Claravox Centennial- known issues, bugs and quirks

Claravox Issues / Repairs (roll-call)Interesting site:http://aetherwellen-musik.de/Theremin-Instrumente/Instruments/Claravox-Centennial-CV-C-Theremin-Review-Improvement?fbclid=IwAR3fCGQBhemcyvNhnbNDu7fe3NW8LP-QNfRmGLtIFKQqrF9Istu3oxjx6xoThe length and depth of the Cvox tale of woe is just flabbergasting.  Like every day some new serious issue pops up, it's relentless.But the case is pretty, and I hear the delay is really nice (/s).

It is VERY interesting. Some of the adjustments he recommends (e.g. twisting and securing the internal cables) look rather easy. I sent an email to the author who indicated that the page is work in progress (in his spare time) and he expects to update it as he learns more

Claravox Issues / Repairs (roll-call)Interesting site:http://aetherwellen-musik.de/Theremin-Instrumente/Instruments/Claravox-Centennial-CV-C-Theremin-Review-Improvement?fbclid=IwAR3fCGQBhemcyvNhnbNDu7fe3NW8LP-QNfRmGLtIFKQqrF9Istu3oxjx6xo

Wow, this is quite the document, thank you for sharing, dewster.
I imagine that after this nightmare Moog will stop selling anything other than the Theremini toy and try to pretend that the Claravox never happened.

Though I was just searching my email to find a Theremin-related email and found correspondence I had with Moog in 2008 that I had totally forgotten about. Re-reading it makes me wonder if this nightmare is just Moog being Moog when it comes to theremins? I ordered an Etherwave standard in December 2007 — it was backordered and I finally received it in March 2008 (little did I know how short a wait that really was) — the volume antenna mount was defective — I returned it for repair and it was sent back to me having apparently been dropped on the volume antenna mounts — they sent me a replacement without a power supply — they then sent me a defective power supply — they finally sent me a functional power supply — the instrument has always occasionally just stopped making sound and required a whack to start it playing but I didn't follow-up again and that's just how it is. I guess making and selling Theremins is hard.

I really like my Claravox.  I really like my etherwaveplus.  Both play and sound great.  Moog does have some quality control issues but resolves them.  I just got an IPad that runs Claravox software.  It makes a very good product even better.  It’s hard to get workers now, much less skilled technicians.  Moog made mistakes, they are far from perfect.  The Claravox was launched in the middle of the worst pandemic in a hundred years.  It is amazing they got it out at all.  The Claravox isn’t perfect but am I the only person that loves their instrument. 
Thanks 
Seems some were negative before they got theirs, as they received theirs,  and the whole time they have had their Claravox.  Don’t own one if it brings you nothing but sorrow.

"The Claravox isn’t perfect but am I the only person that loves their instrument."  - Yngvox Moogsteen

"Isn't perfect" doing a lot of work there.  Some don't play at all.  Some have constantly expanding pitch fields that require constant calibration.  Some have mute functions that lock up and require a power cycle.  Hard to love an instrument you can't fundamentally trust, particularly in a performance situation.

"Seems some were negative before they got theirs, as they received theirs,  and the whole time they have had their Claravox.  Don’t own one if it brings you nothing but sorrow."

You seem to be blaming the victims for getting the short end of the Cvox stick, that they're arguing in bad faith.  Look, anything can come out of the factory broken, but a huge percentage of them seem to be fundamentally defective, which practically no one expected.  If anything, I think most folks (such as yourself) are bending over backwards to give Moog the benefit of the doubt, even in the face of all these fairly alarming reports.  I'd be upset if my brand new whatever was acting up, regardless of my previous feelings toward the manufacturer, and I'd be hopping mad if it seemed like the root cause was poor design / workmanship.  I've seen some who practically worship Moog do a 180 due to their Cvox experience, and you can't chalk that up to "negativity".

It seems impossible to know if a Cvox will bring one happiness or sorrow or some mixture of both beforehand (even serial number thresholds can't be trusted at this point).  I'm happy that you're happy with your unit, but it's a rather cruel lottery, and my heart goes out to those who "chose wrong" and received bum units.

I don’t think the Claravox is perfect.  Moog has asked all early model be returned to be fixed.  I may be lucky.  It has been horrible how Moog communicates with their customers.  They probably should have waited and released it later when more perfect, but I know they were being threatened by lawsuits from people that should have been mad at their bargain outlet that wouldn’t refund their money.  Not Moog, though they are far from blameless.  I would have been furious had someone had my money that long and wouldn’t refund it.  I may be remembering wrong but the lawsuits for not having the Claravox on the market fast enough were discussed on this website. I do appreciate your comments. You are brilliant with your theremin knowledge.  I am not saying the Claravox is perfect in any way.   I really just wonder if I am the only one with an overall positive Claravox experience.  Thanks for your comments again.
I want a  
D-LEV....

"They probably should have waited and released it later when more perfect, but I know they were being threatened by lawsuits from people that should have been mad at their bargain outlet that wouldn’t refund their money."  - Yngvox Moogsteen

I believe you've got the timeline wrong.  Moog's story is that they were 100% ready and willing to crank a bunch of them out, but their supply chain brought a screeching halt to the able part.  Who knows what they were doing in the year-long interim, but the first units in particular were plagued with issues, and later units are no guarantee either.  Again, I think you're blaming a victim of this mess that Moog alone created, and consumers have rights too.

