OFF: Buck and Lucky Leif

[Tigger]

In article <200104112352.TAA09530 at listserv.spc.edu>, Douglas Pearson
<ceres at SIRIUS.COM> writes
>On Thu, 12 Apr 2001 00:21:52 +0100, Tigger <Tigger at PUDDYTAT.FSNET.CO.UK>
>wrote:
>>In article <200104112251.SAA09112 at listserv.spc.edu>, Douglas Pearson
>><ceres at SIRIUS.COM> writes
>>>... Obviously, the
>>>Tannerin makes it much easier for an untrained musician to play notes in
>>>tune, since they can be marked along the track the stylus runs over - you
>>>can't mark notes in the middle of thin air (well, I'm sure someone on this
>>>list could find a way)!
>>
>>It's already been done to control a synthesizer - Jean Michel Jarres
>>'laser harp' - can't think of any reason why something like that
>>couldn't be adapted for a theremin.
>
>You're correct that this would be a method to "mark notes in air" (if I
>understand the 'laser harp' correctly), but the problem is that the notes
>become *discrete* (aka "quantized" aka "stepped"), so that you lose the
>characteristic slide between notes that distinguishes the Theremin (there
>are ways to restore this, but they involve extensive realtime digital
>processing [obviously not possible on an analog Theremin], a loss of the
>player's expressiveness by introduction of "lag" time, or a combination of
>the two).

Sorry, I didn't explain it well - I didn't mean to use something like
the laser harp to actually _play_ a theremin, just use it to show the
player where to put his/her hands to play particular notes. Playing
would be no different, the player would just have a visual tuning
reference. Slides and vibrato etc would still be possible, with the
bonus of being able to play melodies more accurately.

--
David Blair