OFF: Lothar & Early Synth Stuff

[John McIntyre]

>From: Craig Shipley <craigs at PYRAMID.COM>

>RE: Lothar & The Hand People

>"Lothar" was the Theremin (an early electronic device that was played by
>waving ones' hands near two antennas. Still in production and fairly cheap
>in kit form, under $300, I think. Bob Moog built 'em before getting into
>synthesizers and his current company, Big Briar, still offers a Theremin
>kit. There is a MIDI version in the works / available. The Theremin can be
>heard on a number of new releases, J-M Jarres' new one and thEXCELLENT
>new one from Djam Karet, "The Devouring".) L&tHP did use a Moog, if i remember
>the LP credits correctly. I don't know if this has been released on CD yet.

The MIDI Theremin (called the Ethervox) is now available from Big Briar.
I got a demonstration of a prototype from Bob Moog at the Portland Theremin
Festival this past June and there is a design "feature" that will probably
turn into a marketing problem: the Ethervox sends out a continous middle-C
with all other notes being sent as pitch bend data.  That makes sense from
the Theremin's point of view, but it means the controller works best with
synthesizer modules.  Sample playback units will sound like varispeed
recordings.  Even with synthesizer modules, percussive voices will not
sound "realistic": the Theremin is *not* a percussive instrument.  But with
a synthesizer module and a little thought put into voice selection, the
results are pretty cool. (-8

There are two Lothar & The Hand People CDs available.  One Way Records has
released the reissued version of the first LP _Presenting_.  (The reissue
dropped "The Woody Woodpecker Song", presumably at Warner Brothers
insistence.)  There is also an English compilation called _Machines_ that
has a good selection from both albums.

>Also, the T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band release "Zero Time" was released
>on CD last year, with almost a whole 'nother LP's worth of unreleased music.
>T.O.N.T.O. was a big mofong-o polyphonic synth, but I think that it was all
>custom modules, not a Moog project (I do realize that there are people who
>use the term "Moog" & "synthesizer" interchangeably, but you wouldn't call a
>Ford a Chevy now, woodja?) BTW, T.O.N.T.O. stands for The Original New
>Timbral Orchestra (just found the CD!) and it was the first multi-timbral
>polyphonic analogue synthesizer (and is still the largest!!) The synth was
>built by Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff. It was used by a number of
>mainstream artists and was a great influence on black pop music via Stevie
>Wonders' extensive use of the beastie. If you want a copy of the CD, here's
>the poop:

>TONTO's Expanding Head Band / TONTO RIDES AGAIN / Viceroy Vintage VIN6036.

If you want a copy of the CD check your local used music sources.  The CD
is already out of print.  At least that's what Tower and Wherehouse tell
me.  If you want to see (but not hear) TONTO, rent _Phantom of the
Paradise_ at your local video store; the studio where Swan awakens Winslow
is TONTO.

John McIntyre
Physics - Astronomy Domine Dept
Michigan State University
mcintyre at pa.msu.edu