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Theremin Sounds


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Hey all ,I was wondering how one would imitate a theremin sound {think Good Vibrations], without having to go and buy a theremin.

 

Does any of you know of a good sample source to be able to help me.

 

It doesn't nessecarily have to sound exactly like a theremin Im really after a massive pitch bend [sweeping range]. like a octave sweep.

 

Hope this makes some sense.

 

 

Thanks heaps.

 

Snow.

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Attached is a .zip file of a song with three quickly made Theremin sounds:

 

Select track 1 to hear an EXS-24 version (no samples needed!)

Select track 2 to hear an ES2 version, slightly brighter than the EXS version

Select track 3 to hear a mellower version of the ES2 sound

 

You'll probably want to adjust the glide rate, attack, release, vibrato rate, etc. to get exactly the sound you want. Note that all of these produce vibrato automatically. If you want to use the modwheel to introduce the vibrato you'll just have to do a little extra programming to get that to work.

 

All totally modifiable, but perhaps enough to get you started. (Oh, and pardon the cheezy reverb -- it's just a Space Designer instanciated on an Aux and no actual reverb selected).

 

:mrgreen:

 

Basic construction of the Theremin sound: a sine, triangle, or square wave (low pass filtered) to give you a predominantly pure tone. Glide (portamento) and vibrato are the chief pitch characteristics. Slightly slow attack, and most importantly, monophonic operation (one note at a time). Play legato. For some reason the EXS version glitches every once in a while even though it's set to a legato monophonic mode. Still, if you can deal with that, the "feel" of the glide on the EXS is particularly good for Theremin imitations.

 

I know you want Beach Boys, but for a more "sci-fi" sound from the ES2 versions, add distortion or filter drive, and/or select a brighter waveform (like square) but don't close the filter down on it quite so much -- just enough to give the sound a little edge. There are a million ways to get variations you can give to the tried-and-true pure-tone Theremin sound.

theremin basix.zip

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  • 3 months later...
Brilliant stuff. I've just spent two hours looking for theremin plug ins and virtual theremins that I can use with logic but nothing seemed to work. I've got a very tight deadline for this piece of work and I'm not good with synths, you may have just saved my sci-fi bacon. thanks for sharing
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Cool, great song, I'll have to look for more of your band. Really like the theremin sound I'm gonna have a go at recreating that now.

thanks, actually no band; just me having a whack at things when i can find a moment of free time. yea, that theremin is really nice.

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Hi Michael,

 

I'm  r e a l l y  pleased that you liked the Theremin sound so much! I'll have a listen to your track in the next day or so, but in the meantime I just wanted to let you know that you made my day with your posts!

 

Thanks to everyone else who's commented and used these sounds. Glad you found them useful/inspiring.

 

Best,

 

-=sKi=-

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ski, first of all thanks for posting your theremin patch. I'm still on Logic 7 and when I tried to use it -- I got an error message that I couldn't because it was made in another version of Logic or something like that. Presumably it was created in Logic 8?

 

Does anyone know of a workaround that will allow me to use it in Logic 7? Does Logic 8 provide an option to save a file in a manner that is backwards compatible? (I have not upgraded because I need midi-clock support which was abandonned in Logic 8.)

 

Thanks in advance.

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Just download and open the arr posted on this page. Then open the esx 24 and click copy

in top right corner of the sampler. Then just click paste on the esx 24 you are using in your own song.

 

This is also a way to get it going even if you don´t have Pro as Express does

not include the space designer reverb.

 

Thanks for the theremin sound btw !!!

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I only have MainStage installed at the moment. Is the Theremin sound from ski a setting or an instrument for the EXS24? Either way, can someone save the setting and send me a link so I can use it in MainStage. Apparently it's pretty amazing! I don't want to miss it!
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Is the Theremin sound from ski a setting or an instrument for the EXS24?

 

ski described it in his original post:

Attached is a .zip file of a song with three quickly made Theremin sounds:

 

Select track 1 to hear an EXS-24 version (no samples needed!)

Select track 2 to hear an ES2 version, slightly brighter than the EXS version

Select track 3 to hear a mellower version of the ES2 sound

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