Creating a theremin sample set

Auditory, Tactile, Visual..

I think that is the "order of importance" I would give which primarily determine ease of playing..

Then I would add comfort, linearity and interface complexity and repeatability and stability..

As in, to me, the easiest is the keyboard (particularly if played monophonically) - it is linear, tactile,simple, repeatable, visual (although I usually play with my eyes closed) and has instant audio feedback.

Guitars and the like are something I cannot play - for me they are uncomfortable,complex,non-linear,painfully tactile.. just not my instruments, sadly, because I love them.

I find the theremin a lot easier than the guitar - I can "play" the theremin, I cannot even hold a guitar correctly..

To me, the biggest disadvantage of the theremin is lack of any tactile feedback - I love a good keyboard with independent key aftertouch - I want a Continuum type instrument, I think the theremin may well be superseded by instruments which are a hybrid of this form of instrument and short-range e-field sensing.

Fred.

Peter said something that is spot on. To Paraphrase, the theremin can initially appear easy and lull you into a false sense of security until you really understand how much trouble you are in.

This is where I have issues with theremin being "the most difficult instrument". If someone sends you a violin with no instructions, it very well might take you weeks to figure out how to get an acceptable sound out of it (maybe longer). But if you stand in front of a theremin, you pretty much know all you need to know about its operation and how to get sound out of it in about ten minutes. If you have a decent ear, you can be playing tunes almost instantly. It seems easy at first. And perhaps may well be easier to get to an acceptable level (at least in their minds) for an amateur vs. the violin. But soon thereafter the pitch-centric complexity of the theremin starts to bite you as you try and play more precisely.

Then you realize unlike any other instrument that you have a unique set of problems. It’s not so much lack of tactile response. I think you have plenty of tactile response (you are just not actually touching something). You move your hand, you get a sound. You move your fingers a bit, you can play scales. To me, I’ve got a ton of response to my tactile movements.

The problem is that there is no true repeatability. The pitch field can change positions for a number of reasons. Change enough so that a "C" may not be a "C" anymore from where it was yesterday (or since you changed your body position or reset the instrument, etc). You need a good ear and you have to be able to constantly adjust. And by the way, I think you need just as good an ear playing a string instrument (but you are pretty much fixed in the pitch field there).

Here’s my big issue with the theremin: Accepted performance style dictates that portamento between disjunct notes is considered "bad practice". People have decided that it sounds bad, maybe because you don’t have the portamento issues on most other instruments. So we have decided that we need to get rid of it so that we can make the theremin sound like a "classical" instrument. This means a technique has to be developed to get rid of it (part of the now accepted art of playing the instrument for "traditionalists").

If everyone thought that portamento was a great sound and it should be used all the time and was inherent to the style of the instrument, this would be a pretty simple instrument to master. Getting rid of portamento "without screwing up" as Peter says is to me, the #1 difficulty of the theremin once you’ve mastered it a bit.

PORTMENTO IS THE PROBLEM!!!

Used to like it. Now I hate it. That’s what the theremin has done to me.

Another problem is people playing music that is not suited for the theremin.

PortAmento is not a problem. Again it is all about how one thereminist go about it. There is an art at producing a pleasant portamento: how to masquing it without cutting it off (or pumping the volume hand between the notes). Peter, Carolina, Pamelia and even myself, we do it all differently. Not bad, just not the same.

"Used to like it. Now I hate it. That’s what the theremin has done to me." - Rich

LOL ;-)

What you say is true! .. Thanks Rich! .. My problem with the instrument is the volume control, but thinking about it, the core of this problem is probably that I am trying to mute the portamento!

There is no escape from portamento on a theremin - its there all the time.. So all one has is the speed at which one can move from a given to a target, and how much of this transition is allowed to be audible.

But here is the other theremin quirk, one which came up on the theremini thread and was IMO brilliantly expounded by Kevin and Dewster..

The only feedback from a theremin is audio - as a result, portamento on a reactive theremin will vary in speed depending on the distance between notes and the players control.. Its not like a keyboard with portamento where one plays the target note and knows the pitch will settle on that note - if (with a theremin) you want portamento, you must manually control this rate - and having no visual cues (and particularly if the instrument is non-linear or note positions change so one cannot establish 'muscle memory' from repeated practice with the instrument) I think this makes playing a lot harder.

If the instrument does not respond quickly (<10ms) difficulty and the potential for 'operator oscillation' increases, one probably gets a taste of the "theremini syndrome" at beyond 10ms, and full blown total unplayability when one gets even close to the theremini's 100ms.

