theramin + pedals = ?????

[bonkdav]

my friend is buying a theramin and wants to put a volume and distortion pedal behind it.  I was wondering if anyone has experience with theramins and can give me a heads up on any hitches that may be run into when dealing with pedals or theramins in general.

im not sure what kind of frequencies are produced by theramins so i dont know what kind of distortion circuit would be best to buy, build, or mod and put behind it. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. right now he wants to use a ds-1.

[Rodgre]

Depending on the Theremin that your friend is getting, the output might be much hotter than guitar pedals are used to. I know my Moog Etherwave theremin is very hot, so I need to be careful how I set the volume antenna proximity when I'm playing it.  I think there is a mod for it, but I never bothered.

Roger

[caress]

i use different sound sources through all of my homebuilds (analog synths, digital synths, kiddie keyboards, sound generators, contact mics, wurlitzer, rhodes, bass, guitars, etc...) and the response of a fuzz or distortion will change based on the input signal, most times if the signal is too hot it will sort of overload the circuit and you will get a really compressed or "sucked" sound, but lots of times it sounds really great too...like a fuzz with a booster in front.  i think it's good to just experiment a bit and if the output of the theremin is too hot, you could always use a resistor on the output to lower a bit to your optimal maximum volume.  also, since the theremin has such a wide range, i would opt for a fuzz/distortion with a large freq response...

as well, you probably won't damage anything if you're concerned about that at all...

[birt]

a theremin sounds great with an uglyface

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

One thing about theramins, is that they are monophonic, so any kind of distortion - no matter how severe - isn't going to give a hugely unharmonic mess.
And yeah, the output level is high, typically more like a keyboard than a guitar, but that's easily solved by two resistors (make a voltage divider inside a lead, if you don't want to hack anything).
Tremolo & delay are the traditional theremin fx, note wah is pretty useless (not enough harmonics!).

Edited to say, you can use the audio out from a theramin, as the external carrier for a ring modulator 9if your ring modulator has an external carrier input). Lot of fun 

[Rodgre]

One thing about theramins, is that they are monophonic, so any kind of distortion - no matter how severe - isn't going to give a hugely unharmonic mess.

Which is a great reason to put a little slap delay between the theremin and the fuzz! There's your unharmonic mess! 

Roger

[bonkdav]

all that advice is really great, great note on the ugly face that seems like an awesome addition, as for the the real distortion/fuzz does anyone know a circuit that covers a wide range as suggested? im also making a note of the traditional theramin effects for the future.

ill also do some experimenting with the hot output.

[Paul Perry (Frostwave)]

Which is a great reason to put a little slap delay between the theremin and the fuzz! There's your unharmonic mess! 

I guess if you make an ab/ba switch (so the order of the fuzz and slap can be reversed at will) we'll BOTH be happy