Chung Kuo (ish)

I had a song stuck in my head – “Chung Kuo” by Vangelis, from his “China” album – well, more correctly the bass line (a 4 note arpeggio that is really catchy), and I set about trying to convert it into notes

I discovered D-2 A-3 A-2 C-2 more or less duplicates it, and set about practising tightly squeezed off notes using the “All Your Bass” preset, tuned to Ionian scale, in the key of C (I like this scale for some reason). It took AGES to get reliable notes that were clipped uniformly. I then used these as a loop, running roughly 30 seconds.

I made 5 copies of this loop and copied it across to separate loop folders on my Ditto+ Looper pedal, it then changed the name to BT.WAV (Backing Track) and generated a LOOP.WAV in each folder that matched the length of the bass loop – something I did not know it was going to do.

Connecting my Ditto+ back to the Theremini, I could play the Backing Track and practise over it, then when I stomped on record, I assumed it would lay down a composite LOOP.WAV that contained both the backing track and the new layer containing my noodling – alas, LOOP.WAV only contained the overlay, so I had to merge them using Audacity in post production. I also stuck together 5 versions (or movements), and did a little fade-in and fade-out to finsh.

I like that I did not need to do any actual sound altering – what you hear is what I generated live. I have a growing collection of favourite Theremini presets – downloaded and original that do lovely things with both antennae – I particularly like those that let you use the volume antennae to shape the envelope of the note as well as it’s timbre and volume.

I like this collection of stuff a lot, and will return to the project of re-creating the rest of Vangelis’ original song, which was my original intent – more work to there, but a really enjoyable recording session.

Amped Up

I decided, as it is school holidays, to borrow an amplifier from work to try it on my setup.

Amp for the holidays - note the "gain" is nearly off

I must admit to knowing nearly nothing about such things, but was offered a QSC K10 PA box – it has a plethora of inputs at the back and I figured I could find something that let me jack in the theremini.

I borrowed an additional guitar lead so I could also inline my Ditto+ looper pedal.

Initially I came out of the L channel of the Theremini, directly into the “Line In” of input A on the Amp. Being careful to turn on the Theremini FIRST then the amp, immediately the wall of sound was deafening – I had to dial “Gain” to one click above off to make the noise controllable and tolerable.

I then calibrated the Theremini (it seemed to lose it’s settings after the initial connection to the amp), and I noticed after calibration the knobs on the Theremini did different jobs, which was odd. After unplugging and re-calibrating, I suspected it had trashed my Firmware, but checked and it is running 1.111 as it supposed to.

I then headed online to do some research, and discovered the the signal OUT of a Theremini is really HOT – waaay higher than a guitar (note to self: remember this if you ever consider jacking into an amp at a gig or anything similarly ludicrous), and it was likely messing with the amp and the electrical feedback was messing with the Theremini. So…

I found my 3.5 to guitar adapter, plugged that into the HEADPHONE socket of the Theremini and connected the amp lead to that and … problem solved.

amplified setup - note input from headphone jack

The sound is lush, LOUD and controllable. I think my neighbours are not going to enjoy the next little while, it is like a whole different instrument. The amp brings out out sonic nuances and a richness of tone that is what had originally drawn me to the instrument, so I am a happy chappy.

I am also noticing the RCA stereo input, and might try that out also (as I have a cable from my minidisk recorder that does this particular gender bend, will report back it it is any better.

LV-426 Autumn

The Theremin is different to conventional instruments in that making precise musical notes is one of many challenges you face when playing it. I am a reluctant practiser – I would much rather skip the whole skills acquisition phase and jump straight to the part where I am awesome at it… but that is not how life works sadly.

I have been reluctant to post recordings of my playing because I do not feel I am good enough at pitch control yet, but I decided to commit some time to ‘composing’ and recording an ambient spacescape that showcases the varied synthesiser voices that are available on the Theremini.

