Moog Music Forum

As an early Christmas present, I've learned that Moog will soon be releasing the first major firmware upgrade for the Theremini, adding a number of very cool features to the instrument.
Among many changes, some noteables are more scannable wavetables, improved (and adjustable) response times for the pitch and volume antennas, an improved pitch correction algorithm, a theremin-styled adjustment mode, selectable Midi channels for the antenna CC ouputs, completely user scalable CV output, and many more improvements and goodies.
Super Groovy! Coming Soon!

Exciting indeed. Out of curiosity, how did your learned this info? Cheers -- Alex

I called and asked!
I've been talking about the Theremini with the people at Moog since I got mine some months ago, asking various questions (and lots of them) about it's operation, and making suggestions about what I'd like to see next on the instrument, based on my experiences and workflow with it.

And, it seems like some of the suggestions are happening in the new firmware release!

Now, if they could only get that thought-to-Theremin controller working...

There are some great new Theremini features that are coming soon in the next firmware release (I've been helping in the testing and they have officially let us start talking about it).

Not sure when the official release will be out (but I think it will be very soon) and I think it will be called 1.1.0 (versus the current 1.0.4 on the Moog download page).

This is my understanding (in no particular order):
1. There will be a "Theremin mode" that lets you quickly perform a calibration with a knob like you do on the Etherwave and also use a master volume knob control (knobs are repurposed for this function in Theremin mode). Doesn't take the place of full calibration but once calibrated you can use this knob to quickly set the pitch field in front of you as you like it - just like on a traditional theremin. So you can now have extreme real-time playing flexibility, just like on your Etherwave. And there are some other features in there that give you a more traditional theremin feel as well. You can set this mode to be active or not - up to you. I love it.

2. They have NOTE CV output now in addition to pitch and volume CV that lets you quickly connect up to a 1V/octave CV input and play away after the expected tuning you'd do with any CV connection of this nature (all scaled to the range you set on the Theremini). Very nice and useful feature for people wanting to add to the Theremini's use as a controller and wanting to perhaps play in unison with a synth. Pitch display on the theremini can now sync with your external synth (if you map to the right octave). I love that too.

3. They've added a number of performance and response improvements. Better quantization. Improved pitch response. This might not be important for some but will be for others like me who play melodically as well as experimentally. AND MUCH IMPROVED LINEARITY making it much easier to play melodically.

4. They've added a bunch of MIDI CC control improvements. I don't use them that much but some people will love new features related to CC "throttling", etc.

And a slew of little things that are perhaps not as functional but still I like a lot - like the pitch display is now always displaying the real pitch (yea!), better automuting, adjustable calibration step wait time, etc. I know I've forgotten a number of things here as well.

I believe Moog is going to announce the release very soon. Couple this with the recently released app to create a vast sonic palette with unlimited user sound library support and the Theremini is starting to turn into a real beast of an instrument. And they've already hinted about PC and MAC versions of the app coming for all the people who don't have iPads.

Moog is definitely not standing still on the Theremini!! I'm so glad I bought one. I've had a great time with it and it keeps getting better and better. Actually, I haven't played my Etherwave in a while now - I need to fire that up so it doesn't get jealous. (No, I don't work for Moog - I just like helping them in whatever way I can).
Rich

Thanks for all those excellent news.. I'm eager to install this new firmware and have time playing with it (busy life...). Actually, the kids are in bed now and my wife is playing with our Theremini for the first time.... exciting times!

Looks like the new firmware update is active on the Moog downloads page, and just in time for Christmas!

http://www.moogmusic.com/products/ether ... nloads-tab

Many,Many,MANY thanks to our friends at Moog Music for their hard work in making this happen!

This is a pretty substantial upgrade, and who knows what else the future holds in store for this very cool instrument....

Hi all,

I successfully installed the firmware as soon as it got out. I'm having an issue with the new version and would like confirmation that I'm not alone with this problem! The issue is pretty simple; the screen inverts upside-down frequently while playing. It appears to affect all presets. I recorded a small video to provide an example of what I experience: http://youtu.be/w6uz1ZAJuEc - is anyone having this problem?

Unrelated, I'm curious to know whether Moog has mechanisms in place to contact their customers when such important updates occur. If I wasn't a regular reader of this forum, how would I have known about the firmware 1.1.0 being available? Does Moog usually send emails to their customers about such releases?

Cheers and enjoy the holiday break -- Alex

Yes I can confirm I do have the screen issue too.

WOW....that's really weird. !!!
My unit does not do this....I just went back and tried it for 10 minutes or so, just to make sure I hadn't maybe spaced out and missed it, and it never flips upside down like I see in Satri's video.
My suggestion would be to erase the firmware and reload it again, just in case something got corrupted. Stranger things have happened....

Hi,
I spent quite a number hours with the 1.1.0 beta version that I assume the 1.1.0 is directly based on and did not see this (I don't work for Moog). Just loaded the official 1.1.0 from the Moog web site and I don't see my screen doing this strange behavior in regular or the new theremin mode. Also went to that exact patch and sat on it for a while and my unit is ok.

You did the erase beforehand right? I agree you should try and reload the firmware.

Does it happen right away or does it take a while to happen? I'm sure Moog will investigate ASAP. They may want to know that date on the back of your unit.

When you turn on the Theremini while holding the Setup button it says v1.1.0 right?

Rich

flipping display? happens here too. tried erase reload already, but with no effect. sent moog a quite long mail,reporting that bug, along with some other things that should be improved ore honed in. as a etherwave player, i like the theremin mode, but the volume antenna knob should determine the maximum volume field. with other words, how far the hand has to be away from the antenna to reach full volume. now it's just controlling the master volume and that is wrong.
@alex:thanks for that video

@synthguy: some cool presets thanks for sharing them.

add on: i'm mac user. maybe that matters?

I'm happy I'm not the only one with the flipping screen issue. I'm on MacOS too (in case this bug is related to the C6 software). Since there's a few of us that contacted Moog, we can confidently think that Moog is/will be working on a fix.

I got the email from Moog that announces the new firmware - great job Moog

In my Theremini, the screen doesn't flip exactly like it does on Satri's video. It rather offsets itself instead of inverting, and it goes blank for a fraction of a second.

I understand not everybody has this problem. I will try to update the firmware once again tonight to see if it behaves differently.

Interesting. I'm on Windows and don't see this. When I expand the MAC and WIN files from the Theremini_Firmware_v1.1.0.zip directory they appear to be the same size (as expected as we're all loading the same firmware image). They must be using a CRC of some type to checksum the image on load so I don't know why a MAC load would be any different.

So I erased my image and loaded from the MAC directory to just check it's the same image and things load and run fine. So it's not the MAC file. Unless the C6 loader for MAC corrupts something this is strange (and I assume they are checksumming, so I think it's something else).

You did click off CONFIGURE/MOOG THEREMINI in the C6 loader before downloading right?

I know the Moog Theremini support team will be right on this for you. They are great.

Rich