Theremini Preset Editor

[Drawbridge]

According to the user's manual, you can download a Theremini Preset editor from the Downloads page.

I got the following reply: "The Editor is still in the beta testing phase, and should be coming out very soon..." on July 28.

I would really love to be able to look under the hood.

[synthguy]

Contact the service guys at Moog.
They can send you a preliminary editor for thr IPad that you will need an app called T B Midi to run.
There are also other programs that will send CCs, and you can use the Midi chart info at the back of the manual to craft your own editor/controller.

For now, the Theremini only works on Midi channel 1.

I recently downloaded a free app from Yamaha ( faders and pad) that looks like a small mixer board, and you can assign different CCs to the faders. It has 8 faders, and can store multiple presets, so I made one preset to control the tuning, one for the filter, etc.
There are other Midi resources on computer, as well as dedicated hardware (like the Peavey PC1600, Lexicon MRC and others) that can also be used for this purpose, if you're a tinkerer like me.
There's lots that can be adjusted right now for the crafty DIYer.

There is also at least one independent developer creating an editor as well.
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/tag/theremidi/
Hope this helps!

[Amos]

here's one for iOS:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/theremi ... ?ls=1&mt=8

[sloth713]

I really hope they make a windows preset editor too because I have been itching all summer (and fall now) to tweak the various theremini presets.

If they don't I might have to cobble together a wavetable based theremin with eurorack modules, but that would be quite pricey so I will wait patiently for a bit longer.

[synthguy]

According to the press release for the editor, there is also a version coming for both Windows and OSX.
The IPad version is working very well, if you can find some way to get access to an IPad. There's a bunch of new presets included in the Factory Presets folder, and it also gives you the ability to share your new presets with others or export them for archival purposes. You can easily drag presets from the folders (including ones you create) to any of the on-board Theremini preset locations, to set it up for stand-alone operation.
Especially nice are the user selectable tool tips which show the adjusted value for a knob, letting you set exact delay times, etc. Also, a double-tap of any bidirectional adjustment (antenna mod values, for instance) zeroes out the knob, allowing for easy deactivation of these settings while programming.

[sloth713]

Yah, I just saw that press release and I am pretty excited now. The screen shots in the iTunes app store really make it look like this editor will open up the theremini's capabilities immensely.

[rkram53]

Yes. Among other things, the Theremini editor vastly opens up the sonic possibilities of the Theremini. One great use for it (if you are more into "classic" theremin playing) is to start with the default theremin patch and then tweak it in various ways to create your own new and unique theremin sound. Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg as you can also edit the three different Animoog waveforms in addition to sine, triangle and sawtooth waves, all the while playing with filter controls, delays, pitch settings, transpositions, scales and wavetable scan settings.

Here's an example. I started with the basic theremin (Etherwave) waveform then played around with the filter shape, wavetable controls (scan settings) and delay settings to get a kind of half singing, half weeping theremin-like vocal sound that I thought would be good for the piece I was working on playing - Purcell's Dido's Lament. Then I set the range of the Thermini to three octaves to more easily let me play in the melody over my prearranged string track. Played it into Cubase using a few DAW plug-ins (tube saturation and convolution reverb) with a bit of stereo enhancement.

https://soundcloud.com/rk53-1/didos-lam ... ni-version

Of course this only one example for a classical piece but the sky is the sonic limit now to create unique Theremini patches for all kinds of music and then as previously noted also share the patches with the Theremini community if you want to.

Rich

[Gordon Charlton]

Those are some great sounds! Best I've heard so far. Are they all theremini? Any post-processing?

[synthguy]

That voice patch had me completely fooled! That sounds beautiful...Bravo!

[rkram53]

Thanks. I was surprised how nice that vocal line sounded myself. Very close in some ways to what I can get from my Etherwave, but being able to adjust filtering helped make it more human sounding. Having that filter control available for the Etherwave waveform manipulation is great. You can get a ton of new theremin sounds from it.

The strings are sampled strings - combination of East West Symphonic Orchestra and 8DIO Adagio. Have to try working on a string-like Theremini background, maybe running through a harmonizer.

The vocal line is a Theremini patch I created using the Etherwave patch and then playing around with the filters for the most part. If we can figure out how to share the Theremini sounds on the Forum I'll post it. Yes, I did quite a bit of post processing. First, I duplicated the vocal line and spread it out a bit in the stereo field for more depth. I had some 2CAudio Breeze reverb (small hall) on the vocal line (that reverb is quite efficient for plug-ins). Ran the Theremini lines through the Antares Warm plug-in - for a bit of tube saturation. This is a great tool for adding warm and also distortion if you like to the Theremini track. Then I put some Spaces convolution reverb on the mix along with a bit of stereo widening.

