Moog Theremini!

"I cant disclose the details now."  - Chobbs

I'm curious: how are you privy to details regarding this?

I guess im an quasi-member of the dev team...I did some work for moog last spring- writing and illustrating some parts of the theremini manual. They gave me a prototype to evaluate.   Also, moog generously donated a bunch of thereminis to the NYC theremin society to help with our (usually overbooked) theremin classes.  (Next round is next weekend, Dec 13 @ Pioneer Works in Brooklyn.)  

As secondary confirmation, Dorit Chrysler said pretty much the same thing recently on Facebook. The engineers are working on the latency issue.

In other news from the dreaded Facebook, Olivia Mattis will be visiting Moog early next year (she didn't mention a specific date) as a continuation of the dialogue between Levnet-on-Facebook and Moog re: the theremini. Looking forward to hearing her report on that.

Oh, and yeah, Hi! I'm back. :-)

During my sojourn I have been hearing the other side of the story - from non-thereminists who bought a theremini and are quite pleased with it. In particular they seem to quite like the digital synth aspect of it and are delighted with the Moog iOS app that gives them finer control over the settings. They are making some good (IMO, but I'm pretty sure we could teach them a thing or two nonetheless) very non-classical sounds. They do not seem to be overly concerned with the antenna related issues.

I'm thinking of it like this - over on ClassicalPianoWorld someone turns up with a funky little keyboard synth. "What do you think of this," he asks, "it even has a "piano" setting. :-)" 

"Oh, do go away you silly man," the denizens of CPW reply, "It sounds nothing like a real piano (and we should know) and those black and white push-buttons don't even count as a keyboard."

So they go elsewhere (jumping out of the metaphor - specifically the moogmusic theremin forum for anyone looking to talk theremini in a less fraught atmosphere) and everyone is happy again.

Surely it should not come as a great surprise that people who know little or nothing about the theremin should be happy - even thrilled - with the THEREMINI. After all, you can still be quite happy down on the farm as long as you haven’t seen Paree!

I seriously doubt that Moog Music is going to be able to fix the latency problem with a simple firmware update. It seems to me this would require a change of hardware…..I think Thierry Frenkel pointed this out several months ago.

As for the generous donation of THEREMINIS to the New York Theremin Society, I figured after such an enthusiastic endorsement (or should I say “endoritment”) of the product, Moog Music must have done something to buy those guys off!

Well, I guess fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong.

(I would add that of all the places in France I have visited, Paris is the only place where the inhabitants make absolutely no effort to understand someone who does not speak French or speaks it with a foreign accent. I got by by speaking with an outrageous Inspector Clouseau accent, which worked surprisingly well. Give me the French countryside every time.)

I just received my Theremini tonight and will be working on a write-up. Anything in particular folks are interested in knowing more about?

Yes, of course, but my interest is purely philological. I like to to learn new swearwords and related idioms. 

Jason, if I'd known you were looking for one I could have sold you mine cheap - though you might not have wanted one that got its ribs (carefully) spread?  ;-)  Will you be reviewing one with this new firmware?  If not, I'd be very interested in your observations pre => post firmware update.

Beyond that, I'm most interested in your impressions of the pitch field: linearity, linearity variation with different (mostly near point) calibrations, long term drift (I believe it remembers the last calibration when powered off), the usefulness of sensitivity adjustment (via the setting of the end point notes), and latency. 

Regarding the last point, I don't have mine anymore to reference, but from what I remember I perceived the sluggishness as a vaguely cheesy / loose feel to the response, and not so much portamento.  (Portamento is the closest musical term to what is technically going on, but RC bandwidth / delay / settling time is likely more descriptive as the time to reach the new note is not a simple linear function of the distance traveled.)  It would be really interesting to hear what long-term A list players (particularly those without a dog in the fight) have to say about the latency after using the Theremini for an extended period in a more formally musical manner (i.e. playing melodically).  It might be something that one doesn't notice much, something one notices but can adapt to, something that is a constant nag, or something that drives one insane.  I honestly don't know how much impact the latency might have on players, and the impact itself could easily vary among different players.

If you could devise a way to measure latency precisely exactly rather than estimating it I would be eternally grateful.

Dewster wrote: “I honestly don't know how much impact the latency might have on players, and the impact itself could easily vary among different players.”

The negative impact of the latency of the Moog THEREMINI will increase with the skill of the player. A beginner with little or no knowledge of theremins will probably not even notice the problem. Give the same instrument to an accomplished virtuoso and he or she will probably declare the thing unplayable (as several have already done).

Unfortunately, negative remarks about the THEREMINI have been largely regarded by beginners as the result of highbrow, mean-spirited, anti-Moog snobbery rather than honest, informed opinions.

One newbie even wrote: “I’d love to hear peoples’ reactions to the new Moog Theremini but I don’t want to hear the same old crap about how it’s no good….etc. etc..” OWTTE

People don’t want to hear the truth. They want to hear confirmation of what they already believe.