Notices

I just discovered this program & think it's very cool! The more features you add, the more versatile it becomes, although it gets farther from its namesake.

I have a question about the keyboard mode. Is that a display feature? Or, to use a stringed instrument metaphor, does that switch between frets (discrete pitch adjustment) and fretless (continuous pitch adjustment) modes? If the latter, where is that switch? I'm using v1.7.

EDIT: Also, is there documentation for this app besides this thread and the Theremin home page? If not, I volunteer to create a wiki page that pulls a lot of this together.

buurmas

Thanks for kind feedback!

The keyboard mode is just a keyboard, it does not support continuous pitch changes, only discrete.

About the documentation... there is no such thing, so far. If you feel that something needs to be written, feel free to create a WiKi page for that. If there are questions, I will be glad to advice.

Hi guys! Thought i would give this app a go, but the sound is choppy!
Not a pure tone, but it lags/fade in and out.. Any thougts? I got version 1.4

Kevven

are you N900 owner? Sorry, N900 version is still in devel-testing and it has several problems (as you noticed). Releasing version for N900 is not planned in near future, because I don't have N900 and, therefore, I can't debug these issues.

N900 it is
Well that explains it then, hehe. I didnt think it over when i saw this thread. I automaticly assumed that this was being done for the N900 =)
sorry for that.

But i love the app in it self! Keep up the good work, and i will surely use the app when/if it makes it over to the N900

Someone earlier was asking for abc versions of songs -- i.e., where the tune is written out in letters. It just hit me that there is an open-source notation scheme called, appropriately enough, abc notation. And people have contributed sheet music:
http://abcnotation.com/tunes.html
http://www.musicaviva.com/sheetmusic/index.html (look for items with ABC format)

Since it's December, here are Christmas tunes:
http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/cgi/abc/tunefind

However, it's not quite what Theremin users will want. Unless the song is in the key of "C" (i.e., you see K:C in the ABC notation), it's not going to display the sharps and flats.

Example: Deck the Halls ABC notation:
"F" c>B A "C" G | "Dm" F G "F" A F | "C" G/A/B/G/ "F" A>G | "F" F "C" E "F" F2
How I wish it was written:
c>Bb A G | F G A F | G/A/Bb/G/ A>G | F E F2

For musical beginners "Bb" means the space between A and B (B flat) (note: I'm not sure if this is legitimate abc notation). F2 means hold F for two beats. G/ means hold G for half a beat. c>B means hold c for a beat and a half and B for half a beat (dotted rhythm). Note: you don't actually play the letters enclosed in quotes: this just tells you what guitar chord to play at this point if you have a guitar accompanying you.

I wonder if there is a way to make this abc music more Theremin-friendly without a lot of manual effort...

buurmas
thanks for this lots of info, I did not know that "ABC notation" is so demanded :-).

I, myslef, do not have musical education, and, I don't quite understand why does not it display sharps and flats? How am I supposed to know that I need to play Bb, in the example you quoted, instead of B?

Because it says it's in the key of "F" and the key of F has Bb, not B. Works fine for the computer interpreting it, but not friendly to musical beginners. :-)

BTW, here is The First Noel in what I hope is a friendly format:
ED | C3 D EF | G4 AB | c2 B2 A2 | G4
AB | c2 B2 A2 | G2 A2 B2 | c2 G2 F2 | E4
ED | C3 D EF | G4 AB | c2 B2 A2 | G4
AB | c2 B2 A2 | G2 A2 B2 | c2 G2 F2 | E4
ED | C3 D EF | G4 cB | A4 A2 | G6
c2 B2 A2 | G2 A2 B2 | c2 G2 F2 | E

More:
Away in a manger
d | d>c B | B A G | G F# E | D2
D | D>E D | D A F# | E D G | B2
d | d>c B | B A G | G F# E | D2
D | c>B A | B A G | A E F# | G2

Hark! the Herald Angels Sing
D G G>F# | G B B A | d d d>c | B A B2 |
D G G>F# | G B B A | d A A>F# | F# E D2 |
d d d G | c B B A | d d d G | c B B A |
e>e e d | c B c2 | A B/c/ d>G | G A B2 |
e>e e d | c B c2 | A B/c/ d>G | G A G2 |

We Three Kings
B2 A | G2 E | F# G F# | E3 | B2 A | G2 E | F# G F# | E3
G2 G | A2 A | B2 B | dcB | ABA | G2 F# | E3
F#3 | A3 |
G2 G | G2 D | G2 E | G3 | G2 G | G2 D | G2 E | G3 |
G2 G | A2 B | c2 B | A2 B| G2 G | G2 D | G2 E | G3

Silent Night! Holy Night!
G>A G | E3 | G>A G | E3 | d2 d | B3 | c2 c | G3 |
A2 A | c>B A | G>A G | E3 | A2 A | c>B A | G>A G | E3 |
d2 d | f>d B | c3 | e3 | c G E | G>F D | C3

Joy to the World!
c2 B>A | G3 F | E2 D2 | C3
G | A3 A | B3 B | (c4 c3) c |
c B A G | G>F E c | c B A G | G>F E
E | E E E E/F/ | G3 F/E/ | D D D
D/E/ | F3 E/D/ | C c2 A | G>F E F | E2 D2 | C4

How do people like this format?

buurmas

does "c" and "C" denotes the C notes from different octaves, "c" is one octave lower than "C"?

Also, as I understood, G>F means hold G for 1.5 beats and then F for half a beat. Why is not it written like this: G> F/, since / means hold note for half a beat?

How are delays indicated in this notation?

EDIT: what does (c4 c3) mean?