I love portamento on synths - and its ok on theremins IMO to some degree - IMO one can get some really good music and play tunes on a good "one-stick" (pitch only) instrument, and these have permanent un-damped portamento.

"Here’s my big issue with the theremin: Accepted performance style dictates that portamento between disjunct notes is considered "bad practice". People have decided that it sounds bad, maybe because you don’t have the portamento issues on most other instruments. So we have decided that we need to get rid of it so that we can make the theremin sound like a "classical" instrument. This means a technique has to be developed to get rid of it (part of the now accepted art of playing the instrument for "traditionalists")."

Hmmm... Interesting perspective.

I need to ponder this a bit more - The theremin was first played in a "classical" way - but was this an "error"?  Is this instrument (other than by the few who have devoted years to it, most of whom could have been masters of any instrument in the time they spent on the theremin) really suited to "classical" "traditional" "precision" playing?

Or is it perhaps best used where portamento is desired, where 'emulation' of other perfectly functional classical / acoustic instruments is not sought..

Been here before with synthesisers - IMO,they are best employed creating sounds that acoustic instruments cannot..

Yeah - For those few who take to the instrument and can master precision playing, great - but for the rest of us, and particularly those of us not interested in playing "the swan" - perhaps recognizing that the theremin (regardless of what anyone else says) is just a synthesiser (with a daft user interface ;-) would be liberating.

Fred.

(This is another of these "blasphemy/apostasy" issues I may completely change my mind about further down the line ;-)

 Added ->

Its THE VOICE which is the problem!  - Its the fact that we want (mostly I think) to use the theremin as a vocal 'substitute' and that the theremin is exceptionally well suited to this role..

That's what makes theremin portamento a pain in the rear end! ... Because the voice doesn't have permanent portamento, and because we have superb control of the dynamics of our voice..

I postulate that if there is a "problem" it may be down to articulation -if we could wire the theremin in a way that dynamics / volume was controlled by our mouth movement (or something like that) then the portamento "problem" would vanish.

Oh hell - Another thing I want / need to play with! - I really want to, because control of volume is what stops me from even trying to master the theremin.

Unlike other instruments that must be plucked, bowed, struck, blown, strummed or stroked, the theremin doesn't exist. Yes, there is a box with some circuitry, but the thing we actually engage is an invisible static electric field - intangible, ephemeral and etheric.

What we PLAY is not the theremin. We play OURSELVES. 

"Playing" the theremin can better be compared to a dance than to anything else.

The solution to the problem of portamento is in your hands.

429earkij gerttt[i9wo 0TI 0-TIK204IKor []GKWR0404TI 0-TI ]0-IT  03w40ti   !!! 

Hi Amey-

Sorry, I lost my code book...

Is it time to steal the aliens now ?

;-)

Ah yes. The secret to it all is in your hands. Of course no one really gets totally rid of portamento, but learning how to minimize it, using it to your advantage as an expressive element and not an obvious crutch to find a pitch - that to me is when you go from beginner on this instrument to something greater.

By the way, the bigger the accompaniment the less exposed you are in this regard as well. Portamento seems to blend in better in a larger accompaniment.

Rich

Oh good. Someone actually noticed I am not invisible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Amey-

Sorry, I lost my code book...

Is it time to steal the aliens now ?

;-)

"Oh good. Someone actually noticed I am not invisible." - Amey

No, Silly!

You cant become invisible..

Until we have stolen the aliens....

Then

(and only then)

We will be able to acquire their cloaking technology..

I will incorporate capacitive shielding to this, reduce its size -

It then goes into an MP3 player..

And when you put the cans on, you will be invisible - ONLY THEN!

Step 1:

Steal the aliens!

We can only do that when Lois informs us of their location...

And it seems like the humans running TW have cottoned on to the plan, and barred him.. so we have a slight problem......

Kind of why I was hoping your coded message was some form of coordinate and time stamp.

BUT IT WAS JUST YOU BEING SILLY! - And falsely getting my hopes up.

(Oh, BTW - this post will only appear on your browser.. Lois has an AI running which will insure that! ... And obviously, I am the only one who saw your last 2 messages, as the AI has taken care of that as well!

Sadly, I never did get to read the vital "Fred will soon steal the aliens" message - so am a little in the dark about the plan, and am having to make it up as I go along...

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND !!

[]GKWR0404TI 0-TI ]0-IT ~~~~~ 0TI 0-TIK204IKor~~~~~ 429earkij gerttt[i9wo~~~~xxxx;-)