4 ms·

I've heard people play it at developer event concerts...it sounds really bad. I guess it's technically interesting, but will never be popular just because it do

by lnanek2 11y ago

I've heard people play it at developer event concerts...it sounds really bad. I guess it's technically interesting, but will never be popular just because it doesn't sound any good. Kind of a common description of developer created apps, actually, before user focused UX, so no surprise.

fimdomeio 11y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U
cge 11y ago
This has more to do, I think, with it being an instrument that is extremely hard to play. It's very difficult to move from note to note, and extremely difficult to stay in tune, especially in a setting with large numbers of people around, who, when they move, will change the tuning. Yet it is primarily played by people who see it as a fun toy, or simply don't practice much. For some reason, with the theremin, perhaps because it's an interesting instrument in itself, people find it alright to perform on it while completely unqualified to do so. No one's going to go toy around with a violin for a few weeks and then insist on performing. Or at least, if they do, no one is going to blame the violin for the results. Nonetheless, as some examples, people like Clara Rockmore, Lydia Kavina, and Carolina Eyck all perform very well for technical, difficult pieces, and Randy George does a good job with more modern, popular pieces.
- jodrellblank 11y ago
  people find it alright to perform on it while completely unqualified to do so. What is this Theremin performance qualification, and which music police offer it?
  - xacaxulu 11y ago
    It the United Allied Association of Officially Approved and Sanctioned Theremin Practitioners (UAAOASTP), Inc., LLC., SA, GMBH. They're owned by a registered foreign corporation in Belize that's in turn owned by Halliburton.
flycaliguy 11y ago
I've always enjoyed Dorit Chrysler's Theremin music. I suspect you haven't looked deeply enough into recordings of Theremins to disregard it like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9LJK8i1VE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9LJK8i1VE
- sanoli 11y ago
  I sounded just ok to me. The accompaniment sounded way better.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
chasing 11y ago
"Never be popular?" It's all over the damned place. Beach Boys. Led Zeppelin. Rolling Stones. It pretty much defined the sound of creepy horror movies from back in the day. More here: http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/browbeat/2009/07/27/the_theremin_s_making_a_comeback.html http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/browbeat/2009/07/27... It's a popular instrument that sounds awesome when used properly. Hell, even I used to own one.
- rs999gti 11y ago
  You can hear a theremin in the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations during the chorus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eab_beh07HU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eab_beh07HU
  - dmicah 11y ago
    Good Vibrations doesn't use the theremin, but a custom electronic instrument that was inspired by the trombone: http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2013/02/07/171385175/no-it-wasn-t-a-theremin-on-good-vibrations-remembering-paul-tanner http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2013/02/07/171385175/no...
leni536 11y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4TgYkqdi8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4TgYkqdi8
JPKab 11y ago
I went to the first Moogfest about 10 years ago. Back then, it was a tiny event featuring obscure musicians, and I saw a fantastic theremin virtuoso. Due to the extreme difficulty of playing the instrument well, my guess is that the vast majority of people simply aren't capable of ever achieving the level of proficiency that makes it actually sound beautiful like this woman did. I've never liked the sound of the instrument outside of her playing. Her name, by the way, is Pamelia Kurstin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJU0QRYbe4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJU0QRYbe4A
- Animats 11y ago
  The trouble with the theremin is that you have to be really good before it sounds even halfway decent, simply because staying on key is so hard. Even if you're good, you can't do much with it. But maybe if it had something like Auto-Tune, so it had a bias for being on key...
  - TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
    There's no useful way to add pitch quantisation. If it's always in pitch when a note starts, it will soon drift out as soon as you move one hand. A Theremin that played piano scales would be a sad thing. It's not that much harder to play than many orchestral instruments. The problem is more that people are used to make-it-easy synths and samplers now, so the idea that you might have to spend a few years learning where the notes are without mechanical help is very alien. And it's much easier if you have perfect pitch. (I don't, but I know people who do, and I watched one get the pitching right very quickly.)
S_A_P 11y ago
Ummm it's a sawtooth oscillator based analog synth. It sounds like that. It's easy to learn, difficult to master. It was a huge part of 60s and 70s music. you could say that a Stradivarius sounds bad if a toddler is playing it. I it's just an instrument, and it depends on the player to "sound good"
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  Technically the original design was based on beating sine wave oscillators - no analog synth modules at all.

