BlahBlahCafe - Jean-Michel Jarre forum

I have just bought myself a theremin - the Moog Etherwave. It hasn't arrived yet...

So I got curious of if there are more folks here that play this cool instrument? Any tips for a happy amateur?

I played this in the shop. I recall it had rather short responsing range...
I'll look out for another model if I will buy one in the future...

I played one in a store a couple of years ago but I don't recall that they had a short pitchrange?

I have tried playing on that Etherwave theremin, it's simple anyway I think you can spend hours playing around with the Theremin, trying to get control of the pitch and volume.

Mogwai wrote:I played one in a store a couple of years ago but I don't recall that they had a short pitchrange?

That's not what I meant. When moving your hands further than -say 30cm- away from the vertical "antenna" it didn't produce any sound at all... for the pitch, I don't know, but it surely didn't go as low as JMJ's...

GeeJee wrote:

Mogwai wrote:I played one in a store a couple of years ago but I don't recall that they had a short pitchrange?

That's not what I meant. When moving your hands further than -say 30cm- away from the vertical "antenna" it didn't produce any sound at all... for the pitch, I don't know, but it surely didn't go as low as JMJ's...

I guess you can change the range. JMJ's Theremin is also a Moog theremin just an old one and therefore JMJ might have had it repaired some times. The volume ring on his theremin was also was reversed at the Gdansk concert like someone had it taken off.

GeeJee wrote: That's not what I meant. When moving your hands further than -say 30cm- away from the vertical "antenna" it didn't produce any sound at all... for the pitch, I don't know, but it surely didn't go as low as JMJ's...

Aha, sorry, missunderstood. The one I tested didn't have that problem and I felt that I had a good range to work wíthin. But it's a personal thing.

Jarres theremin is a "real" one and costs a lot more than these cheaper ones so I guess it has a lot more functions and advantages as well.
If the pitch is wrong and you want to go lower it can be adjusted, not just with the pitch-control knob, but also with calibration. But I doubt that I will use it to go deeper in pitch than the factory settings.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY WANT ONE

Same here, but I want to test one before but dunnow where

Mogwai wrote:

GeeJee wrote: That's not what I meant. When moving your hands further than -say 30cm- away from the vertical "antenna" it didn't produce any sound at all... for the pitch, I don't know, but it surely didn't go as low as JMJ's...

Aha, sorry, missunderstood. The one I tested didn't have that problem and I felt that I had a good range to work wíthin. But it's a personal thing.

Jarres theremin is a "real" one and costs a lot more than these cheaper ones so I guess it has a lot more functions and advantages as well.
If the pitch is wrong and you want to go lower it can be adjusted, not just with the pitch-control knob, but also with calibration. But I doubt that I will use it to go deeper in pitch than the factory settings.

Actually I don't think Jarre's theremin is much more advanced, Moog is still a master product, but you can also get the Etherwave Pro.

This is Jarres Theremin:


It doesn't looks to have any special features compared to the etherwave, it is just an older model Theremin with bigger components inside.

Btw. According to jarrography.free.fr Jarre's model is produced between 1991 and 1997 so it must be under the name Big briar.

Got it yesterday and played all afternoon. Such a great fun!

Geejee: You can easily change the range for the notes and also how sensible you want the amplitud-antenna to be. I stood about 2 m from the antenna and played lower notes and that is how far I could stand from the theremin if I wanted to control it...but I couldn't control the volym then.

Synthesist: Yes, Moog also sell that model but it's very expensive. Maybe it's just bigger? I have never seen one up close so I don't know.

Congreats with your new toy, I will sure try to get a Theremin some day.

Yes Big Briar and Moog is in fact the same, I don't think they sell it anymore but they produce the Eatherwox MIDI theremin which looks a little more retro.

This is Jarres Theremin:





this is a Big Briar Series 91A based on the original 1917 design.....only 200 of these ever made..
theres also 91B and 91C models too...


Your more likely to find the etherwave model nowadays unless your prepared to dig deep to buy the 91 Series,(if you can find one that is)

Synthesist wrote:Congreats with your new toy, I will sure try to get a Theremin some day.

Yes Big Briar and Moog is in fact the same, I don't think they sell it anymore but they produce the Eatherwox MIDI theremin which looks a little more retro.

Yes, I took a peek at moogmusic.com. You're right about the Ethervox midi, it was that model I thought was the same as the one Jarre has.
It would be pretty cool to have such a big theremin...but my wife would have hated it.