ideas men" and instead remember those who engineer enough to crank out product.  If the T-vox or the EW were never manufactured and put into the hands of users no one here would be discussing them now.  After all that time and effort why don't you market something?

dewster said: "After all that time and effort why don't you market something?"

My well-documented Vision stated I could not profit, my goal was something else

The only real theremin knowledge I wanted was what creates the fat sound in the earlier theremins. Not all have it. Clara lost it after her theremin was repaired. I use to stare at the scope screen or Audacity spread outs for weeks and could not see it. Some people would tell me: “It is the way it is played.” God bless them. Then one day it showed up when I went hybrid… I smiled. It comes from a physical aspect of the vacuum tube; I know how to create it (overdrive) but not clear why it happens. Most people that did understand it are in the grave. I once hoped to tell you more and you’re over half way there now but that crack in the door closed now that your hands are full.

I went to a hands on demo about 3D printing. It was more impressive than expected and I thought of you and your theremin enclosure. I myself still prefer finished wood.

Edit: Maybe I misunderstood could not profit vs would not profit. (-' Now that makes sense.

Christopher

"My well-documented Vision stated I could not profit"  - RS Theremin

Give the profits to charity.

If a picture is worth ~1k words, an mp3 ~10k words, and a YouTube video ~100k words, then a real live actual Theremin in the grimy mits of the public has got to be worth ~1M words.  All I'm suggesting is that the time you spend selling your ideas could perhaps be better spent selling a physical embodiment of those ideas.  I personally don't relish the prospect of manufacture, but at some point it is the next necessary step in the development process.

Frankly, I really love the sound of Chrisopher's .mp3 example. I'm of the frame of mind, if I ever try and build a theremin, that I want to start with the sound and work backwards. But I have way too many projects right now to get involved there (maybe I can get my soon to graduate engineering son interested in this topic).

Christopher - did you ever post exactly how you created that sound? Perhaps that could be a part of a new thread: "Creating the original Theremin Sound".

Do you still have the hardware you used to create that .mp3? Can you maybe create a set of .WAV samples for each note in the theremin's range. That alone can be turned into a theremin sample set for Kontakt. There are not that many theremin sample sets available. As a composer I would love to have one that I can use as a plugin for composition. As I can do things with a sample set that I may never be able to do on the theremin. Yea, its not a real theremin, but today's sample based music can really use a good theremin sample set.

So a product can actually come out of that sound you have - in and of itself that would be really beneficial to composers and arrangers like me.

Rich

Christopher - did you ever post exactly how you created that sound?

No, I do not draw schematics and this one is tricky in understanding. I draw circuit boards which allow people to make them at home or some I get commercially made to give away.

Perhaps that could be a part of a new thread: "Creating the original Theremin Sound".

Yes I have a thread under construction called Original Classic Theremin Building. I will post links to your sound files there.

Do you still have the hardware you used to create that .mp3? Can you maybe create a set of .WAV samples for each note in the theremin's range.

Yes sitting right here behind me, she purrs away like talking to me. The tube phenomena sounds different with every tube. The sample1 which I think you like was done five years ago and I still have that 3.5" tall tube set. Sample2 is the same tube number but it is 2.5" in height which fits my 4" x 4" enclosure.

Because I don't hear like a musician I always used TW to tell me when something sounds good and to often they would tell me there was too much noise in my sound. I think I solved those issues.

All my stuff is about to go in the closet so I think your experiment would be fun. I can make a wave file using the tall tubes as before and get your opinion of sound quality. It will be recorded theremin direct to Audacity with no enhancement. If approved I can make a wave file using my favorite pitch tuner to record a sequence of steady notes.

Theremin sound is a bit of an illusion, so chopped samples may ruin it. Should have a wave file by the end of the week. A good theremin sound is a rare gift.

Christopher

(maybe I can get my soon to graduate engineering son interested in this topic).  - rkram53

NOOOOOOO!  ;-)

Christopher,

Yes, lets start this experiment with a .wav file of a steady pitch if you can get one (of course fine if it wobbles because of the complex waveform you are trying to create - we want that). Any extraneous noise I can remove with Waves processing and probably not affect the general sample's character (depends on the kind of noise - like hum can easily be removed). Try for a sample that lasts a few seconds (say about 4) if you can so we can create a nice long note easily without looping the sample (our sampler will loop it automatically for us but better to get a note long enough that will not be looped for must use).

Now the envelope of the theremin is probably not that tricky and there are tools to create different envelopes on samples. I would not worry about that right now.

Thanks a million!

Rich

Dewster - don't worry. He's a guitarist who looked at me like I was from Mars when he came home and I gave him a theremin demo.

Rich

Christopher,

I'm going to start another thread for the sample set project. 

Rich