Phoenix
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Theremin sound or effect?
A client of mine has requested "more of a woo-woo sound" on the track I just sent him. Since it's a sci-fi thing I interpret that to mean theremin or similar. However, patch names on instruments are rarely that straightforward. Any suggestions of instrument patches or effects chains that might achieve the desired "woo" would be welcome.
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jerrypettit
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 12:43:22
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GOOGLING "theremin vst" comes up with several free ones.
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leapinlizard
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 12:53:54
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If you have access to a Roland Fantom X series synth (or one of its variants) it has a nifty little light beam controller that has a very realistic theremin sound that is controllable with your hand.
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rivers88
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 13:10:13
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SampleMoog - IK Multimedia...
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Phoenix
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 14:51:38
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I wish I could afford a Fantom. :) That would be useful and fun. But for now I'd like to find something to modify existing tracks rather than do whole new ones; replace one synth with another or add effects. What may be a problem is I played the lead in with my MIDI guitar and it makes heavy use of pitch bend,and the way different synths handle that varies widely. Thanks all for the suggestions. :)
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tlw
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 15:05:40
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The classic theremin is a single sine wave or triangle VCO, with no filter. Volume is controlled in the same way as pitch, so there are no "jumps" in volume or pitch. They're peculiar things to copy (and even more peculiar to play).
I suggest picking a synth with a wide pitch-bend range then using that to control pitch. Single oscillator, sine wave (or maybe triangle). No filter, with an "organ" style envelope on both pitch and volume (zero attack/decay/release). You could use a resonating filter instead of the vco.
You'll also need a controller for volume (try the mod wheel).
For a typical "space rock"sound add overdrive/chorus/delay (even better a modulating delay), reverb, eq, compression etc. to taste.
The classic way to get these sounds in the 70s and 80s was to use a simple analogue synth. Which synth actually didn't matter much.
Set up the oscillators to taste, then kick off and hold a note. Use the vco pitch and filter frequency/resonance controls manually to get the swoops you require. Modulate both vco and filter using lfos and/or fm, tweaking as you go. Then add delay etc. This is easy to do on hardware, but depending on your controller may be tricky in the box.
A simple Korg Monotron and a delay (though not the Monotron with built-in delay as it doesn't have a resonance control :-/ ) can do this extremely well if you don't mind laying out a bit of cash.
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Stone House Studios
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 16:12:08
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rivers88
SampleMoog - IK Multimedia...
Oh yeah. Really fun sounds in that one! Brian
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geetsifly
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 16:19:50
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Rapture has a theramin patch I've used before. Its actually pretty nice sounding.
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Phoenix
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 16:23:02
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@tlw That sounds like I should be able to adapt a patch on the synth I used to play the track originally (NI FM8) and use Amplitube (or Guitar Rig) for the rest, possibly for playing similar lines in future. I should be able to set the vco and filter controls to be controlled by foot pedals. Thanks! @geetsifly Rapture should work too if I just swap it out. The pitch bend controls on Rapture (and DimPro) adjust nicely to track with my MIDI guitar. I don't have SampleMoog, but I do have Sampletank. I wonder if the Moog sounds are included? Will have to check.
post edited by Phoenix - 2013/01/11 16:59:39
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Rain
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 18:09:26
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Zeta - I've used that one for all the theremin sounds in one of my projects. And there were theremin parts in every single track.
The IK theremin is not included in ST - it has to be purchased separately, as part of SampleMoog.
TCB - Tea, Cats, Books...
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twaddle
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/11 20:07:36
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This is one of the best free ones that I know of. Spooky Keys Here's a youtube demo but it's not the best Spooky Keys Demo. I love this theremin and just had a look at raptures and there's no way I would swap it with spooky keys. I've not yet used it with a keyboard though. I recorded it in real time using my mouse which was tricky to say the least but interesting  There's also fxpansions mysteron which is ok. Steve
post edited by twaddle - 2013/01/12 06:49:11
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NW Smith
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/12 11:32:27
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I use the free VST BTS Theremin. It's got a good assortment of theremin sounds and works great with Sonar.
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AT
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Re:Theremin sound or effect?
2013/01/12 15:56:42
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From what you say the client might be looking for a resonat filter modulated by an lfo sound. Such were all over the 50s\60s scifi movies. Simply get a resonant filter going, tracking the key pitch (it doesn't have to be 100%), modulate it w/ a fast (audible) oscillator and amp envelope the sound. You recognise the sound as soon as you patch it - swooping pure pitch followed by bastard offsprings. If you've seen a space ship in space from the 50s you've heard it. Echo to taste. Easy w/ a VA, and I just used a Z3TA patch that did that exact trick. Don't recall the name, but it is sooo easy to set up you would be wasting time looking for the patch.
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