Nord User Forum

[josephmarkdavis]

Thank you in advance if anyone knows this but do the new or current Nords have that awesome Theramin sample? It sounds exactly like the tannerin that Brian Wilson used for Good Vibrations!!! Very powerful and clean, just perfect.

I also like the Supertramp Wurlitzer sound I heard called Logical Tramp or something. It rivals the Korg Triton Velo Wurly sound.

[brodiddley]

What sound are you talking about?? I'd love to have a 'Good Vibrations" tannerin sound so please let me know where you've heard it!

[Mr_-G-]

Funny you mention this, I have spent the last few days trying to find out what is the current state with theremins, thinking that it would be fun to play a bit with one of those.
Aren't the waves they output close to an asymmetric sine? I presume that adding legato mode and loads of vibrato and reverb you could get close with any synth.

There are loads of circuits available and many toy boxes. I think that the main problem going completely DIY is to get the right coils. For kits, I narrowed the options to two: the Moog Etherwave:
http://www.moogmusic.com/products/ether ... n-standard
and the Paia Theremax:
http://www.paia.com/theremax.asp

The Moog one appears to be quite popular, yet £350 or so just for a bit of experimental fun is too much for me.
The Theremax kit is quite interesting, not sure if Paia is still in business?
Most of the Arduino based ones do not seem to be emulations of the real thing, but just a VCO controlled by different means without the 2nd (articulation) antenna (so they continuously output sound). Fun to build, but musically useless.

Something super cool I found was an arduino project of a midi controller similar to the Ondes Martenot to control soft synths. It is surprisingly simple. Moving the pointer controls mechanically a 10-turn pot which is then the arduino boards translates into midi pitch bend data and a switch with a piezo transducer to provide the note articulation.
http://www.scoop.it/t/arduino-geeks/p/2 ... oller-2012

Edit: some typos.

[Mr_-G-]

I have a Moog Etherwave, and it's every bit worth the 400$ I spent on it 3 years ago- The tone for one thing is silky amazing, and you can change the distance sensitivity, so to hit notes with a lesser margin of error, you can increase the distance sensitivity- Not that you'll be able to nail "Good Vibrations" right out of the box, it takes practice, like any other instrument- plus, it'll be a boon to your stage show

[josephmarkdavis]

Moog has a glow in the dark theremin right now that is really cool! I can't believe no one seems to know about the theremin sound on the Nord. I will try writing the company.

[Darren]

Pretty sure it's in Bank A on the NS2 factory presets. I seem to remember coming across it when I first got mine and thought it sounded convincing and playable enough. I'll see if I can find it later just to be sure.