Rich

[rkram53]

I'm really hoping that eventually Moog will figure out how to allow us to download a .WAV file into a User Wavetable memory space (assuming there is some available) for manipulation. It's not clear that is possible with the current Theremini hardware, but that would just explode the sonic possibilities. A number of wavetable synth plug-ins allow this, maybe limiting you to a few seconds of sound (or it only processes some part of the .WAV file if too long). It's clear to me that the Theremini is just the beginning of a new class of hybrid analog/digital Theremins. Think of some of the cool things that could be added to this kind of instrument over time. I can easily see for example a mic input that would take your voice and use it as either an adjunct controller with the antennas or perhaps the main sound that would be fed into a wavetable in real time and manipulated by the app controls and then performed using the aerials. Then you can start quantizing over that (just think how many songs use that quantization effect now - and that's built into the Theremini from the get go). What the Theremini could use is a variable input control to vary that quantization in real time. Perhaps this could be done via MIDI in some way now (need to check out the MIDI spec), but a footpedal would be so much easier. That would be a great effect - as quantization to me sounds best when applied sparingly at just the right moments. Of course there are price point issues here so perhaps I'm talking about a higher priced Theremini that might have some of these features. Just thinking out loud here.

[synthguy]

Hi Rich:
Having more scannable waveforms is up at the top of my list as well, along with user loadable waveforms. I'm also hoping for at least one user defineable scale that could be updated via Midi, along with Midi updateable antenna CCs, Midi access to the antenna calibration settings, direct antenna scan of wavetable position, and a deeper modulation matrix for programming. It would be great if they could figure out a way to send standard Midi note messages from the antennas as well, but that seems pretty complicated.

The quantization is controllable right now via Midi, and can be controlled with a footpedal or any other Midi controller. It works just as well as you are thinking it might.
I have a pedal set up so when the pedal is up the quantization is set to full. As the pedal is depressed, the quantization lessens, until it is off when the pedal is fully depressed. This can also be controlled by any Midi sequencer or device that can send Midi Continuous Control messages (CCs) allowing for Theremini control that would be tied to the musical score for instance, allowing the performer to concentrate on the antennas.

Anything you see in the editor could be controlled this way including filters, waveform selection, wavetable scan, etc.
This is a very powerful concept.

Any decent Midi device could send enough data to completely make a new preset if desired, giving you basically unlimited preset capability beyond the 32 onboard slots.

The fact that the firmware is user updateable gives me great hope for good things in the future from this instrument. But, I like what it does now as well.

[rkram53]

Hi synthguy,
Thanks for the info on the MIDI control. I need to try using that. It will greatly open up some real-time playing possibilities.
Rich

[synthguy]

I'd be curious to hear from others about what they use for Midi control during a performance.

I mostly use a couple of old Digitech PMC 10s, and I have some other Midi hardware that gets used from time to time...a Peavey PC1600 (lots of actual faders) and a Lexicon MRC that was originally designed to be the programmer for their LXP-1 reverb (4 faders). Each of these can also accomodate a couple of volume type pedals to use as controllers as well, which is very useful for hands free control (like when you're actually playing an instrument).

I know that Behringer made (makes?) a Midi controller as well, and there used to be another one called the Midi Gator that was prized by some users.

What else is out there that can send patch changes and CCs that might be useful for cheap Theremini control?

[Gordon Charlton]

I'm really hoping that eventually Moog will figure out how to allow us to download a .WAV file into a User Wavetable memory space (assuming there is some available) for manipulation. It's not clear that is possible with the current Theremini hardware, but that would just explode the sonic possibilities.

It would indeed, but that a Wavetable editor is not available for the aniMoog app does not fill me with optimism. It is certainly possible that new wavetables can be added - the same upload mechanism as for system updates could be used.

The question is - how complex are the wavetables to create? If the theremini has the simplest form of wavetable synthesis, a table-lookup oscillator, it would be quite simple to make a suitable waveform, but as my knowledge of wavetable synthesis is basically this wikipedia article, I can't be sure.

All I know is that it the theremini is based on animoog, and animoog uses "anisotropic filtering" which is a technique used in 3d graphics, which might suggest a more complex form.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wavetable_synthesis