Improving linearity would, of course, be nice, but I doubt would make the theremin that more popular, or that much easier to learn. Aerial fingering is hard, and with little reference to any other instrument; the theremin has a steep learning curve, with little instant gratification, especially in the first 6 months. A beginner is going to take two weeks to be able to play a song they pick, and when they almost can play it confidently, someone is going to come into the room, pick up an accordion, and in 20 seconds, be like "is that what you were trying to play?"

Most people buying instruments/learning a new instrument, are largely going to be 16-25 or so, its a lot of dedication to ask, the typical theremin's repertoire is not the various types of rock/pop/folk, they will typically want to play, playing with other people/live has a bunch of technical difficulties, a reasonable theremin setup is going to be at least 400$, most people I know who picked one up, give up quickly, or use it as a noise box or more in an experimental/noise genre. Which is what people see, and it how it gets its reputation. Largely, I dont think its popularity is due to a lack of a large number of world class classical thereminists, but more a lack a bunch of fairly competent ones they will see locally. 

Most of these problems are sort of core to the concept of the instrument itself, and I can't at the moment imagine how an improved design will fix some of these problems. An increased repertoire might help, but the theremin is at a disadvantage at best, in playing many other genres technically, (well it could be fine, technically, playing many genres of folk, but, conceptually, well, its a bit odd.)

But if the theremin became popular, wouldn't it be self-defeating, as its main draw is the seeming magic of playing the air, if this becomes an everyday thing, what would be the appeal?

That all said, I could see designing a better theremin aimed at the noise/experimental/synth crowd (that is already familiar with the instrument, and is not trying to play tonally), at a lower price point than an etherwave, has a possibility of limited commercial success.

A Cadillac instrument at a Yugo price point might stimulate wider interest in the Theremin.  And it's amazing (to me anyway) how dramatically the inclusion of a responsive visual tuning display increases playability.  Make it acceptably linear, sound like human voices & strings, toss in a small built-in speaker / amp, and there you go.  Might not sell like hot cakes, but the pool of potential buyers would grow.

Dewster said: "And it's amazing (to me anyway) how dramatically the inclusion of a responsive visual tuning display increases playability"

Built-in visual feedback at eye level strikes me as a very good idea.

Please - Lets move to Here  Now ! ;-)

Please - Lets move to Here  Now ! ;-)

Love to, except that I get the

Problems in the Ether!

error page.

 - Teleporter is now online! (following failure due to fake dilithium crystals being used in reactor - they lacked essential http molicules)

to those whose atoms have been scattered in the ether, and their friends and reletives, I sincerely apologise!

I have moved my last 2 postings to:

http://www.thereminworld.com/Forums/T/28610/theremins-vulcans-ferangi-linearitycommercial-anything-really--?last=True

USE THIS -> STARGATE !

LOOKING FOR:

HOME

BUSINESS PREMISES

BUSINESS PARTNER/S

I believe that a viable business could be established with the equipment I own, and that someone with business accumen (unlike me!) with space to install this equipment could make money from it -

Ideas I have are: Electronic music studio which could be run and rented could be a viable 'sub' business without much expenditure needed to get it started. This business could be seperate from any business related to the electronics lab.

I need a place to live and access to my lab in order to do useful work -

Anyone having a property (for example a vacant shop with living accomodation above it) and would be interested in a profit-sharing business partnership which provided me with accommodation in exchange for use of my equipment, or any other workable agreement, please contact me -

See my first posting in this thread.

What I Have:

"Studio":

Yamaha PDP400 weighted 8 octave 'clavinova' master keyboard, Moog Prodigy mono synth, Novation "Bass station" analogue monosynth with CV-Midi, Akai AX73 Analogue Polysynth. Juno 60 mixed synth, Roland Synthplus analogue polysynth (rare variant of alpha Juno), Siel Cruise mixed mono / poly synth, Farfisa Synthorchestra (string machine and analogue monosynth), Access Virus DSP polysynth rack, numerous rack synths (Roland D110, Yamaha etc). Ancient (but lovely) Yamaha TX16W 12 bit sampler, several Yamaha FM synths (About half of my keyboards are unused in the loft as I have no space - probably about 5 there that I bought as faulty and dont even remember having, and have not got round to fixing) Boxes of theremin prototypes including completed theremins which I have no space to set up.

Complex midi router (my own construction) and Akai ME80P Router. Lexicon MPX1 effects, Mackie 1202 and Tascam MM1 mixers, Hercules 16/12 Firewire audio interface, numerous other midi and audio interfaces, midi controllers and control surface. Dual Xeon PC running Sonar 3 Producer and huge collection of virtual synths + effects.

Lab:

Two HP 3325A Synthesiser / Function generators, Gould 4084 800 Ms/sec 4 ch DSO, 100MHz 2ch analogue scope, HP analogue distortion analyser, Multiple bench PSU's, Multiple PC based instruments (Logic analysers, DSO's etc). Bench instruments (frequency counters, meters etc), portable DSO with spectrum analyser, complete PC based ABI automated test / debugging instrument (component curve plotting, RT signal comparison, capacitance, inductance, resistance, voltage,current,frequency etc with analogue and digital component pods), Two Complete PSoC development systems with ICE and all pods etc, Numerous development systems for PIC and PIC32, Development systems for PLD's. All required hand tools, soldering stations, jigs etc for constructyion / debugging. Specially constructed laminator for toner transfer and full prototype PCB fabrication equipment. Huge stock of all required components for almost everything and anything.

Shed:

Tools and power tools for simple metalwork (pillar drill, guillotine, tube bender etc) Tools and power tools for woodworking / cabinet construction (flat-bed saw, planer, router etc - Enough for construction of most woodwork projects but requiring much more space than I have.. To set up all this equipment will require a small garage at minimum.

All the above is owned by Fundamental designs Ltd of which I am the director and primary (95%)  shareholder.