Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument - Gizmodo Comments

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

johnnyabnormal — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 02:09:16 EST

@formicae: I've heard all sorts of interesting things about the way they've done their stuff. It's sort of hard to miss the compression. I heard they slammed everything into 78 rpm vinyl compression to get that sound. Or who knows...maybe it was a rumor. I remember when their first album came out and I was finishing up my music engineering education: My teachers were stressing dynamics and I was listening to squashed audio. :)

johnnyabnormal

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

sheGeek — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:49:53 EST

The Icelandic band TRABANT (trabant.is) was using one of these during a new years performance on Icelandic television.

sheGeek

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

Out2gtcha — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:35:16 EST

@frigg:

TY, I now know for sure how NOT to utilize my amazing musical talent........So far I have yet to master whistling let alone an actual interment.

Out2gtcha

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

formicae — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:03:01 EST

@johnnyabnormal: Fun fact: the 'theremin' on Mysterons is actually just an SH101. Adrian from P'head admitted as much in an interview (at
[www.soundonsound.com], next-to-last segment in the article).

Also, can you actually call something a theremin if it just uses a light sensor instead of antennae? I mean, you can call it whatever you want, but I don't think it really is. Anyway the samples don't sound anything like one.

formicae

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

johnnyabnormal — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:25:08 EST

@frigg: No shit, huh? I tried one once and it took me a few minutes to control pitches, but it sure wasn't easy. Especially since you're controlling volume at the same time. I'd say to grab one if you're going to be doing old sci-fi scores or joining a Portishead cover band! Either way, there are many ways to emulate one if you're a sine wave wizard and have the right software.

@jcraig: SAY WHAT?

johnnyabnormal

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

milovoo — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:09:18 EST

I got mine from dollheadproducts. Good quality. I'm not sure if these are from the same folks.

milovoo

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

jcraig — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:32:03 EST

@johnnyabnormal:
PLAY WITH ME!

jcraig

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

frigg — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:55:47 EST

@Out2gtcha: Theremins almost always sound as creepy as this one looks. They are effortless to play (all you do is move your hand around in space and the pitch changes), but virtually impossible to master (to be able to control individual pitches). There are a few theremin virtuosos out there making recordings like human stupid pet tricks, but for the most part players just wave their hand around and make sound effects like a slide whistle gone postal. Think the sound of a ghost in a cartoon.

Whenever I've seen one with a band, it's some guy waving his hand around and you either can't hear it or it sounds like a slide whistle which I guess he could've played instead but it would have looked a million times less cool.

They're definitely fun to play, but it's easy to get bored of them after you realize it's almost impossible to control pitches and play decent melodies.

While Moog makes the gold standard, what looks particularly compelling about this one is that the thereminy sound it makes is just the sort of thing you would expect to hear from a dismembered baby's head. Which, come to think of it, makes me a little worried that the designer is cutting corners and not actually producing theramins, but sending actual dismembered baby's heads which would make pretty much the same sound, and the customer wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

frigg

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

XJ_4x4 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:29:05 EST

@Out2gtcha: Wiki is your friend:
[en.wikipedia.org]

XJ_4x4

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

Munch the BanNail — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:24:59 EST

@Out2gtcha: It's a musical instrument that changes pitch and volume based on where you place your hand. Hit Youtube and enter Theramin to see one in action

Munch the BanNail

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

gadgetfanatic — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:50:32 EST

@scarbrtj:HAHA good one. That's actually funny because there's a baby head on it.

gadgetfanatic

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

Out2gtcha — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:48:51 EST

Ok complete moron/n00b/fill-in-the-blank here but........Theremin? (forgive my lack of baby's head musical insterment history)

Out2gtcha

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

gadgetfanatic — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:48:02 EST

@bms74:That doesn't sound the least bit creepy, but that's just my opinion.

gadgetfanatic

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

jaylake — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:35:11 EST

@92BUICKLESABRE

I'm a trained professional. Don't try this at home!

(I'll also be reporting the unboxing and deployment on my blog.)

jaylake

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

92BuickLeSabre — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:59:22 EST

Nice work Jaylake. You lucky b'tard.

92BuickLeSabre

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

Tomahawk214 — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:48:32 EST

It's staring into my soul.

It's judging me.

I want to run but I can't!

Oh god, help me!

Tomahawk214

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

scarbrtj — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:39:20 EST

Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot.

I will resist the buy. This product is still in its infancy.

scarbrtj

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

skateebee — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:19:23 EST

This must be played in the dark, positioned on top a a ouija board during the Winter Solstice.

-Or you can change it to a Richard Simmons head.

skateebee

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

jaylake — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:10:17 EST

Buy It Now is my friend!

:: scores ::

The best part is, this will be a business expense for me.

jaylake

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

bms — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:01:04 EST

@johnnyabnormal: That would be awesome!

bms

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

jabber — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:54:05 EST

Creepy doesn't even begin to describe this unholy union of plastic baby head and questionable musical instrument.

jabber

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

strider_mt2k — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:46:31 EST

Must...obey...

strider_mt2k

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

johnnyabnormal — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:44:13 EST

Just imagine how much more creepy this would be if it was implemented into a modded speak 'n spell?

johnnyabnormal

Dismembered Baby's Head Theremin is One Badass Musical Instrument

Jeffrey Powers - Geekazine — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 10:38:23 EST

I love it. And it's a Theremin, too! RAWK out!

Jeffrey Powers - Geekazine