For the uninitiated, a Theremini differs from a classic Theremin in that it is a DIGITAL re-work of the original interface – the whole antennae thing on the original is ANALOG – the resulting analog distance from the antenna creates a smooth glissando, and generally only plays one type of noise (or voice), with variations in tone and waveform. A Theremini on the other hand is a full synthesiser (you can create totally new sounds) but uses the antennae to control pitch and volume/effect in a similar way to it’s analog ancestor. The distance from the antennae is sampled digitally, so the glissando can be much more granular.

For this piece, I wanted to get better at using my Ditto+ looping pedal – a foot-driven mono guitar pedal that lets me record and overdub over recordings live. I have been working my way through the Alien movies, and the ambient soundscape interests me greatly – it is a mood setter, so I decided to have a go at making one.

I selected the “lost in fog” preset on my Theremini, and dialed the preset effect back to about 1/4 strength (it is a stereo drift effect, lost on mono capture anyways) and tuned it to Phrygian mode (a “dark” scale). I played with the almost sub-sonic sound until I got a progression I liked and then recorded using it for about a minute, fading volume in, up and down then out at the end.

Next I chose the “Futurewarz” voice (think opening credits to the original Bladerunner movie), also tuned to Phrygian mode, and bumped the effect (a spatial delay) up to about half. This voice is really loud and harsh, so precise volume and pitch control was the aim – a restrained and minimal solo track was laid over the bass hum after much experimentation and pitch-control practise. I did NO post-processing or mixing here. The sound you hear is how it was made on the Theremin.

The result is about a minute of the sort of sound that (to me) resembles Bladerunner on LV-426 (the planet we originally met the Xenomorph in the first and best Alien movie).

Enjoy, tolerate, ignore – your choice:

Gear

So I have begun to think about the actual playing of this instrument.

Sitting at a table, with it on that table places the antennae too high, making the angles for attenuation uncomfortable and inaccurate, so I decided to buy a microphone stand to support it. On the underneath of the chassis there is a 3/8″ mike stand screw socket (female) designed just for this purpose.

I returned to Manny’s and purchased a Konig-Meyer heavy round-based black stand – the manufacturers website said it had the correct thread size head, but the ones in-store had 5/8″ screw head. I had to buy a converter (even after being assured by the salesman that it was 3/8″, until he actually looked – a bit annoying given the multiple contacts to determine this).

Theremini on Konig-Meyer stand, with DITTO+ Looper

The height is now comfortable – a side effect is that my pitch control is MUCH more controlled when standing, and when using a slightly split stance, the approach to both pitch and volume antennae work much better.

I began researching LOOPER pedals (like those guitarists use so they can self-accompany), decided on a DITTO+Looper, returned to Manny’s and purchased it, along with a compatible power supply (it seems guitar pedals do not routinely ship with them), and cable to connect it to the Theremini, and a converter to allow me to plug my headphones into the pedal OUT so I can hear the results.

Ditto+ Looper pedal

In a brief hiatus from marking, I hooked it all up to test it out. The Pedal IN and therefore Theremini OUT needs to be MONO (interestingly, the Theremini has a stereo output – most of it’s presets are “spacial” sounding, but plugging the looper into either the L or R channel makes it output balanced MONO to the pedal. I did not realise guitars output MONO – you live and learn.

DITTO+ Looper pedal

The pedal has nearly no controls – it’s simplicity is legendary. I managed to record a loop using one instrument, then overdub with another, then play live over the top of all this – this is HUGELY exciting, particularly when I get a chance to actually get musical. The looper uses solid-state storage also, so I will keep loops I like. Conventional pedals lose everything when powered down apparently, so this should be fun.

Lots to look forward to playing with.

Wot He said…

A rare recording of Lev Termin (later Anglicized to “Leon Theremin”) playing his own invention

Of note is the large amount of vibrato (note wobble) he places on every note – this is either advanced technique or a clever ruse to hide micro tuning issues (or both). Amazing control indeed from 1919 (or there about). Note his Theremin seems to have 2 distinct parts – the pitch antennae seems separate to the volume loop – it must be connected via cabinetry below but we do not get to see it.