by lnanek2 11y ago

fimdomeio 11y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U

cge 11y ago

This has more to do, I think, with it being an instrument that is extremely hard to play. It's very difficult to move from note to note, and extremely difficult to stay in tune, especially in a setting with large numbers of people around, who, when they move, will change the tuning. Yet it is primarily played by people who see it as a fun toy, or simply don't practice much. For some reason, with the theremin, perhaps because it's an interesting instrument in itself, people find it alright to perform on it while completely unqualified to do so. No one's going to go toy around with a violin for a few weeks and then insist on performing. Or at least, if they do, no one is going to blame the violin for the results. Nonetheless, as some examples, people like Clara Rockmore, Lydia Kavina, and Carolina Eyck all perform very well for technical, difficult pieces, and Randy George does a good job with more modern, popular pieces.

jodrellblank 11y ago
people find it alright to perform on it while completely unqualified to do so. What is this Theremin performance qualification, and which music police offer it?
- xacaxulu 11y ago
  It the United Allied Association of Officially Approved and Sanctioned Theremin Practitioners (UAAOASTP), Inc., LLC., SA, GMBH. They're owned by a registered foreign corporation in Belize that's in turn owned by Halliburton.

flycaliguy 11y ago

I've always enjoyed Dorit Chrysler's Theremin music. I suspect you haven't looked deeply enough into recordings of Theremins to disregard it like that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9LJK8i1VE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9LJK8i1VE

sanoli 11y ago
I sounded just ok to me. The accompaniment sounded way better.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

chasing 11y ago

"Never be popular?" It's all over the damned place. Beach Boys. Led Zeppelin. Rolling Stones. It pretty much defined the sound of creepy horror movies from back in the day. More here: http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/browbeat/2009/07/27/the_theremin_s_making_a_comeback.html http://www.slate.com/content/slate/blogs/browbeat/2009/07/27... It's a popular instrument that sounds awesome when used properly. Hell, even I used to own one.

rs999gti 11y ago
You can hear a theremin in the Beach Boys' Good Vibrations during the chorus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eab_beh07HU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eab_beh07HU
- dmicah 11y ago
  Good Vibrations doesn't use the theremin, but a custom electronic instrument that was inspired by the trombone: http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2013/02/07/171385175/no-it-wasn-t-a-theremin-on-good-vibrations-remembering-paul-tanner http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2013/02/07/171385175/no...

leni536 11y ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4TgYkqdi8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn4TgYkqdi8

JPKab 11y ago

I went to the first Moogfest about 10 years ago. Back then, it was a tiny event featuring obscure musicians, and I saw a fantastic theremin virtuoso. Due to the extreme difficulty of playing the instrument well, my guess is that the vast majority of people simply aren't capable of ever achieving the level of proficiency that makes it actually sound beautiful like this woman did. I've never liked the sound of the instrument outside of her playing. Her name, by the way, is Pamelia Kurstin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJU0QRYbe4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJU0QRYbe4A

Animats 11y ago
The trouble with the theremin is that you have to be really good before it sounds even halfway decent, simply because staying on key is so hard. Even if you're good, you can't do much with it. But maybe if it had something like Auto-Tune, so it had a bias for being on key...
- TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
  There's no useful way to add pitch quantisation. If it's always in pitch when a note starts, it will soon drift out as soon as you move one hand. A Theremin that played piano scales would be a sad thing. It's not that much harder to play than many orchestral instruments. The problem is more that people are used to make-it-easy synths and samplers now, so the idea that you might have to spend a few years learning where the notes are without mechanical help is very alien. And it's much easier if you have perfect pitch. (I don't, but I know people who do, and I watched one get the pitching right very quickly.)

S_A_P 11y ago

Ummm it's a sawtooth oscillator based analog synth. It sounds like that. It's easy to learn, difficult to master. It was a huge part of 60s and 70s music. you could say that a Stradivarius sounds bad if a toddler is playing it. I it's just an instrument, and it depends on the player to "sound good"

TheOtherHobbes 11y ago
Technically the original design was based on beating sine wave oscillators - no analog synth modules at all.