Claravox Centennial Theremin - Post Your Thoughts Here

Opinions wanted...

I am thinking about cancelling my order. A few reasons....
I ordered this on October 23rd, one day after they announced it. I thought I would be getting a special instrument that may age, retain and value like the pro in years to come. With this delay...I feel they have effectively Extended the ordering window and I'm not sure how special and limited this instrument is anymore.

I am not a musician already. I have been learning in preparation for the instruments arrival.

I am not a wealthy woman, and the expense of it is a great commitment.

Might it be prudent to cancel my order.....buy the etherwave plus, practice my bum off, and await another decade until moog releases something else?

mountaineir:

That's a tough call if this would be your first theremin or if you haven't had a chance to at least try one.  First experiences on the theremin can be humbling and disheartening, but you tend to work through those feelings if you have stuck your neck out with some investment in the instrument.

Unless the Claravox turns out to be a serious dud (and a lot of us have confidence that it won't be, having inherited some good parts of the discontinued Pro) you probably wouldn't have a hard time selling it later if you decide you don't like it. And if they truly do make this a limited edition, that may make selling it even easier. A lot of us have studied the specifications and Moog has answered a lot of technical questions asked by members of this forum, and I'm still letting my order that I placed last November stand until they deliver.

But a basic Etherwave is a fine all-around instrument too whether you are just learning or playing professionally.  Compared to the Claravox it will have a much more limited range of timbres and doesn't have any of the voice presets or pitch and volume curve adjustments, but just look at the number of professionals that play the Etherwave.

If the Claravox turns out to be what I think it is I feel that the fairly high price is entirely justifiable, and as someone earlier suggested it is probably going to be a low profit margin product for Moog.  Just looking at the price of walnut these days makes me cringe, and I know that the electronics in the Claravox are going to be substantially more sophisticated than what's inside the Etherwave.  So I think it's going to be a good value, but the niceties are not essential for learning.

Practicing your bum off is a good idea whatever you end up with! 

On Reddit, someone claimed Moog Canada had informed them the Claravox delay was due to a factory fire in Japan. 

I did some googling and the story checks out. 

In the Q&A on this site Moog stated:

The only DAC in the instrument is the Audio DAC used to generate the audio in MODERN mode.  This is a high-quality 24-bit AKM Audio DAC.

And, sure enough, the AKM factory burned down in October -- just a few days before the Q&A answers were posted here. 

A lot of electronic parts can easily be substituted for one another, but I suspect the DAC they chose isn't one of them. That leaves them in the position where they have to choose between waiting for AKM to rebuild, or selecting a different DAC, redesigning the modern-mode output section, QAing it, possibly getting new circuit boards ordered depending on where they were in the production process when the factory burned. 

Assuming this is actually the cause of the delay, it's disappointing that they're making vague statements like:

Unfortunately, we have struggled in receiving materials from vendors that meet our high standards of quality that we expect and that you deserve.

As excuses go, "the factory that makes a critical part burned down" seems quite a bit more solid than "the dog ate my homework". I much prefer people being straight with me when things go wrong!

. . . sure enough, the AKM factory burned down in October -- just a few days before the Q&A answers were posted here. . . Assuming this is actually the cause of the delay, it's disappointing that they're making vague statements . . . 

If this really is the case, didn’t the fire occur just befor or at the same time the Claravox was announced for sale? Also, why did Moog wait until March 10th (and who knows how many complaints) before announcing the still mysterious supply problems that have delayed production. Of course, we must still presume that production still hasn’t begun. A little transparency would have gone a long way in this matter and, I’m sure, many of us would have delayed our orders.

If this really is the case, didn’t the fire occur just befor or at the same time the Claravox was announced for sale? 

Literally at the same time -- firefighters were working from 10/20 to 10/23, and the Claravox announcement appears to have been on 10/22. 

I would guess that Moog didn't know about the fire, or didn't know how it would impact sourcing their DACs, until sometime later.

Hmmm. Even if that fire is the cause -- don't you think Moog were a bit "naive" to announce a new product and promise delivery within 2 months, without securing the supply of critical components, not even for the first batch? Electronic components, particulary specialized low-volume chips, tend to have a very long lead time once the stock is exhausted.

Digikey currently has several thousand of AK4331 and AK4332 DACs in stock -- probably a new fabrication site has been established in the meantime.

Anyhow, I hope I will get my Claravox soon, and that it will "meet our high standards of quality that we expect and that you deserve" (cit. Mike Adams) both musically and optically. I dread getting something worse than the crooked wood joints in the press photos.

FYI, update via Control Voltage FWIW:

We are in the final stages of verifying material and anticipate beginning production on the Claravox Centennial in the coming weeks. While we have fallen far behind our initial estimates for shipping the Claravox, we are feeling positive about the updates we are getting from production and we are working hard to ensure that the Claravox will be an absolute joy for our customers. We will be updating our website and making you aware when production officially starts.

We look forward to getting the Claravox Centennial into the hands of your customers.

FYI, update via Control Voltage FWIW:We are in the final stages of verifying material and anticipate beginning production on the Claravox Centennial in the coming weeks. While we have fallen far behind our initial estimates for shipping the Claravox, we are feeling positive about the updates we are getting from production and we are working hard to ensure that the Claravox will be an absolute joy for our customers. We will be updating our website and making you aware when production officially starts.We look forward to getting the Claravox Centennial into the hands of your customers.

Well, that's rather exciting . It's good to hear that they're updating the website - can't wait for a formal announcement with hopefully a sense of timeframe!

Just got an update telephone call from my advisor at Sweetwater this morning - estimate for my (ie. my place on the "list") theremin shipping out is end of July/beg. August......we will see.

This is getting to be outrageous. I wrote to Moog again last week and asked,

“Has production started on the Claravox yet? if not, when?”

Once more, they refused to respond. I sent a considerably stronger message this morning - so far, no response.

At this point, I wonder if anyone has canceled their order? It’s been more than two months since we last heard anything directly from Moog, when they stated,

“. . . the production of Claravox Centennial will begin in our Asheville, NC factory by May.” Well, it’s the middle of May now and nothing directly from Moog.

I sent another message this morning and, no response so far. However, after reading on this forum that maybe an instrument might be delivered (to another person) at the end of July or August, I looked at Moog’s site and their “live chat” was available. Here’s a portion of their “response“:

“. . . I apologize that you haven't seen a recent response. I can confirm that production has begun however I have no other information on shipments or ETAs. Those would all come from our Sales team. They are in communication with our dealer network regularly, so your dealer should have the most up-to-date info along the way. You can also send them a direct email at salesdepartment@moogmusic.com”

As I’ve heard nothing from my dealer (Prymaxe), I just contacted them and they’re contacting Moog now; when (if) they receive a response, they’ll let me know.

At the moment, I’m pretty hot under the collar and if we had a viable alternative to Moog and the Claravox, I’d cancel my order. I’m particularly unhappy because I paid for the instrument in full (plus interest) months ago.

Update: Moog told my dealer that they’ll provide an update “as soon as they can.”