[sdiy] Attn Theremin lovers! [part deux]

[harry]

Shameless Plug....

You could process any theremin with the PV-1 pitch to voltage converter (EFM)
It was designed by Bob Moog for the Etherwave theremin (and used with
permission)

Can you quantize a Theremin... heavens YES....

I'm playing (well...my wife is playing) a Quantized Midi Theremin that I
designed and
built (with MIDI pic micro by Roman Sowa, thanks again ;^).

I started out using the Wiard MiniWave as the pitch quantizer... it was really
too
fast for the theremin (it converts at a very high rate so it tends to emphasize
glitches
between notes). Grant Richter helped me modify it to slow it down... but I
wanted to
put it to its original use.  Its way more sophisticated than I'd like to waste
its talents
on simple quantized scales...

I designed the Quantizer as a variation on the "Arp Style Quantizer" by Chris
List...
it uses the same ramp / comparator technique. I used it for some time with a CV
synth (with variable lag, as suggested here).

Does it mess with the conventional Theremin technique... Yes. It obliterates
it...
it blows it to smithereens !!!  Its a good thing that LEVNET is an internet
mailing
list... not a geographical location... or I would be shot on sight at their
borders.  ;^P

There is some "vibe" to the Theremin. Some lovers of the theremin consider it a
classical instrument... and consider quantizing to be heresy. Others see it (as
I do)
as a neat synth gestural controller.  It is extremely intuitive and easy to play
with quantized scales.  The crowd is in total awe of the look and sound (makes
me jealous... I'm playing guitar, bass, drums with my feet... and all anyone
does is say
'wow what a neat instrument what IS that ???'

I'd still say that "Flight of the Bumblebee" would be way out of my (or probably
your)
league... though a wailing guitar or sax style soly would be real easy. Precise
pitches
are easier to get... but still require a lot of effort.

I just upgraded my theremin (tonight) to allow two synths to be controlled...
one is
set to the root of the key as a drone... and the other solos over the drone...
in major,
minor, pentatonic, and blues scales... and it can also do major scales in thirds

(I chose not to allow parallel fourths and fifths... for the obvious musical
reasons that
they 'classically' suck ;^).....   and that most good synths can have the
oscillators in
fourths and fifths. Playing thirds however... require two individual lookup
tables
(they are not parallel, but scale related)  I KNOW this from the pain of
realizing that
I screwed up my last eprom set by just using a linear offset.

You could output a Theremin before the VCA (or equivalent) to drive a chromatic
tuner if you can't stand quantizing... or have a earphone monitor pre-vca.

The biggest problem that I have right now... is that the notes (at least on the
Etherwave) get closer together in the higher octaves... making it damn hard to
play the last octave.  I can get about 3 1/2 to 4 octaves of decent control.

If anyone has a Theremin design that has a more linear output... please let me
know

H^) harry   (waiting in ambush for the levnet purists  ;^)

Dan Gendreau wrote:

> > Could I begin a Theremin part so that the player sounds an exact pitch
> > (example: a D#)?
>
> I was thinking about exactly this problem on my drive in to work this
> morning.
> I read that theremins are difficult to play because the player needs to have
> very precise pitch.
>
> I dont know if it would ruin the theremin playing style, but it seems to me
> that it be easy enough to run the theremin pitch CV (I am assuming the dual
> CV out digital theremin) through a quantizer. This should make it easier to
> hit the right notes. A lag processor would then add the desired ammount of
> legato.
>
> It would also help if you came up with some way to cue the instrument (pre
> vca?) on headphones or a monitor. Or perhaps a second headphone out VCA
> where 0V still lets a little signal through? The latter would allow the
> player to still hear dynamics in their performance.
>
> > What would be the feasible fastest note I should expect a
> > Theremin player to
> > play? (could the player do Flight of the Bumblebees?)
>
> I know its cheating(bigtime), but why not use a sequencer to trigger the
> notes and let the player control the pitch and overall volume. :)
>
> -Dan Gendreau

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