Electro-Theremin

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The Electro-Theremin is a electronic musical instrument developed by trombonist Paul Tanner and amateur inventor Bob Whitsell in the late 1950s to produce a sound to mimick that of the theremin. The instrument features a tone and portamento similar to that of the theremin (or thereminvox), but with a different control mechanism.

The instrument was custom-built at Tanner's request. Tanner appreciated the theremin's sound, but wanted greater control of pitch and attack. The Electro-Theremin uses mechanical controls, a long slide bar for the pitch (analogous to the slide of the trombone that was Tanner's main instrument) and a knob to adjust volume. This contrasts with the hand movements in space that was the original theremin's signal feature. The Electro-Theremin also produces a slightly less complex timbre than the original, because all sounds are created using a single sine wave audio oscillator rather than the theremin's mixture of two heterodyning oscillators. Few people, however, can detect any difference in the sound.

Tanner played the instrument on several television and movie soundtracks and on an LP entitled Music from Outer Space. Most famously, Tanner played his Electro-Theremin on three tracks by The Beach Boys: "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times," "Good Vibrations", and "Wild Honey."

Tanner's prototype Electro-Theremin appears to have been the only one made. Tanner sold the instrument in the 1960s because he believed that newer synthesizers made it obsolete.

In 1999, Tom Polk reconstructed a version of the Electro-Theremin. He called it the "Tannerin," a name that musician Peter Pringle suggested.

In 2004, Mike Beauchamp started making Electro-Theremins under the name "Therevox".