Year/Date of Issue: 2020
Version: 1.4
Developer: Adam Monroe Music
Developer site: adammonroemusic
Format: VSTi, AAX, AUi
Bit depth: 32bit, 64bit
Tabletka: not required | RETAiL
System requirements: VST (Windows/OSX), AAX (Windows/OSX), and AU (OSX)
Description: Theremin is an electronic instrument patented in 1920 by Leon Theremin. A typical theremin uses two oscillators – one generating a static frequency, the other a variable one – and amplifies the difference between the two signals, producing sine waves at different frequencies, thus producing different pitches. The theremin uses a secondary circuit to control the amplitude. You can control the pitch/volume with your hands by adjusting the position of your hands in relation to the two antennas, making it one of the few instruments in the world that you can play without touching!
The tone of the Theremin is well known and can be heard in countless horrors due to its somewhat unnatural and ghostly tone. Theoretically, the theremin produces the fundamental tone as a pure sine wave, and pure sine waves sound unnatural because most sounds in nature have overtones. The theremin is considered one of the most difficult instruments in the world to play. It is not only “fretless” like a violin, but even without strings, and its tone does not just naturally decay, but rather its volume is manually reduced. In other words, to get staccato, you need to control not only the attack and hold, but also the decay. This is contrary to how almost any other tool works.
Essentially, the Theremin was the world’s first synthesizer to use electronics to “synthesise” a pure electronic tone. We tried to recreate the sound and feel of this instrument, focusing on things like portamento and vibrato, because without a properly modeled technique, a theremin simulator would be little more than a sine wave generator.
Sampling a theremin would be somewhat counter-intuitive, as the bulk of the theremin’s sound has to do with smooth portamento/slides. The instrument produces a continuous signal that can only be lowered in amplitude, but never stops, so that transitioning from one tone to another will always produce portamento, unless the previous note was muted.
Our tool aims to implement most of this behavior. Our tones are generated by purely mathematical sine waves. You can play notes with portamento, and you can play more distinct staccatos if you let the notes fade out. Amplitude and vibrato can be controlled individually or together using the pitchchai/or modulation wheel. Portamento can be set to normal or slow, but the portamento speed will decrease or increase depending on the interval being played (closer to the faster portamento notes). Chorus and reverb effects are included and will allow you to create slightly different tones.
