Theremin recommendations

Question

I was wondering if anyone around here had any experience playing the Theremin and might be able to recommend some specific models on the market that are worth looking into. Any advise/ideas are highly appreciated.

I had suggestion from my uncle who is a long-time electronics wizard and antiques collector which very much surprised me: the type of Theremin that's really desirable is a vintage 1930s model as designed by Leon Theremine himself. My uncle does not like the Moog designs. — luser droog, Aug 15 '16 at 15:49

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 15 '16 at 16:34

3

Almost all Theremins sold these days are Moog theremins, or kits.

While I get the point @luserdroog makes, the Moog ones are really good (I have never played an original Theremin though, so maybe I'm not aware of how good those are)

The two I have tried have been a Moog Etherwave Plus, and a kit version (that I think is based on the standard etherwave) - the difference is that the Plus gives you additional outputs to control analogue synthesizers. If you don't need that I think the Standard will be sufficient.

Pic from Gak.co.uk

answered Aug 15 '16 at 16:34

Doktor Mayhem

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I tried prodding my uncle for more details. But I think I need to do my homework so I can ask him the right question. – luser droog Aug 15 '16 at 17:19
would be good to have quantitative differences - I have just never seen an original one :-) – Doktor Mayhem Aug 15 '16 at 17:21
Thanks for your replies, @luserdroog I'll research differences between original & moog theremins. – polymechanos Aug 16 '16 at 13:41

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 15 '16 at 19:11

If it's your first theramin and you're not really sure if you want to make the investment, there are tons of inexpensive kits that you can get, and they're really fun to make! My first one was the little red mini theramin kit from gakken: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1822 discontinued but appears to be available from a few vendors for $35-$70, which is nothing compared to the $300-400 you'd spend on the moog. Definitely worth trying it out first before throwing that much money into it.

Theremin recommendations

2 Answers2