Page 1 of 1
anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 2:59 pm
by Cyaneyed
hello guys =) im trying to replicate the kinda ufo sounds theramins are great at producing. im looking for the kinda clear but round sound like sinewaves have. tho sinewaves sound too far out in the distance. have been trying with massive. so far ive added som vibrato with an lfo and tried around with alot of waveforms tho nothing really sounds like it :/ anyone got any ideas?
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:20 pm
by MilkyPirate
try useing the LFO on the pitch of one oscilator id probably say saw wave would be best, low pass filter with cutoff just a little bit turned down, dont layer the osc as you want a nice clean sound, little bit of reverb, mono set to always with the time about half way up, envelope should be a little bit of attack full decay and sustain
im at work so i dont know how close this will be but hope it helps
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:35 pm
by Cyaneyed
MilkyPirate wrote:try useing the LFO on the pitch of one oscilator id probably say saw wave would be best, low pass filter with cutoff just a little bit turned down, dont layer the osc as you want a nice clean sound, little bit of reverb, mono set to always with the time about half way up, envelope should be a little bit of attack full decay and sustain
im at work so i dont know how close this will be but hope it helps
ty for ur reply. ive allredy tried this. but doesent quite sound like the real deal:/
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:41 pm
by MilkyPirate
just takes some fine tweaking, maybe try bit of chorus aswell, every theramin sounds different, alot of them actually just sound like anolog synths with glide on, im guessing you mean the sound like pendulum grafite but as im not at home at the moment i cant really input much more, keep at it man
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:04 pm
by ketamine
You're not going to be able to replicate it really, because Theremin's sound is basically non-stop pitch gliding & volume changing on almost every note. That's a f_ck load of automation, and even then you still need the "sound" of it, that weird noise it makes... Sorry for no help. I'd say just find some samples if you can't buy one outright, although, the Moog Etherwave Brand really aren't expensive...
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:08 pm
by MilkyPirate
theres also youtube videos which show you how to make your own theramin IRL
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:19 pm
by Cyaneyed
cool thnx guys =*) the sound im really after is just that cheesy ufo kinda lead from old movies etc. that mystery thingy
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 6:58 pm
by legend4ry
Theres a preset on Sylenth 1 I used in the first tune here :
Soundcloud
If thats what you're after i'll screen cap the parameters.
Its the short note which plays every 4 bars.
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:15 am
by 2mb1o
Use a pure sin wave (or maybe something between sin and square), no filter, no adsr on VCA.
You need automation on pitch and volume, don't use keys, interpolate everything.
It's like a real theremin : one hand for the pitch, another for the volume

Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 7:41 am
by erratech
YOu could try spook-keys if thats still active. seemed decent when i tried it a few years ago ymmv.
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 12:14 pm
by bibbyj
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:18 pm
by deadly_habit
yea i used super spook keys at the intro of ridin'
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 2:28 pm
by leeany
I saw a tutorial on how to make a theremin sound in ableton not too long ago, dont remember where tho
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 5:31 pm
by bassinine
if you have an iphone, just get moog's filtatron app. has a simple va synth, and you can use the x-y pad in the app to use it just as you would a theremin.
oh, and moog's new app, animoog is on sale for $ .99 - seems to be a pretty full-featured synth, with similar x-y controls. worth a dollar, i'm sure - even though i haven't opened it up yet.
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:31 pm
by Cyaneyed
deadly habit wrote:yea i used super spook keys at the intro of ridin'
FUCK THAT WAS A GOOD TUNE!!!!!!!!!!! omg! lol not what i was after but hell! i loved it thnx for sharing!
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:32 pm
by Cyaneyed
bassinine wrote:if you have an iphone, just get moog's filtatron app. has a simple va synth, and you can use the x-y pad in the app to use it just as you would a theremin.
oh, and moog's new app, animoog is on sale for $ .99 - seems to be a pretty full-featured synth, with similar x-y controls. worth a dollar, i'm sure - even though i haven't opened it up yet.
got the filatron it works ok =) thnx for all the sugestions guys =)
Re: anyone got any ideas on how to get a theremin sound?
Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2012 6:42 pm
by macc
There used to be an fxpansion plugin called mysteron that was quite good...