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The Theremin is the world's first electronic instrument, invented in 1928 by Russian physicist and musician Leon Theremin. It is also the only instrument played without physically touching anything (excluding laser harps, etc., where the person touches light). The theremin is known for being able to produce a variety of tones, but is especially noted for its ability to mimic human vocal qualities. It is also well known for providing sound effects or ambience in horror and sci-fi movies. A relative of the theremin, called the Tannerin, was used to generate the tones heard in Good Vibrations. Theremins have recently grown somewhat in popularity and general public knowledge, for example after having been featured in an episode of The Big Bang Theory. Theremin is played by interacting with the electrical fields around two antenna. Your body's biocapacitance interrupts the wavefield of the antenna, some science stuff happens, and noise is produced out of an amplifier! The loop on the left of the theremin controls volume: the closer to the volume loop you are, the quieter the sound - the further, the louder. It is important to be aware of this, as many beginning thereminists will forget to keep their hand in place and make a very loud noise while stepping away. One trick to resolve this is by laying the output cable across the loop. The second antenna controls pitch - the closer things come to the antenna, the higher the pitch is generated. This makes for a very fickle instrument. The wave is much larger than the playable area, and people walking within a few feet (when I have it tuned, normally about 4-5 feet) will change the shape of the field and subsequently, the pitch. The theremin is very difficult to play, considered by many to be the most difficult in the world, because there is no physical feedback. Even violinists can feel string tension, whereas the theremin is just out there in the air. This makes it very hard to play. It's also very easy to lose pitch and key, because the instrument has no fixed intervals. Many beginning thereminists think they sound great (myself included) but realize later that they sound god awful, when their ears become more acute and discerning. Here I am, playing the theremin at a local library for their kick-off of their Summer Reading or something (I wasn't clear on the details, they just wanted a thereminist):  A good playing theremin is about as expensive as a mid-range guitar. My theremin, a Moog Etherwave, cost $350, and this is about the normal price. I would strongly recommend starting with an Etherwave or an equivalent, as they are the "gold standard" of entry-level theremins, and they are very well built. There are also kits available to build your own theremin, which will run anywhere from $100 to $300. Alternatives to the Etherwave include the PAiA Theremax, which runs about $230 but is known to be more difficult to control. The cheapest theremin available that is at all decent ist he B3, at around $150. Playing the theremin also requires an amp. Any amp will do, though guitar and bass amps are not generally designed to play the range that a theremin generates (when I tune mine, I can go from C0 to Bb8). Because of this, I recommend getting a keyboard or vocal amp, which may be another $2-300 investment. Here are some videos of my favorite Thereminist, Randy George, actually performing well on the theremin and making it sound beautiful, in contrast to the previous video. Trois beaux oiseaux du paradis - Maurice Ravel Something About Us - Daft Punk Crazy - Gnarls Barkley Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 16:00 on Jun 11, 2011 |
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Jun 9, 2011 21:30
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| # ¿ May 7, 2024 08:41 |
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Xiahou Dun posted:I know it's not the case, but every time I see someone playing the theremin, I can't shake the impression that they're just humming and making weird hand-gestures. There are four knobs on my theremin. In order from left to right, the first is volume, which expands or collapses the size of the volume antenna field. The next is how it's tuned, the pitch control, which expands or contracts the pitch field. By doing this, one can change how big an interval any particular gesture makes. For example, I tune mine so that the interval from a loose fist to my fingers extended at the first knuckle is one octave. The other two knobs control the shape of the wave and the brightness of the tone.
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Jun 10, 2011 00:25
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radium's grandmother posted:also, someone just posted this: http://anchorage.craigslist.org/msg/2496101790.html -is this a reasonable price for a Moog theremin? I kind of feel like I need one of those in my life. At this point I'm having a hard time choosing between a theremin and a concertina. He's exaggerating the retail price a bit, I got mine at a store for $350 with a slight discount. Nevertheless, if it's in solid condition that's a good price. The nice thing about theremins is you don't touch them, so they don't suffer much wear and tear.
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Jul 16, 2011 20:30
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Edit: ended up getting an autoharp. Pics to follow.  I dig it. Now I have to get used to a new style of fingerpicking. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Jul 26, 2011 |
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Jul 26, 2011 15:00
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Bolkovr posted:You could find a stand of bamboo and make some panpipes/quills. This is actually on my list of things to do sometime but I don't have a source for bamboo right now.
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Jul 26, 2011 18:15
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:Groovy, fun instruments! Glad you're already talking fingerpicking; not that these sound bad strummed, but it's the picking where you really get some cool and distinctive effects. Seeing as I'm a tinkering hobbyist, I have no doubt that this will be happening. As far as fingerpicking goes, I'm not quite there yet, familiarizing myself with the instrument, but by way of demonstrating how quickly one can become listenable on this instrument, here's a quick recording of Jo karjalan kunnailla lehtii puu that I put together this morning after having a total of maybe an hour on this instrument so far. It strikes me as an instrument that is easy to learn and difficult to master, and I dig that. The strings are laid out chromatically except the very bassest ones, so it should pluck similarly to a keyboard, it's just a matter of being able to associate the strings with the notes, then learning enough notation. I'm excited for this weird instrument that isn't as difficult to play as a loving theremin, and which I can play with my dog in the house (he hates theremin). Though theremin remains my first love. Someday I will do a mashup like this Theremin and Electric Kantele performance.
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Jul 27, 2011 16:56
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Just wanted to chime in, I know there was some discussion on the last page, but Mountain Ocarinas make really good ocarinas at very affordable prices and with excellent warrantees. I have a pair of them in C and G polycarbonate, and they sound great, play great, and I have no problem taking them with me when I travel because if anything happens, they replace it, period. They also make stone and wood and ceramic ocarinas but I have no experience with those personally, however, I can only imagine they are good quality. Edit: Apparently you can grab both C and G for ~$5 off totalling ~$45 before shipping right now, as I just went back to check their prices. They come with fingering charts, plus you can get the fingering charts in PDF on their site. Paramemetic fucked around with this message at 23:29 on May 10, 2012 |
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May 10, 2012 23:27
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Yo TTFA, I'ma let you finish, but I just wanted to say your PM box is full and I'd like to know more about this Thai mouth organ. Hit me up. Also bummer on the injury. Hand injuries are the worst.
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Nov 12, 2012 03:04
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| # ¿ May 7, 2024 08:41 |
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TapTheForwardAssist posted:I'll clear out some PM space, but aren't you the one one in Alaska? There is no drat way I'm shipping a 5ft tall instrument to Alaska. And believe you me, I've shipped some weird poo poo in my day. I really want to sell thIs Thai thing locally in the DC area. But I'll work up a post about them in general. Naw man, I'm in your neck of the woods. PM inbound shortly.
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Nov 12, 2012 03:27
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