The Lost Chord - Theremini Version (Grillo Patch)

I think "The Lost Chord" by Sir Arthur Sullivan is an excellent repertoire addition for the Theremin (not too fast and full of nice harmonic twists,a couple jumps and quite a rousing piece if you love British music like I do). 

Thanks to Thomas Grillo for providing the Theremini app parameters for one of his RCA-like Theremin simulation patches (which I tweaked a bit). I have to agree it's better than the default Moog Theremin patch (that's why they created the app - to allow you to create your own sounds).

Here's a version for Theremini. Took the original piano vocal score and created an orchestral arrangement for sampled orchestra and layered in the Theremini parts on it in Cubase.

The Lost Chord - Theremini Version

Hi Rich,

Very well done!  The piece was very moving.  Thanks for posting it.

Gary

Hello.

I was wondering, would having braces severely impact my theremin playing? I didn't realise that I would be getting braces in january when I got my theremin back in december.

I know my question is random, but I couldn't get to where I could create a new thread. I apologize.

TempesT

Hi.I posted this to a separate thread for you in the general category.

Rich

Well, 

Since I just recently got back my Etherwave Plus from Moog repair, I thought I'd give my orchestration of "The Lost Chord" another shot. Now I admit it's not at all the greatest performance, but it's all in one shot with no pitch correction.  Is it me or am I playing a lot better in tune now? I haven't been playing much but the Theremini for the past since months so I have to believe it's been very beneficial to helping me play more in tune. I know you all think I'm nuts. I wish I could quantify this somehow.

The Lost Chord - Etherwave Plus

Something's up with the volume antenna though. I have to go in there an tweak it. Very small distance from min to max and it's so hot it seems (especially compared to the Burns - night and day volume difference).

Rich

I must say I prefer the EW version hands down..... the sound is much richer and more compelling.   Is it my imagination or is it more trouble than it is worth to get the Theremini to sound like a Theremin?  Or should one even be trying to do that?   When I am ready to play the only preparation I want to do is flip the switch and let the instrument warm up for 10 minutes.  It seems that the Theremin is an excellent device for those who are mostly interested into tinkering than playing. However I have an open mind and am willing to be proven wrong.

Please keep posting because I do enjoy following your journey with the Theremini!

The first one was simply testing out Thomas's patch. The real intent of the thread more than anything else is that I think this is a pretty nice Theremin piece. Not to hard, but a bit different. Why I posted it under repertoire.

By the way, the original Piano score is here with some other arrangements. Very easy piano part. I'll probably post my orchestral version there too. I might have overdone it a bit. I'm going to try and create an IMSLP page for theremin accompaniments so people can go to a single source and get a variety of public domain tracks to play with (another project of mine).

Sullivan - The Lost Chord

Frankly, my interest in the Theremini is not to try and get it to sound exactly like an Etherwave or whatever. It's a synth on the backend and the I set sounds based on my whim to be honest. With the Editor I'm pretty much free now to experiment - as I love synths - one of the things I like about it.

With the app you certainly can get a variety of theremin sounds if you want to play around. But it's the pitch correction that has me transfixed. With the new firmware, I can get a fine vibrato for Baroque music which is my main love. I'm kind of leaning in the direction that as I improve I'll mostly concentrate on Baroque music for the Theremin and the music I write for it myself.

The thing is, although the performances are not great, that I'm now playing the Etherwave pretty much at the same level of "in-tuneness" that I was when I did this piece with a pretty high level of pitch correction. It's gotta be helping me in that area. I dial it way back now, but to be honest I find I like playing the Theremini with a bit of it on. It gives it a nice sound to my ear and you will just get a bit different sound with some pitch correction on. 

But in the end - I play it mostly because it's fun - not to mention extremely portable (I'm not lugging my Etherwave, amp, pedals, etc up to the bedroom anytime soon). But I have to start putting more time in on the analog side again. And learn how to record the theremin sound better in a MIDI-based mix.