Product Review

The Theremini is a re-imagination of one of the oldest electronic musical instruments in history, and Bob Moog's first love - the Theremin. Its design fuses the experience of performing with an instrument you don't actually touch, with a powerful sound engine derived from Moog's award winning synthesizer, Animoog. The Theremini guarantees immediate success to any player at any skill level, while providing new ways to experiment with music, education, and gestural control. Assistive pitch quantization allows each player to adjust the instrument's level of playing difficulty. At the maximum position, the Theremini will play every note in a selected scale perfectly, making it impossible to play a wrong note. As this control is decreased, more expressive control of pitch and vibrato becomes possible. When set to minimum, the Theremini will perform as a traditional Theremin - the analog heterodyning oscillator controls pitch and there is absolutely no assistance. A built-in tuner supplies real-time visual feedback of each note as it is played, as well as its proximity to perfection. This is useful for correcting a user's playing position, and educating younger players about pitch and scales. The presets section allows you to select from 32 wave or wavetable-based patches, store a selected scale & root note, set and recall a specified playing range, and specify per-patch settings for the included stereo delay. Recessed in the top of the Theremini is a compact speaker perfect for private rehearsal and quick setup anywhere. Silent rehearsal is also possible via the front panel headphone jack. Simply plug in ear-buds or headphones and the built-in speaker becomes silent. For live performance and gestural control, the rear panel features two line level audio outputs, a pitch CV output with selectable range, and a mini USB jack for MIDI I/O and connectivity.