Untouchable

Untouchable

Having a little fun with my SampleMoog Etherwave sample set using the "Jill" patch - whoever that is.

Wrote a little piece for theremin, guitar, viola and cello. Finally a piece that I really want to practice hard to learn how to play well. Very simple and tonal. One really long melodic theremin line with harmonies constantly moving. Lots of stepwise motion with jumps that fit the harmonies. The really challenging thing is getting all the darting sixteenth-note (mostly third) motions in tune as they are what gives the piece its character and if they are a little off (very easy to be off here), it sounds bad. In that sense this is also a good exercise in quick thirds.

Obviously not a real theremin, but I think this sample library performs the function I wanted - to allow me to compose for the theremin and get a reasonable feel for how the piece will sound. Here I played it in on the keyboard and then manipulated it in various ways to add a slew of articulations, vibrato and dynamic changes under MIDI control. Listening more - some of the articulations are actually a bit too sharp and not that theremin like - have to tweak those.

Uses Omnisphere Nylon guitar and Vienna Symphonic Library solo viola and cello on the accompaniment.

 

Very Good Rich, I can even hear the subtle articulations and variations in phrasing in the sampled mock up.  I wouldn't mind learning and playing this piece.   You might have found the best compositional/playback approach to date.

Thanks Randy. I need to touch up the score a bit (it's all fully notated) and then I'll post or send you a link with an accompaniment to practice to if you want.

The theremin sample used here doesn't sound quite as good as the other one in the set I have (but the other one has a very slow attack on the envelope only making it good for music that does not require quick articulations - so it's no good for this piece).

In the sequencer, if you over lap tones on this sample set you can get the different portamentos and slurs in different ways. I need to tweak it a bit more for a better mockup. 

Rich

 

There seems to be an audio artifact on the theremin sample, a slight but noticeable “pfft” sound that accompanies the attack. The composition reminds me of Japanese anime ballad music, and some of the early work of Masanori Takahashi (aka “Kitaro”).

Yea I noticed that as well. It's an artifact that gets in there when you try and get a soft articulation not quite a slur. Need to see if I can get around it. The envelope of a theremin is actually quite unique (especially the front end - which really defines the sound of most instruments). Hard to duplicate those soft attacks.

"Kitaro" huh? Have to look him up. Don't watch much anime but I like some of its music - the music of Joe Hisaishi ("Spirited Way", "My Neighbor Totoro" - I have those DVDs). Though I had no thought in my mind of that when I wrote this. The main thought was just "keep the harmonies constantly moving changing tonal areas with a flowing melodic line above them". Basically a theremin line that goes on for some three minutes more or less without stopping.

I watch a lot of Korean drama and their music is sometimes interesting - very western in most ways for these shows (sometimes over the top imitative) but there's always this little folk influence in there that makes it interesting.

By the way - I play "The Theremin Goes Baroque" all the time for myself with an accompaniment I did up. I really love that piece!

If it ain't Baroque...

Untouchable - Different Patch

To be honest, it (Untouchable) is actually very much using a Baroque harmonic technique.

But I tried again with the "Charlie" patch (instead of "Jill") and noticed I can set ADSR so I took the attack down to about 400ms and this works fine and I can remove those little pops where I could not on the other patch. 

You can hear the difference between the two patches. Very different. I can see using them both for different things. I also put a bit of Antares tube saturation and a bit of Antares Throat modeling (though this is very subtle for this sound) on this version to give it a more realistic sound for the patch. I also varied the dynamic a bit more.

 

The patch you are using in the new version, to my ears, gives the impression of having a much wider vibrato than the original version. It may be identical to the first version as far as vibrato is concerned, but for some reason it seems slightly more wobbly…..????

 

 

I have a problem with electronically added vibrato because, unlike the human voice, violin, cello, theremin, etc., it is relentless, invariable in rate and depth, and does not flow seamlessly from note to note. This gives a mechanical feeling to it so that it ceases to be an element of artistic expression and is simply an effect.

Yes I believe this sample set has more vibrato on it but I also think you can control that vibrato. I need to look into that control a bit more. I don't consider this a particularly great sample library - but it's about as good as there is out there that I can find right now. I bet one will be coming soon. I've asked some of the better sample houses about it but they won't tell. TBD if they think there is enough $ in a theremin sample library. But if 8DIO can come out with an ancient lyre sample, maybe there is hope - as they seem to be pushing the envelope.

Likely this sample set is inducing vibrato with an LFO or something similar used in electronic music. A really good sample set would use human vibrato and apply that in different ways. For example good sample sets support "round robin" for repeated notes. This  feature uses different sampled notes for the repetitions in various ways to humanize it. There are similar things in good sample sets for vibrato using the mod where to control that vibrato.  

So it may be that I either get little pops with better vibrato or can control pops with more artificial sounding vibrato. Such are the limitations you have to live with. But in truth, the my use of the sample library is more to give me a feel for what the piece might sound like than to be creating final electronic performances.

At this point will it sound better getting the idea of the piece across using the sample library or with me playing? Yes, I'll do up an example of that and I bet most people will tell me to stick with the sample library until I get better!

 

Most lyres are not capable of vibrato or portamento because their strings (like the strings of harps and pianos) are of fixed length and tension. There is, however, an exception to this and that is the articulated kithara of the ancient Greeks (circa 450 B.C.), and one particular sort of “cithara” of the Romans which is provided with what can only be described as a “whammy bar”. 

 

The “whammy” was presumably invented for the electric guitar in the 1970’s, based on earlier 20th century designs, but in fact it was invented by the Romans more than 2000 years ago. The once thriving city of Herculaneum was buried in 79 AD in the same eruption of Mount Vesuvius that buried Pompeii. Modern archaeologists found a most interesting and detailed fresco in one of the buildings in Herculaneum that clearly shows a “whammy” lyre being played by a couple of cupids. It is a remarkable painting, the only one known of a lyre of this sort, and definitely from the hand of a master artist.

 

The subject is off topic for this forum so I won’t bother to go into any of the details, but I have just completed building a replica of this lyre and you might get a kick out of seeing it since you seem to have an interest in lyres. As far as anyone knows, this is the only “whammy” lyre in existence. It works beautifully, it is capable of both vibrato and portamento, and now all I have to do is learn to play the damn thing!

 

Compared to the theremin it will be a walk in the park.

 

Since there is no description or size reference on the following webpage, the instrument is 31.5 inches from stem to stern.

 

http://www.peterpringle.com/cithara.html