I don’t blame anyone.  I do think Moog is trying and didn’t create all the problems.  They absolutely did a lot wrong.  I just believe it is a hard time to operate a company.  My wife has been waiting 8 months for a baritone PRS guitar.  We never thought to sue them.  Probably wouldn’t have gotten the guitar faster.  They can’t hire enough staff to keep the McDonald’s open all day in our area or the stores.  You are brilliant regarding theremins.  Is there anything about the Claravox positive, in your opinion?
Thanks again 

I’ve posted this elsewhere, but subjectively I find my Claravox extremely enjoyable to play and have not had the problems that so many have reported. I assume just by luck. I may send it back in the new year to get the improvements/fixes for the future, not sure. It’s the instrument I play by far the most these days

Dewster > If anything, I think most folks (such as yourself) are bending over backwards to give Moog the benefit of the doubt, even in the face of all these fairly alarming reports . . . I've seen some who practically worship Moog do a 180 due to their Cvox experience, and you can't chalk that up to "negativity".

I couldn’t agree more. There are those who act as if they have altars set up to Moog and perform daily rituals to Moog gods. A pox on everyone who has the audacity to criticize the almighty Moog corporation! Sadly, many of those cheerleaders are now dealing with defective instruments that are clogging shipping offices during the holiday season with all of the returns to Moog for repairs.

YoungVox > I may be remembering wrong but the lawsuits for not having the Claravox on the market fast enough were discussed on this website.

Were threats of lawsuits made? I certainly didn’t see any. It would be very interesting to see if any suits were filed. I am, of course, aware that at least one law enforcement agency, the North Carolina Department of Justice (from the North Carolina Attorney General’s) office has been closely monitoring the situation and in direct contact with Moog, for a long time, regarding the fact that beginning October 22, 2020, Moog was promoting the Claravox and very clearly publicizing delivery by the end of December 2020. Moog waited until December 15, 2020 to even announce there was a delay, which they initially blamed on “overwhelming demand,” and not the pandemic. BTW, if the pandemic played a role in delays in delivery of the CVox within the timeframe Moog publicized, then they should have waited to announce the instrument and publicize much later delivery dates. Issues with individual dealers, while certainly related, are a different matter - Moog also told dealers delivery would be by the end of December 2020. Even now, widespread reports indicate that many customers, who placed their orders in 2020, will not receive their instruments until 2022.

Now that the CVox has been released and the number of instruments that are defective is simply astonishing. No one is happy or delighted that these instruments are having such serious problems. Indeed, many if not all of these problems are the result of serious design and quality control issues. The fact the these instruments are being shipped only be returned for repairs immediately, especially given the length of time that has passed, is simply horrifying.

It’s great that you have received a good instrument; however, you just received it and it’s far too soon to generalize your initial experience. Hopefully, you will have absolutely no problems and it will always be a wonderful instrument. My own Claravox died less than 24 hours after I received it (September 1st) - FYI, I just received the stand - three full months after I received the instrument. With the expert help from dewster, we fixed my CVox and discovered one of the primary problems being reported - the failure of Moog to ensure that the antennas made good electrical contact with the instrument. That seemed to solve my problems until last week. I’ve had problems with pitch stability, the volume antenna lacks responsiveness and currently seems to do little more than act as an on/off switch. I also had the mute switch stop working (that happened once before) and I had to power cycle my CVox to get mute switch to work again. I have not been able to replicate that since.

Finally, I thought I would finally try to attach the Software Editor to my CVox to ensure that I have the latest firmware installed. Well, the editor does not work with my iPads; however, it does work when I attach it to my Mac Book Pro. 

I’m going to see if there are new any changes with my CVox tomorrow and if the problems remain, I’ll send it in for repairs.

It’s truly a sad situation, everyone expects and deserves the great instrument that Moog promised and I hope everyone will eventually be very happy. In my case, I found dewster through this site and I absolutely love my D-Lev. As I’ve had both for more than three months (actually, I’ve had my D-Lev longer  than that), I strongly continue to believe the D-Lev is a superior instrument.

"Is there anything about the Claravox positive, in your opinion?" - Yngvox Moogsteen

I didn't have a negative opinion of the Cvox before it hit the market and started acting up.  The lead designer showed up here at TW and answered all sorts of technical questions in a very detailed and candid manner, which was a pleasant change from how most companies "do business".  What he revealed did nothing to dispel the notion that the Cvox had the potential to be a good solid Theremin, but there are a thousand ways to die in this business.

Though I did have something of a jaundiced view of Moog itself due to my experience with owning a Theremini, which is at best a geek toy / conversation piece IMO, but is marketed as a serious instrument.  The fields are quite weak and therefore small and prone to interference.  Unfortunately the Cvox seems to have inherited its awkward and opaque field calibration procedure.

They could have just reworked the Etherwave Pro a bit, maybe added the analog delay, stuck it in the Cvox cabinet, and just about everyone would have been quite happy.  The two modes - largely analog and largely digital - in the same package tie the designer's hands and so tend to produce inferior versions of both.  Season that with some SW bugs and antenna connectivity issues.  Moog markets themselves as an analog company, I don't think anyone would have been surprised nor complained if the Cvox were pure analog.

I truly hope that yours hangs in there for the long haul and that you remain quite happy with it.  I think it's easy to take griping / praising of a product personally (mea culpa).