4 ms·
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 t
by 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 agoThe 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 agoThere'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.)