Has anyone ever made a theramin ??

[chefcraig]

Some of you guys might be a bit too young to remember this show, which first aired in the sixties. Believe it or not, it was a daytime soap opera about a vampire, called Dark Shadows. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are making a film version, with Depp playing the role of the vampire, Barnabas Collins. The show's theme song featured a theremin, and it sounds both cool and downright creepy. Given the content of the show, it fit perfectly.

The theremin was also used for the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. (From a Youtube posting) "This is the opening of the film without dialogue, the score included electric violin, electric bass, 2 theremins* (treble & bass), test oscillators, vibraphone, 4 pianos, 4 harps & approximately 30 brass instruments. Unusual overdubbing & tape-reversal techniques were used as well.
The film music composer of this score Bernard Herrmann (1911-75) is particularly known for the scores of Alfred Hitchcock's films (such as Psycho), he also composed notable scores for many other movies (such as Citizen Kane & Taxi Driver), radio broadcast & TV programs. His music is typified by frequent use of ostinati (short repeating patterns), novel orchestration & an ability to portray character traits not altogether obvious from other elements of the film. In the last years of Herrmann's life he did much to create interest in film scores as a form of music worthy of appreciation & performance."

You can also find some interesting articles on the device, along with it's inventor and other pioneers of electronic music at the Theremin World web site. (I'm serious, there really is a web site. )

[GAR]

Wonder if the Ghost saddles (the GraphTech ones, not your imaginary stuff) track better than the under-string Roland dealio...seems like they'd have to...

You mean the Roland Hex pickup. No, those are piezo crystal imbeds which don't do that very well.

To do that, one needs a constant voltage sensor which the Hex being active, does that efficiently but not as fast as a key strikes its' keyboard switch and Hall sensors. Piezos are passive output of very weak signal, not enough to drive anything. Which is why the hex system uses 6 independant coils to sense string information, but is still slow..

It would be very cool to use the Roland guitar system to convert string information to control a live Theramin remotely as a channeled instrument but it's never going to happen. It's not possible and there's no market for it, so the best thing one could do in this case is to build a mini-version Theramin and actually mount it on the guitar with a mixer to blend in with the guitar output signal.

That is, if you want to be less weird than making all those Jimmy Page poses jerking your fingers around and fisting ghosts, making people scratch their heads wondering what in the world you're doing trying to play the real thing.. which, wearing a guitar, confuses em.

[GAR]

This is pretty neat. The Popular Science web site tells you how to build a small theremin for under 20 bucks.

Build a Pocket Theremin on the Cheap | Popular Science

I was looking in greater detail with that design, first noticing that it replaces the frequency generator and transmitter with cadmium-sulfide photocells - obviously from the sound in this clip http://www.popsci.com/files/theremin_sample.mp3 used as proximity sensors to control volume and frequency generation.

Then I listened, not impressed.

There are better schematics available, including the whole basic Theramin diy kit from Big Briar in PCB form all you need to do is assemble with a soldering iron and mount it in something, its like $80 bucks without the chassis, or $125 if I recall with the box predrilled and ready to accept the circuitboard, standoffs, hardware, everything.

Then, they offer the whole thing preassembled for those who don't waste time fooling around with projects, around $225 ready to go mailorder.

[ThrillsNSpills]

[QUOTE=GAR;1392341]WRONG!

That is not a Theramin.. I thought for years it was! That was a



Ondes MARTENOT! superduper rare.. enjoy, I shared this at DDLR fuckin' fantastic instrument[/QUOTE



You thought a theramin was a multivitamin.

[Nitro Express]

Blah, blah, blah, shut the fuck up!

More bullshit. You'll say pretty much say anything to join in on a thread.
Someone could post a thread claiming to possess 1 of 2 rare coins ever in circulation and you would follow that post by claiming you have the other one in your pocket...

You're such a predictable Troll.
With a purely fictional collection such as yours, of course you have a Theramen ... and a '64 Hammond B-3 with Leslie, and a '59 Les Paul Flametop, and a '59 Gibson Korina Flying V, and Hendrix's original Woodstock Strat,

Gar probably spends a fortune on warehouse rent to house his collection of stuff.

[Diamondjimi]

Imaginary warehouses are free!

[Nitro Express]

This is pretty neat. The Popular Science web site tells you how to build a small theremin for under 20 bucks.

Build a Pocket Theremin on the Cheap | Popular Science

It looks like a torture device or a real scary sex toy.

[GAR]

it should sound like this..

[GAR]

fun!

[GAR]

This is the one I have in the trunk, I'll haveto mess w it this w-end

[GAR]

On further research, Good Vibrations was NOT done on an ondes Martenot.

The thing used works similar with a ribbon controller, but it's called an Electro Theramin.



This is not the Beach Boys video I'm thinking of, where I saw them use a ribbon controller above-decktop of an organ. I think that may have been a Beat Club video, not sure.

But here's a riff showing Mike Love clearly using an Electro-Theramin's ribbon controller. Not as sweet as the ondes Martenot, but hella more portable for stage setup!

[Diamondjimi]

it should sound like this..

Yeah, that's more like it...

[Hardrock69]

The theremin was also used for the film The Day the Earth Stood Still. (From a Youtube posting) "This is the opening of the film without dialogue, the score included electric violin, electric bass, 2 theremins* (treble & bass), test oscillators, vibraphone, 4 pianos, 4 harps & approximately 30 brass instruments. Unusual overdubbing & tape-reversal techniques were used as well.
The film music composer of this score Bernard Herrmann (1911-75) is particularly known for the scores of Alfred Hitchcock's films (such as Psycho), he also composed notable scores for many other movies (such as Citizen Kane & Taxi Driver), radio broadcast & TV programs. His music is typified by frequent use of ostinati (short repeating patterns), novel orchestration & an ability to portray character traits not altogether obvious from other elements of the film. In the last years of Herrmann's life he did much to create interest in film scores as a form of music worthy of appreciation & performance."

You can also find some interesting articles on the device, along with it's inventor and other pioneers of electronic music at the Theremin World web site. (I'm serious, there really is a web site. )

A longtime friend in the Seattle area owns the actual Theramin that was used on Day The Earth Stood Still and other movies and TV shows. He told me how he discovered the guy who owned it had moved from LA to the Northwest, where my friend found out about him.

They are pretty cool things. When I was a little chillun back in the day, one day the music teacher held a sort of workshop about electronic music. She had a rather crude synthesizer, a Theramin, and several other little devices that bleeped and blooped.

Pretty interesting sound! Especially when you put some low end behind it.
:D

[Hardrock69]

Imaginary warehouses are free!

[Nitro Express]

Which means if you are full of delusion, you can have a good time with all your stuff at no expense.