Moog Claravox Theremin Improvisation

In this video, via Moog Music, thereminist Grégoire Blanc improvises using his Claravox Centennial theremin prototype, along with Matriarch and Subharmonicon synthesizers.

The Moog Claravox Centennial is a new theremin that’s designed to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the theremin and named to honor the first theremin virtuosa, Clara Rockmore.

Grégoire composed this special piece after finding inspiration in his surroundings during a visit to the Old Port of La Rochelle, France, which is featured in the video.

Technical details:

Blanc pairs the Claravox Centenial theremin with an Onde by La Voix du Luthier. The Onde is not a traditional speaker, it is a resonator, designed in the tradition of the diffuseurs of French instrument designer Maurice Martenot. Martenot is known for the Ondes Martenot electronic instrument, and to amplify it, he created a system of three diffuseurs, each of which was designed to add a different type of acoustic resonance to the electronic sound.

The Onde is not intended to transparently amplify your sounds – it’s designed to resonate like traditional acoustic instruments and impart these acoustic resonances to your electronically generated sounds.

6 thoughts on “Moog Claravox Theremin Improvisation

  1. Wow.

    This makes me want to learn how to play a theramin. The theramin through the ondes was lovely. How does he keep his pitches so precise like that? To my ears it was never out of tune. Amazing! And great piece in general, really moving.

    1. Maybe the Moog Theremini is something for you. It doesn’t break the bank and has a built-in tuner and adjustable pitch correction to make the learning curve a bit less steep!

  2. Gregoire plays in a perfect, violin/cello manner that shows the theremin off beautifully. Its a weird art-challenge to play one even halfway tolerably. I love the added waveforms on my Theremini, but I’m not likely to reach his level! Well done.

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