It's my first Theremin. I knew I was getting it because it was the cheapest with both pitch and volume control. So far the most disappointing part is me, the player. XD
Setting this aside though, the sound is great and it's easy to use. I've played a bit with the many options, but it's hard to set it just right when you don't know how to play it correctly yet. I guess it would be perfect for someone in need of a synth, or a "correct" theremin sound. My only complaint there, is that I cannot un-tune it enough to reach these more dub-step sounds that much. With sensibility on 30 and pitch correction to 5, I can get it to freak out quite nicely... but then there is not much range to it.
There is a load of instruments, but frankly it's a lot of the same, the most important fits more into categories than setting : You got theremin sounds, synth for piano, synth for strings, a electric guitar noise that doesn't stop (it's better this way, it means you can control it), square wave, surf wave, saw waves, and a few quite good string drills that are sadly mostly useless...
The string drills have an end. This means that their sound will cut, faster on higher notes, and that you have to replay the note on the volume control for it to restart. It's needlessly complicated and prevent the use of these to naturally cut notes more easily. Again, something that could be programmable on a real theremin and finally wasn't quite possible here.
Worst, the sound antennae isn't that good and considers the "pull string" command rather far away from it. This means that it is increasingly easier to miss starting back your cutting sound. Stay too close to the limit, and you'll get constant micro-cuts... Of course, you can deactivate that part, but then you'd have to change note each time you want the sound to get longer and...
So yeah. Theremin waves are awesome for the price. Synth single notes are a nice addition and are playable. String drills... are for advanced players only.
What would have been great is a way to create one's own "instrument waves" wile plugging it to one's PC... apparently that doesn't work. Despite needing a USB connection for power (no battery), the thing doesn't open on PC... which also means that you'll need an aux cable to record it as a mic. There is also a timer on it... but since it doesn't record, I guess that's as good as a metronome.
Once deployed, the pitch antennae is useful for one octave almost correctly, and one or two with your fingers around it (depends on your accuracy). Basically this makes it functional... but it's a pain not being able to use the correct movements for notes. (Three hands range from the body.) No amount of tweaking the settings seems to correct this. The antennae are just not powerful enough on their own (yes, I had them deployed, contrary to some YouTube reviewers). Okay, they said you can plug better ones in, but I have no idea where to find such.
What this means is... you will need to follow that screen to know your notes and learn the correct posture for THAT specific theremin. Obviously, the frequency meter is not a luxury.
I'm thinking of buying a Stylophone X-1 to give it the range it can't fetch on it's own. Obviously, I still will have to learn to play decently... But I'm mostly sure more knobs will help with getting that post-human sound.
EDIT : It's been at least a week now. I'm surprised how fast I'm learning to play. Any other instruments I would possibly still be at the "figuring out notes and posture stage"; but this? I've been playing with a decent amelioration each day. I'm still unable to reliably cut notes with the perfect attack without moving my other hand yet... but I'm getting there. The feeling of being able to find any tune as long as I can identify the starting frequency and start playing it slow enough at first is exhilarating!
I was playing the pitch with my thumb in an arc at first, using my hand as a kind of pivot lever... This worked fairly well for a while, but I eventually had troubles playing the third octave because I ended up too close to the antennae. Now I'm trying to re-learn it with my open hand coming in to close two fingers around it, so far it seems to give me control over three octaves reliably, with some leeway into the fourth.
The integrated speaker is a pain. Maybe my table's frequencies are bad, but it started to output unwanted distortion really fast even at median volumes. Maybe it just went busted on me. I'm currently playing with a mix of PC speakers, headphones and an old stereo that accept Aux cable. The sound and sensibility of the theremin is thus greatly improved. And volume output too.
| Product Dimensions | 15.3 x 15.1 x 5.1 cm; 320 g |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer reference | JJWE24322CA-TT |
| Colour Name | Multicolor |
| Item Weight | 320 g |
