Behringer Behremin

Please note the date the thread was started.

At this point, it seems more like a hoax or at best a market survey...

Maybe, but loooong lead announcements are pretty standard for Behringer. 

And they have a good track record of actually releasing their retro-clones.

Some of us have been following their development of a CS-80 clone for years...it's only been about 1 (pandemic) year since the theremin teaser.

To be fair, they stated clearly in the original post that it was a "design study." But so was the Mono-Poly, and you can buy one of those right now!

It's getting harder to tell these days, but I don't believe the photos are of a real physical mock-up.  The telltale for me is that all the knobs look exactly the same and are pointed in exactly the same direction -  this makes no sense for the REGISTER knob because it can't point that far CCW.

Take that for what it's worth, but real photos of a real Behremin - or better yet videos - would indicate to me that they're much closer to marketing the thing.  There isn't necessarily a whole lot to this sort of product, and when the price is really low so are expectations, but there are details they may not be fully aware of which could trip them up (witness the current Cvox fiasco).

The retractable pitch antenna is interesting, that would give a lot of control over intrinsic C, but the surface area is pretty low.  And I would keep controls away from that end of the instrument - at the very least they should swap the positions of the logo and headphone output.

Regardless of how much air there is inside, whether it's digital or analog or some mix, this might sound crazy but IMO the price is too low.  With Moog Inc. dropping production of the Etherwave, the mid-level Theremin market is essentially theirs to take (ALL 100 potential buyers ).  Provided of course that it really is (or will be) a mid-level instrument (?).  And post the initial Cvox run, Moog Inc. seems to be dropping the high end market as well?

Looks like it might be real after all!

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10159913725948914&id=105517788913&m_entstream_source=timeline&anchor_composer=false

After a cheaply designed digital toy like the Theremini, after an expensive technical and marketing desaster like the Claravox, the world does not need more cheap digital crap, probably overloaded with functions which a true classical musician will never use.

Designers should rather inspire by the RCA theremin: An own characteristic and organic sound instead of badly imitating other instruments, simple controls for the pitch and volume fields, decent pitch and dynamic/expressive ranges with approximately 2^(-d/do) linearity, and you are done. 

For all other purposes, there are so-called synthesizers and similar toys which are better played with direct instead of gesture control.

Wow, Thierry...those are strong words.

Personally, I think an affordable theremin would be a great gateway to the art. There are literally thousands of pages of rather vitriolic discourse about Behringer as a company, and whether or not Uli's products are ethical, but most people agree they generally sound good, and are well-engineered. (Even if the caps are cheap and the pot knobs wobble)

I agree that the original RCA theremins have a lovely, classic tone...how could they not! They formed our primary notion of what "good theremin tone" is!

But I ALSO enjoy other electronic tones, such as the electronic sackbutt, Mini Moog, and even Forrest Mims' 555 Stepped Tone Generator. 

I've heard lovely music from "toys," such as the Gakken Premium and Theremini, and I hesitate to immediately label the Behremin as "cheap digital crap." Many people panned the Barp 2600 not long ago, but are choking down their words now, as the Grey Meanie/Blue Marvin is proving to be a wonderful instrument, and very true to the original. In fact, Behringer is becoming very good at analog engineering, without resorting to digital sample  reproduction techniques (unlike, say, Roland)

Needless to say, the Behremin might well BE utter crap, but maybe we should reserve judgement? I mean, you have had some involvement with the Open Theremin Project, yes? Where does THAT rank? 

Having said all that, I agree that it would be nice to see a reliable reproduction of the classic theremins hit the market. But absent many of the classic components, re-engineering with modern parts will be a tall order with not-insignificant expense.

I made a TW photo album of those pix recently posted to FB: http://www.thereminworld.com/album/behremin-pix/17604

I didn't notice until today that there's a small graphic screen on the front that seems new:

There is a ribbon connector on the main board that goes to it, with some mounting holes:

If you've got a graphics processor in there you might as well use it.  The Cvox could really use a screen of some type too.

All the rotary controls look like pots (with "VR" nomenclature) which is disappointing to me.

The pitch and volume coils aren't mounted on the main board, but I bet they'll be surface mount ferrites.

Still, what do you want for a C-note?  I'd buy one.

« Needless to say, the Behremin might well BE utter crap, but maybe we should reserve judgement? I mean, you have had some involvement with the Open Theremin Project, yes? Where does THAT rank? »

The Open.Theremin project has a totally different purpose. It's a proof of concept rather than a readily available music instrument. First of all, it has analog heterodyning oscillators, so that it deserves the denomination "Theremin" much more than for example the theremini with its simpler RF front-ends which provide just a rudimentary gesture control for a simple synthesizer.
The first iterations where experimental devices from electronic engineers for electronic engineers. It's only since the last two generations that it slowly starts allowing an expressive playing. That's why l would not yet compare it to commercial instruments in the market. But there are many things that it does already better than the theremini and at long-term, it might become still better in terms of playability and expressivity. That’s my part and my ambition in this project.

The Moog Etherwave Theremins have set a standard for cheap entry level instruments. Up to now, everything which I have seen and which was cheaper than 500$ didn’t meet the requirements of a serious musician. That’s why I strongly oppose to cheap and unmusical stuff coming to market and fooling people, letting them think that they get a real and good music instrument for 100 or 300$. It’s like these 5$ plastic Soprano recorders. Yes, they produce sound, but they don’t make music.

I'm 100% certain a company with the resources of Behringer could make a fantastic Theremin for $99USD.  But I'm 99% certain they won't because I'm 99% certain no one with any influence at Behringer actually plays the thing, and their engineers probably don't understand that optimal coils can't be bought from some coil company.  But I assume they're looking to dominate the Theremini market, which isn't exactly a challenge.  These things should sell like hotcakes, and it's always weird to me that making thousands of something like a musical instrument doesn't make the manufacturer pull out all the stops on the basic design.  Art vs. capitalism, and capitalism always wins.