musical saw/theremin sound?

scottd3n · Post by **scottd3n** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:08 pm

Does anyone know if the Kronos has any type of sound that could replicate a 'musical saw' or a theremin?

Thx,
Scott

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 12:33 pm

The hardest thing isn't necessarily the tone but the way to play it. A Theremin (which is very different from a musical saw btw) has a natural instability that is practically inachievable on a keyboard.
Perhaps put a lot of pitch control on the ribbon and always keep your finger on there. Use a somewhat darkly filtered saw for an oscillator. Slow pitch vibrato with a random lfo may help too. Oh and portamento/glide of course.

Francois · Post by **Francois** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 8:56 pm

It is feasible with a long ribbon such as the one that equips the Solaris.

Not sure whether the Kurzweil ribbon is still available. Otherwise, Doepfer still make one.

phattbuzz · Post by **phattbuzz** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 9:30 pm

Scott,
try out program U-B098 ooWEEoo/Vox Ribbon=Glide, that maybe close to the sound you are after.

As far as actual theremins go, check out e-bay and the web, you can find some for cheap money depending what you want it to do. - And you can route it through the effects on your Kronos. I tried using the pitch recognition on the MS20 with my theremin but it wasn't all that successful.

Check this thread out for a discussion on ribbon controllers: http://www.korgforums.com/forum/phpBB2/ ... ght=ribbon

- phattbuzz

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 12:27 am

one other option is to use a touch interface device, like an iPad. I would imagine that using something like Animoog or perhaps Tachyon could give you the control and pitch flexibility.

ed_f · Post by **ed_f** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:40 am

You might take a look at this:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun99/a ... remins.htm

ed_f · Post by **ed_f** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 3:47 am

SanderXpander wrote:A Theremin (which is very different from a musical saw btw) has a natural instability that is practically inachievable on a keyboard.

Insteresting quote from the article I posted:

Though the sound of the theremin is almost unique, moreover, there is one (semi-) traditional instrument that can sound eerily similar. Anyone who's seen the film Delicatessen may remember the scene at the end in which the hero serenades his girlfriend on the musical saw -- literally, a long and flexible saw, bent into an 'S' shape and played with a violin bow. Like the theremin, the bowed saw produces a continuous tone, which glides between notes as the player bends and straightens the saw.

Gambler · Post by **Gambler** » Thu Jul 11, 2013 12:12 am

If you take a sine-like sound, enable legato and portamento and apply some modulation (or roue LFOs to both volume and frequency), the result sounds kind of like Theremin.