Hi,
I have played the theremin for nearly 30 years. All this time I have been using the PAiA Theremax, which I love, but is very fragile and doesn’t have any modern conveniences.
I bought the Theremini because it’s the only game in town as of 2026. So far I am enjoying it. The instrument has many great features, it’s easy to tune, etc.
When I built my Theremax, I chose the option to reverse the volume antenna. Moving the hand away from the antenna to make it louder NEVER made any logical sense to me. I know it’s based on the convention of an orchestra conductor. But I am not a conductor, I am a performer, and the original design of the theremin is completely counterintuitive to me. I move my hand closer to pitch antenna, pitch goes higher. Move my hand closer to volume antenna, volume goes lower. What the actual fresh hell is this? It makes negative sense to me, it actively interferes with my process.
Please don’t give me any arguments as to why the original design is better. That is not helpful. I know what works for me.
So with the Theremini, is there any possibility of inverting the volume antenna? I guess this would have to be implemented in firmware, and since the device has been around for many years without a firmware update, I guess this is never going to happen.
The design choices of the Theremini don’t make total sense. Moog Music has added all sorts of things that don’t exist in an analog theremin. Pitch correction, filters, wavetables, etc. etc. etc. So this instrument is consciously designed to extend the functionality of the theremin. In many ways. Except the most important way of all: controller mode. Reversing the volume antenna so moving the hand closer makes the volume louder, not softer.
Now I have had a lot of fun with MIDI output. I’ve used MIDI-OX to invert the volume output in the MIDI domain. If I run Theremini through a PC, I can theoretically create a VCA type effect using MIDI. But this doesn’t help me if I’m not using a PC.
Furthermore, it’s not possible to completely disable the internal attenuation from the volume antenna. If I use the Editor to set the Volume parameter to its maximum, then my hand needs to get super close to the antenna before the sound cuts out. But this is not good enough. Even if I set up a VCA effect through MIDI, the sound output of the Theremini is always going to cut out if my hand gets too close. So this is janky. Using a VCA effect, moving the hand closer to the antenna increases the volume until it suddenly cuts out.
So I assume no one is going to be able to help me. I assume Moog Music has no interest in completing the mission of updating the theremin to perform all of the functions that it easily could. They’ve added a long list of features, most of which I don’t use, such as pitch correction. But they have specifically, deliberately chosen not to allow artists to invert the volume antenna.
Controller mode is a really common request, so I am left wondering, what gives? Is this design choice based on ideological purity? If so, then pitch correction violates that principle. So does filtering, wavetables, etc. etc. If the design choice is not actually a choice, but simple neglect, that’s actually worse in a way. An active choice to not include a commonly needed feature is paternalistic and condescending. A passive non-choice due to neglect is careless and irresponsible. So which is it?
If anyone has any insight into this, I’d love to hear it.
Thanks