Of course, its popularity in movies really came to the fore in the '50s as the new genre of sci-fi films was being developed and it featured heavily in films such as "The day the Earth stood still" and many other classics of the time.

However, it was also (over) used in lesser sci-fi B-movies and as a result of the somewhat gimmicky and sometimes tasteless soundtracks the Theremin was put to, it gained a reputation for being something of a novelty instrument and had trouble being taken seriously as a 'proper' musical instrument. Despite renowned classical composers of the time writing for the instrument and despite several virtuosi of the instrument such as Clara Rockmore and Lucie Bigelow Rosen promoting its 'serious' use by performing arrangements of existing classical works on the instrument, the Theremin never gained true acceptance as a unique expressive musical instrument in its own right. Instead it was relegated to being almost a sound effects generator.... something added simply to grab the listener's attention.

The instrument was 'played' using the aerials you can see at the top and on the side of the cabinet.

The antenna on the top was used to control pitch and by disturbing an electro-magnetic field around it, the closer your hand was to the aerial, the higher the pitch.

On the side of the cabinet was a looped antenna that controlled volume and the closer your hand was to it, the louder the sound. To play a Theremin successfully, therefore, required highly skilled co-ordination, controlling pitch with one hand and 'articulation' with the other.

The performer would stand in front of the tall cabinet to play the instrument. However, because the electro-magnetic field around these aerials could be disturbed not only by the players hands but by any movement, the performer had to stand motionless during recitals, moving only the hands required for the performance.

If you have ever seen a Theremin 'performance', you'll know that it's quite a surreal experience as the performer stands perfectly still in front of the instrument - formal, almost emotionless - and yet coaxing an extraordinary sound out of the thing.

Because of the way it is played, it is almost impossible to step from one pitch to another on a Theremin and notes will normally 'slide' from one to another, often with pronounced portamento. Also, even in the hands of a skilled performer, holding the exact pitch during sustained notes is very difficult to achieve and so, to disguise this, most (if not all) performers use quite excessive vibrato by 'wobbling' their hand near the pitch aerial as long notes are held. It is these unique factors combined with the pure, voice-like tone of the instrument give the Theremin its surreal quality.

But if the Theremin has a weakness, it is this - it has a limited musical repertoire. It's physical contruction and the playing technique required pretty much dictates that it is really only suitable for slow, legato melodies that 'float' over the top of a musical arrangement - rapid performances on the thing are simply out of the question! Also, the unique nature of the Theremin sound almost demands that it is a dominant solo sound - it is not something that can blend in unobtrusively with a musical arrangement like, for example, a 'cello or a bassoon can.

But whatever its failings, the Theremin is a unique electronic musical instrument that I have attempted to capture.

There are two samples in this download. One is a sample from an original solo Theremin performance. A sustained note was isolated from the performance, cleaned up, extended and looped. The waveform is a kind of noisy sine wave with a few harmonics that captures the timbre of the original Theremins. The other sample is from a Big Briar Etherwave, a modern transistorised version of the original instrument. This wave is slightly 'buzzier' than the original Theremin sample. It must be said that neither samples are particularly remarkable in themselves - it's in the programs that the sounds come to life.

Both programs use mono legato playback mode to emulate the real thing. They also use portamento so that notes slide from one to another. To emulate the excessive vibrato, LFO1 is set to add delayed pitch modulation. However, to make the vibrato a bit more authentic, LFO1's rate is being modulated very slightly by keyboard position so that vibrato speed changes slightly according to pitch, a technique I noticed on 'the real thing'. To emulate the volume aerial, the modwheel is used to control the programs' level and, in fact, the modwheel is reponsible for manually 'articulating' the sound - slow amplitude envelopes are used on both programs but it is the modwheel that principally governs the sounds' dynamics. Both programs cover the range C1-C6.

The more adventurous amongst you might want to run with these settings... use aftertouch to control vibrato or use an external footpedal in place of the modwheel for 'articulation'. You might also want to tweak portamento times and vibrato rate for your own application..... whatever!

I make no claims that these sounds will be the perfect substitute for the real thing but approached (and played) with the right mindset, they can sound quite convincing in the right context, especially in a mix. To play the sound, use the keyboard to play the notes but try to 'phrase' the sound using the modwheel.

You can hear how the download should sound by listening to the Theremin demo below.

My performance isn't anything to get excited about but note that all the phrasing and articulation was done using the modwheel.

I'd like to thank the Montreal Symphony Orchestra for helping me out with this ;-)