How would you mimic the sound of a theramin?

All great ideas.

I screwed around with a slide and I can see that working with a little practice on the volume knob.

I'm going to try it with my voice, but I don't have a falsetto today.

Free Sound Project had some cool samples of real theremins. It might take some work to pitch shift something into the melody I need, but that will work, too. I feel like I'd be cheating though, because I like to actually play everything I record...that's just me.

If I had a synth, I'm sure that would the easiest, but I'm a synth-ist (as in rac-ist). I don't allow them in my house, and my daughter will never play with one....a synth that is. :D
 
RAMI said:
All great ideas.

I screwed around with a slide and I can see that working with a little practice on the volume knob.

I'm going to try it with my voice, but I don't have a falsetto today.

Free Sound Project had some cool samples of real theremins. It might take some work to pitch shift something into the melody I need, but that will work, too. I feel like I'd be cheating though, because I like to actually play everything I record...that's just me.

If I had a synth, I'm sure that would the easiest, but I'm a synth-ist (as in rac-ist). I don't allow them in my house, and my daughter will never play with one....a synth that is. :D
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moresound said:
I would just use a kazoo -- pitch shift and auto tune.:D
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WoW! Thought for sure that you would go for the kazoo RAMI.
 
RAMI said:
If I had a synth, I'm sure that would the easiest, but I'm a synth-ist (as in rac-ist). I don't allow them in my house, and my daughter will never play with one....a synth that is. :D
Click to expand...

I'm with ya there, but a simple MIDI controller is good for occasions like this.

You're using Reaper now, right? Reaper has a built-in piano roll. No controller needed. It's a little more difficult to use, but you can load up whatever plug-in you wanna use and draw the notes in using the piano roll and your mouse.
 
Being a drummeister, if you can get hold of a violin or cello bow, playing the edge of a cymbal with it will get you some otherworldly thereminesque sounds.
 
Greg_L said:
I'm with ya there, but a simple MIDI controller is good for occasions like this.

You're using Reaper now, right? Reaper has a built-in piano roll. No controller needed. It's a little more difficult to use, but you can load up whatever plug-in you wanna use and draw the notes in using the piano roll and your mouse.
Click to expand...

Funny, I was trying to play around with some MIDI stuff in REAPER the other day. It had nothing to do with the theremin, just goofing around. I opened a few drum replacements programs and a few other instruments and then realized i have nothing to trigger them with. So, how do you call up the piano roll? And I'm assuming I have to create a MIDI track instead of an audio track?
 
guitaristic said:
I'd like to thank this thread for introducing me to the theremin.

THOSE THINGS LOOK AWESOME!!!
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Yeah, they're cool. I didn't know what one was until very recently. The theme song to the original Star Trek is done on a theremin.
 
guitaristic said:
I'd like to thank this thread for introducing me to the theremin.

THOSE THINGS LOOK AWESOME!!!
Click to expand...
About three years back, I went into this second hand shop and this guy had a load of them. I played about with one and it was weird but with a bit of practice, you could make recognizable melodies, such as they were. I would've bought one, except that they have such a limited application.
The first time I became conscious of the theremin was in the very early 80s when I read that Jimmy Page had used one in that zingy middle section of "Whole lotta love" on 'Led Zeppelin 2'. Then I got familiar with "Good vibrations" and it turns out that it turns up on a number of well known pieces, often in movies.
 
If you have an i-phone or i-pad there is a little app called Theraminator that does a pretty good job for a few bucks.

:cool:
 
The beauty (and confusion) of reaper is that any track can be any kind of track...no buss tracks, audio tracks, midi tracks, etc. On your new track, select the area (time selection) you want your theremin and from the "Insert" menu, select "New Midi Item." You'll see an empty block appear...just double click on the empty block, and it'll open in the MIDI editor.
 
guitaristic said:
I'd like to thank this thread for introducing me to the theremin.

THOSE THINGS LOOK AWESOME!!!
Click to expand...



Anyone else looking into a theremin they sell kits all over the net cheap ones just have one antenna for pitch but the two antennas have one for volume as well.
A friend of mine got one and I helped her build it with retro knobs and such. We would play around with it while watching Mystery Science Theater 3000.
They are way cool and have a short learning curve as far as an electronic musical instrument goes.

First time I heard one was in the movie *The day the Earth stood still*. While the other famous uses by bands were gone over by Grim. But you forgot Hawkwind!
 
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