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100th anniversary of Theramin - Claravox


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...not sure how I'd use it with a band other than maybe a cameo role and the odd line here and there.

 

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin got a lot of mileage out of a theremin during live performances. You don't wait for opportunities to use an unusual instrument in concert, you create them.

 

Grey

I'm not interested in someone's ability to program. I'm interested in their ability to compose and play.

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I got to play with Tim Rockmore on New Years Eve. He is a guitarist who is related to Clara. He was surprised that I knew who she was. Tim was filling in with an 80s band who I've played with on occasion and he has his own band.

 

[video:youtube]

[video:youtube]

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Ironically, I just picked up a Theremin Kontakt instrument on sale :) Having a blast with it, it found a place on a campy project I'm working on with some old bandmates, redoing songs written when we were 14-16 years old...
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Apart from the timbre, (which may have more less high frequency roll-off and even-order distortion in the modern recording) it seems Clara Rockmore"s vibrato is wider, looser and romantic? While the young performer is very precise and clean? I was secretly hoping for a more florid sound when he went down to the low aflat, but it was not to be.
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Does anyone know much about how performance concepts related to vibrato speed and depth have changed over the past one hundred years? The older Theremin performance, as beautiful as it is, reminds me of the way that some of the older saxophonists used to play.
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Beautiful instrument and video indeed. Gardens are spectacular - reminiscent of Versailles but different I think. Anybody know where this is? ð

 

I havent been to Versailles in 30 years but I'll see if I can locate this for you. Maybe. ;)

:nopity:
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Moog site says Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte -- https://vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/ .

 

Anyone have experience using a theremin as a CV input to a synth or otherwise in use with a synthesizer or effects? How broad a range of sound can one get? Is it sensible to layer synth sounds on top of the theremin? I'm guessing with MIDI out, the Claravox effectively has some sort of gating support built-in.

 

[EDIT: It looks like gating is pretty straight forward in that one touches the volume antenna and that signal goes to zero. Hopefully they run that out directly as a CV and a low threshold makes a gate. Would be even better if it detects touch explicitly I suppose.]

 

-Z-

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[EDIT: It looks like gating is pretty straight forward in that one touches the volume antenna and that signal goes to zero. Hopefully they run that out directly as a CV and a low threshold makes a gate. Would be even better if it detects touch explicitly I suppose.]

 

-Z-

 

I like where you are going with this. Perhaps some LFO mod or ring mod on a pedal? I would need a duffer"s mode. Something extremely forgiving. I think the digital theremin had something like that ...

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Now that I live in Durham NC, I'm thinking about a trip to the Moog Factory in Asheville if I can get a tour of the Theremin manufacturing area. :-)

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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  • 4 months later...

I was all set to buy a Moog Etherwave Plus Theremin tonight, until I noticed it's been discontinued -- although it is still listed at Moog's website. Then I found this scary link:

 

https://www.hototin.com/products/theremin-plus-etherwave-moog

 

It HAS to be a scam, at that price, and going to the vendor's main webpage and searching or traversing the site does NOT find any Moog or Theremin hits.

 

At Reverb.com, people are charging $900 or more for these, or $600 or a bit more for the black versions sans wood. What did they cost originally?

 

Also on Reverb.com, people are asking almost $2300 for the new 100th anniversary edition, even though it is priced at a bit over $1400 at Sweetwater and other sites.

 

I actually need some sort of live Theremin pretty soon, is the thing, and am not keen on a plastic Theremini -- though it could be a placeholder, and I could turn off Auto-tune.

 

I may also run into an issue with AC adapters, as it's a non-standard one and "only one left" when looking at alternative sources. The older bag is nicer than the new one too.

 

If I'd have to pay $900 or more for the Etherwave Plus, I'd just as soon go a few hundred more and pre-order the 100th anniversary edition, which is closer to the old Pro model.

 

Having C/V control is pretty important to me in a Theremin, as I own a Moog Voyager. It's a match made in Heaven, or at least someplace in Outer Space. :-)

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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There's another option for Theremin that I wasn't aware of until last night, from a small company that calls theirs B3 Theremins. Most of their modules are cheap but don't have full control of dynamics alongside pitch, but also I didn't care for what I heard in demos. But then, I also was grossed out by the Jimmy Page demo; it just seemed like so much wanking. His isn't a Moog either. The Theremin Pro still sounds the best to me but goes for $8K on Reverb.com. Don't know if it was that expensive to begin with or not.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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I've written my Sweetwater rep to see if he has any info on whether Etherwave Plus is out of production temporarily or permanently. It's still on the Moog site, but no authorized sellers have it and all say "discontinued". I do think I'd appreciate the extra features of the Claravox, and if the Etherwave Plus is $900 or thereabouts anyway (in wood vs. black all-metal housing), it's worth the extra few hundred for the new features. But then, there's the stand as well...

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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I joined the Claravox pre-order list today after confirming with my Sweetwater rep that the Etherwave series has definitely been canceled.

 

I figure a Theremin is a good long-term investment anyway; their value increases over time, and if we become slightly disabled as we get older, it might become the only instrument we can still play.

Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1,

Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager

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