Musicians: Theremin suggestions?

[JoeActor]

Originally Posted by chucktaylor

Let me tell you, thanks to this thread, my 6 year old daughter and I are planning on building a theremin this summer. She saw the cat video and wanted to "get one of those things!" (the theremin not the cat, we have 3 which is 3 too many in my book) So we're looking at probably getting the cheap 21 dollar battery operated kit just so we can build it. I know it's not a true theremin, but she can have fun with it without costing me an arm (they're not so expensive as to have to throw in the leg too.)

chuck

Cool!

The one in the cat video is made by Gakken.
It is a "real" theremin, just not very high quality audio.

There's also a kit to turn a pencil into a theremin:

Drawdio - a Pencil that draws sounds

I think you can find out more at:
drawdio - a pencil that lets you draw music

Lotsa cool stuff out there,
Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com
www.SoundsGoodToYou.com

[Scott Pollak]

Man, that Drawdio pencil is just plain annoying.

[JoeActor]

Originally Posted by Scott Pollak

Man, that Drawdio pencil is just plain annoying.

I think everyone with kids needs to have at least a dozen of them!

Neat concept - just needs better audio, maybe?

[ChrisMezzolesta]

There was an original 1929-30 RCA theremin on eBay a couple of years ago, starter was like $10K or something - yaaaaaaaah...What a cool thing that'd be, with the original case and the "diapason" speaker...This thread has led me to watch a bunch of Clara Rockmore videos on YouTube today...what artistry and control she had, even in her 80s! The doc "Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey" is HIGHLY recommended, particularly for the NYC reunion of Lev Sergeivitch Termen and Clara Rockmore after many decades.

I recently met Art Harrison, of Harrison Instruments (mentioned in the Wiipedia article on theremins), he plays theremin with a groovy psych-folk band called The Cassettes, he's the archetypal balding, glasses, shirt & tie geeky guy [which provides a cool visual counterpoint to the rest of the band], he's a great guy and knows his stuff. He has a fine technique and really good pitch, which includes a walking bass line approach that has to be seen to be believed. His instruments start around $300 I believe, with a groovy pitch/volume deluxe model coming in around $1300, but they look to be quite good.

Ah, one-a these days. "Ummmm, Dear?????"

[JoeActor]

Cool story Chris.

I'll have to look and see if there are any theremin bands nearby...

If I get good enough to make money at it, I'll spring for a Moog ;-)

Joe

[Scott Pollak]

My very, very favorite type of movie: documentaries.

Thanks for the heads-up, Chris. Just added the Theremin documentary to my Netflix queue.

[JoeActor]

Ok, got my setup squared away, so here's a first test recording of my B3...

(nuthin' special, just making sure the setup is copacetic!)

Joe J Thomas
www.JoeActor.com
www.SoundsGoodToYou.com

[ChrisMezzolesta]

It has a good tone Joe! Can't recall, is the B3 a typical 2-antenna one? Some makes are pitch only and I swore I could hear volume change in your sample. I'd love to get one of the MIDI theremins in order to control my VST instruments on the computer - continuous pitch on some of those patches would be unreal! (or surreal)

In Dr. Sam We Trust......


C

[JoeActor]

Originally Posted by ChrisMezzolesta

It has a good tone Joe! Can't recall, is the B3 a typical 2-antenna one? Some makes are pitch only and I swore I could hear volume change in your sample.

Thanks - yeah, the B3 has a volume and a pitch antenna.

It would be cool to run it thru one of those things that uses your mouth/voice in conjunction with the audio output (is that a vocoder?)

Joe

[ChrisMezzolesta]

Absolutely - been trying to find a VST vocoder plugin that will accept real-time carrier input but haven't found one yet...the keyboard variety can usually be had for $350 or so, if it accepts any alternate audio in, that'd be the ticket! More fodder for marital problems!!!!!