Fix fo unintended sounds when touching the volume antenna.

Posted: 3/6/2007 5:45:17 PM
GordonC

From: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK

Joined: 10/5/2005

Thank you for the benefit of your wisdom, omhoge. Might I reasonably leap to the conclusion that your sock, Clara's tape and Thomas' tubing all serve the same purpose?
Posted: 3/6/2007 5:45:18 PM
GordonC

From: Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, UK

Joined: 10/5/2005

Darn it, another double post.
Posted: 3/6/2007 8:52:24 PM
Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

Unless the RCAs did the chirp on touch like the E standards, I don't see how tape would be of too much help to Clara. Perhaps the antenna was damaged in some way. But making a softer hand rest on the volume antenna makes sense.

Anyone out there know if the RCA had the chirp on touch problem?
Posted: 3/6/2007 9:42:32 PM
omhoge

From: Kingston, NY

Joined: 2/13/2005

sorry sounded brusque. just getting back to this.
there was some incorrect speculation that it was a jury rigged repair but I believe it was just tape, maybe to protect it, you can see some chrome wear. The current owner Dahlit Warshaw and Ried the fellow who worked on it while herself was still alive, made no mention of it serving as an additional damper for chirping.
Somewhere out in the web archives those notes from Ried might still be there, I cannot find it now but will keep looking.
That tape did inspire my attempts early on to cure the, for lack of a better term the snappy response on the early EWPro I have by putting stuff on the loop. The sock on mine is now for the distortion in the preview, not for any outwardly audible problem and it serves as a resting pad for my left hand, it knows it's way there without my having to look.
Posted: 3/6/2007 11:35:59 PM
Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

I did not think you sounded brusque at all.

That's interesting about the tape. A jurry rigged repair of some kind was one of my first thaughts when seeing it in documentaries. I guess 7 or 8 decades of physical contact would cause bad corrosion wear on that chrome. Thanks for the info.
Posted: 3/7/2007 12:41:23 AM
Jon B

From: Somerville, MA

Joined: 8/11/2005

Clara's tape was to prevent chirping. I'm quite certain I read or heard that somewhere reliable.
Posted: 3/7/2007 1:36:41 AM
TomFarrell

From: Undisclosed location without Dick Cheney

Joined: 2/21/2005

I believe Peter has speculated that it was to prevent chirping, to allow her to rest her hand and also to know when she had reached zero volume definitively without looking.

I don't know if there is any definite proof of this, but it seems reasonable.

The antenna is a piece of metal. If it somehow got broken, I can't imagine she wouldn't have cared enough to have a replacement manufactured. (Unlike the electronics, for which she needed a great expert, the antenna is just a piece of metal which can be replicated by any competent machinist given time and money.) Also, we know her instrument was repaired electronically by Bob Moog. We also know he cared about the appearance of instruments - he's on record talking about things like that he used wood paneling in his synths because he felt that an instrument should be made with beautiful wood. So, I can't imagine that if her antenna was broken, he would have left it that way and not had a replacement made.
Posted: 3/7/2007 7:15:42 AM
omhoge

From: Kingston, NY

Joined: 2/13/2005

No you're right it wasn't broken.
What I recall from reading those notes, where ever they are now, was that the touch to the loop caused a shift in the pitch, which you hear in the EWPro, so I had the impression that on her custom instrument it may have taken a bit longer to rectify.
Not sure how it would help her deremine zero beat, and I believe she tended to tune above zero beat prefering to streatch the field a bit and just omit the lower pitches which she rarely used and would adjust her position if they were needed.
Still looking for those web notes, didn't we also have a long jucy thread on this a year or so ago?
Hello Mr. Google... will keep ya posted.
[updated]
Though he's not around on line any more Ried did pipe in on this thread but the topic did not induce the answers sought here.
http://www.thereminworld.com/forum.asp?cmd=p&T=1624&F=1&p=2
Posted: 3/8/2007 3:37:05 PM
omhoge

From: Kingston, NY

Joined: 2/13/2005

Last night I also noticed the pitch impact when my be-socked foot touched the metal part of any effect pedal or anything else metal in my sound chain connected to the EWPro.

so, FYI in case it's the same on the standard and created by more things than just the loop.

Has touching connected peripherals caused it for you too?
Posted: 3/8/2007 4:31:24 PM
Thomas Grillo

From: Jackson Mississippi

Joined: 8/13/2006

Hi, I've actually noticed the effect when I touched things like a computer monitor screen, holographic foil backed veneer on my homebuilt arcade machine, my kurzeil midiboard, and none of those were connected directly to either the pro or standard theremins. You can evin notice the change if someone just touches your arm too. You can evin hear the change by touching just the metal plate of your standard, or the knobs on the pro, or evin the mike stand.

Anything metal, or conductive will cause this when touched, or allowed to touch you.

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