Hi Kip, thank you you so much for all this, not just the theremini, but all of it. Long ago I studied as a composer, I then specialised in music technology and wound up going into computer science and software engineering. I've been heavily involved in making computer enhanced musical instruments and real midi programming (as in actually writing code that deals with midi messages, not entering stuff into a sequencer). I know midi and music tech in general back to front. You've helped me and many others with the theremin and you don't have the silly snobbish attitude so many (nameless, ha) theremin players have to the theremini. If you'd like a hand with any of the really techy stuff just ask, you can get my real email addy from my profile here. In the long term I plan on bypassing the silly little synth Moog built into this thing and replacing it with csound csound.com . Unfortunately the midi output of the theremini is very limited by current firmware (1.1.1), it has a really slow response time. The control voltage out is likely a much better option. Unfortunately it's pitch only, so doing anything serious will require both midi via the usb port for volume and CV for pitch. There are options for digitising CV, it's just an audio signal after all, but unfortunately you can't just plug the CV out into any old sound card as they filter out direct current to prevent people blowing up amplifiers and speakers and things, but I could do it really cheaply with a gadget known as an arduino (as in ~$AU20 cheap) and a little custom software. It's been on my todo list and has been being postponed by me concentrating on 3d printing during the pandemic. I'm longing to get back to more musical stuff and we are in the middle of a delta outbreak so I am heading back to the theremini. With an arduino in a metal box I could get between a 1 and 4 millisecond response to a CV change depending on the amount of filtering required- I've got a response to an expression pedal down to 2 milliseconds. It'd also give outputs between 0 and 1023 (10 bit analogue to digital converters). Better converters can give more precision of course but cost more, and when you think about it this is better than millimeter resolution in a meter range which is likely perfectly adequate. Experimenting will tell. Thanks again and I'll let you know how things with this stuff go. edit: a typo
Hi. And "wow!" There's a lot to unpack here. Right up front, I must confess that I know very little about utilizing midi, how it works, etc. I am also woefully under-informed and under-experienced when it comes to using the Control Voltage outputs on the Theremini, my Etherwave Pro and my very first theremin, the PAIA Theremax. I started out back in 1996 with the sole interest in playing the theremin and remained something of a purist for the first two years; I learned and played only classical music because to my mind, having to conform to a set score and play it correctly would make me a better musician in the long run. During that first two years I refrained from using any effects pedals, reverb, anything. My goal was to develop technique and a refined sense of pitch (since I do not have "perfect/absolute pitch). The Theremini, in my opinion, is a very good, economical way for people to learn to play the theremin. In my experience, every person I've spoken to who owns a Theremini bought it because they wanted to play the theremin just as one would play a classic theremin. All the other bells and whistles for them are secondary. The cool, added Theremini bonus is that you get all the effects, presets, and the Theremini Editor App (the subject of my upcoming two tutorials). And yes, I think it would be both interesting, educational (for me), and possibly mutually beneficial to explore the Theremini with you, although I'm unsure what benefits you might derive from me (but who knows?). You are clearly far more tech-saavy than I, and I have questions regarding some of the explanations in the Theremini's manual that are so tech-speak in nature that that might as well be written in Martian. The best way to proceed would be to contact me via email and we can discuss how to begin: kr@performancekr.com. Let's talk.
❤
A heartfelt thanks.
Hi Kip, thank you you so much for all this, not just the theremini, but all of it. Long ago I studied as a composer, I then specialised in music technology and wound up going into computer science and software engineering. I've been heavily involved in making computer enhanced musical instruments and real midi programming (as in actually writing code that deals with midi messages, not entering stuff into a sequencer). I know midi and music tech in general back to front. You've helped me and many others with the theremin and you don't have the silly snobbish attitude so many (nameless, ha) theremin players have to the theremini. If you'd like a hand with any of the really techy stuff just ask, you can get my real email addy from my profile here.
In the long term I plan on bypassing the silly little synth Moog built into this thing and replacing it with csound csound.com . Unfortunately the midi output of the theremini is very limited by current firmware (1.1.1), it has a really slow response time. The control voltage out is likely a much better option. Unfortunately it's pitch only, so doing anything serious will require both midi via the usb port for volume and CV for pitch. There are options for digitising CV, it's just an audio signal after all, but unfortunately you can't just plug the CV out into any old sound card as they filter out direct current to prevent people blowing up amplifiers and speakers and things, but I could do it really cheaply with a gadget known as an arduino (as in ~$AU20 cheap) and a little custom software. It's been on my todo list and has been being postponed by me concentrating on 3d printing during the pandemic. I'm longing to get back to more musical stuff and we are in the middle of a delta outbreak so I am heading back to the theremini. With an arduino in a metal box I could get between a 1 and 4 millisecond response to a CV change depending on the amount of filtering required- I've got a response to an expression pedal down to 2 milliseconds. It'd also give outputs between 0 and 1023 (10 bit analogue to digital converters). Better converters can give more precision of course but cost more, and when you think about it this is better than millimeter resolution in a meter range which is likely perfectly adequate. Experimenting will tell.
Thanks again and I'll let you know how things with this stuff go.
edit: a typo
Hi. And "wow!" There's a lot to unpack here. Right up front, I must confess that I know very little about utilizing midi, how it works, etc. I am also woefully under-informed and under-experienced when it comes to using the Control Voltage outputs on the Theremini, my Etherwave Pro and my very first theremin, the PAIA Theremax. I started out back in 1996 with the sole interest in playing the theremin and remained something of a purist for the first two years; I learned and played only classical music because to my mind, having to conform to a set score and play it correctly would make me a better musician in the long run. During that first two years I refrained from using any effects pedals, reverb, anything. My goal was to develop technique and a refined sense of pitch (since I do not have "perfect/absolute pitch). The Theremini, in my opinion, is a very good, economical way for people to learn to play the theremin. In my experience, every person I've spoken to who owns a Theremini bought it because they wanted to play the theremin just as one would play a classic theremin. All the other bells and whistles for them are secondary. The cool, added Theremini bonus is that you get all the effects, presets, and the Theremini Editor App (the subject of my upcoming two tutorials). And yes, I think it would be both interesting, educational (for me), and possibly mutually beneficial to explore the Theremini with you, although I'm unsure what benefits you might derive from me (but who knows?). You are clearly far more tech-saavy than I, and I have questions regarding some of the explanations in the Theremini's manual that are so tech-speak in nature that that might as well be written in Martian. The best way to proceed would be to contact me via email and we can discuss how to begin: kr@performancekr.com. Let's talk.