20 replies to this topic

[Ligneo Fistula]

Well, I liked it!

https://www.youtube....h?v=cqOmfhmsRZw

[hummingbird]

Yay, go theremins - it's about time they got the recognition they deserve! 

[elemimele]

I rather enjoyed it too, enough to go and listen to some of his other clips. I might even learn to like the Goldberg variations the way he plays.

[Scaredycat]

Goodness, such accuracy. Wow, now I want one to play with.

[BadStrad]

That is fab! I really need to up my Theremin game.

More practice required before I get to that standard.

[hummingbird]

That is fab! I really need to up my Theremin game.

More practice required before I get to that standard.

From time to time I've suggested to a relative that he makes me one from a kit, but he doesn't seem very keen!  Did you buy yours as a complete instrument or did you use a kit (or is that like comparing a nice acoustic piano with a cheap keyboard )

[BadStrad]

Mine is a Theremini, Hummingbird. It was a Christmas present. It is great fun.

[hummingbird]

^ That looks neat!  I watched a tutorial on playing it - it looks very difficult.

[ejw21]

Mine is a Theremini, Hummingbird. It was a Christmas present. It is great fun.

What a good present! Another one on my 'if I win the lottery' list!

[BadStrad]

Mine is a Theremini, Hummingbird. It was a Christmas present. It is great fun.

What a good present! Another one on my 'if I win the lottery' list!

They're more expensive now than when I received mine. I guess something to do with the pound devaluing/exchange rates.

[elemimele]

it cries out to anyone with an amateur electronics background ... it would be a beautiful instrument for self-building. In fact I see an arduino group already exists (with open-hardware, so presumably not just some sort of digital simulation of the theremin, rather the real analogue electronics and something digital on the end if you want to couple it to midi??). I am impressed by it because although electronic, the fundamental principle is very simple (I dislike complexity), and because it's not pretending to be anything it isn't. And because played by people who know what they're doing, it sounds surprisingly appropriate and good.

[Maizie]

This crosses my path from time to time, and never, ever fails to make me smile

[Arundodonuts]

Ugh.

[EllieD]

The little device is very clever! But the bit that impresses me most is that to play to the standard of the gentleman in the first video must take as much time and dedication as it does to play a conventional instrument - and yet there must be so few opportunities to perform and limited original repertoire. Would you dedicate all that time to being a professional thereminist or a professional violinist, for example, when the rewards for playing the latter are clearly so much greater?

[BadStrad]

Would you dedicate all that time to being a professional thereminist or a professional violinist, for example, when the rewards for playing the latter are clearly so much greater?

Well you could say that about playing the violin. Is it worth all those hours when a tiny fraction of players make any *real* money out of it and the rest scrape by? At least witb a theremin there's less competition.

As for repertoire, you can play what you want, really. It's basically a melody line instrument.