95-Year-old the ,eremin, won of eked,roacoustic titan Russian t *wee techn°l°c~~ nrus~c Mates ted in theUni Weeks visd arty last Fall . the e dina y Was extraor r an has event ; subject been the long musical of myths and a . the has lore,Yet Sa to prisoro virtual ost elo,n ,~,ith n until glasn chats Unio Robert viet de POW' Th ika n~ Inereminsyathestze ford S d Perestro at 9t . abroad to (Rl l . OPposde ent anWel,s tr 1927 Ma9 um ble ,en the teo+b°rp;M1e in Ne " were Theres pT lived , York Russ.to. ha backksto ~Waclear. red his d him r ot ~at bears ore d'saPpeo sum ~,at e~ a. uthonhes. s ~ad his name . Soviet reason bW°use For Wan top whych time ned, World 1938, at and ~mPrrso was during e irster~ t learn a SO very developn`en Lately ages German iris ,he was as on imm~s shot .1 ` ~ he'~os that he For ivers'b' ruromom press nSard Soviet rrwswalre at Sro We onference a p odm~1tea at as he

46

his return to the United States was almost like "AS FOR HIM he was re- a homecoming. During his stay PERSONALLY, united with portions of his erstwhile American WAS A life, including places where he had lived and EINSTEIN worked, and people that he had known. At PHYSICIST AND Be- reacquainted with 97-year- Stanford he was THEORIST, BUT 1 WAS nd old music encyclopedia author Nicolas - of Slonimsky, whom he'd known as a young NOT A THEORIST wo conductor. Then, at a New York reception 1 WAS AN INVENTOR ol- given in his honor, where his arrival was greet- - SO WE DID NOT na ed with tUn1Ul1U(lU5 applause ", he saw former The student~ and c cll1Cagues, .111 in their 80s and HAVE THAT MUCH os- 90s, inc lulling Henry Solonlxlnclll, Suki Bader, IN COMMON . 1 HAD e is Beryl Camphell, and comlx)se-Otto Luening. MUCH MORE KINSHIP gh- But the most imllurtant reunion was with me Clara Rockmore, the pre-eminent Thereminist WITH SOMEONE legitimized ncy whose virtuosity on the instrument LIKE VLADIMIR ILYICH ax- it in musical circles (in the same way that the WHO WAS ing inspired playing of leanne I oricrl promoted [LENIN], ncy Maurice Martenot's ). INTERESTED IN yer always thought of Clara as his Theremin has HOW THE WHOLE but greatest student, and their meeting last fall WORLD IS CREATED . y the was like closing a circle. any On September 28, 1991, we talked with 3ob Theremin for several hours, asking him ques- zer, tions about his enigmatic life and career, and in bringing about in physics, in electricity, and in I became interested his following up on the interview that one of us interested would be those of a pendulum . progress in music, so that there Dm_ in Bourges on June oscillatory motions like (Mattis) had conducted more musical resources . I was not satisfied excerpts In high school I was interested in physics, and be 16, 1989 . The following are edited instruments in existence, playing the piano I started studying cello. with the mechanical in's of both interviews . For the careful translation after were all I entered the conser- of which there were many. They Theremin's detailed Russian prose, we While in high school, of with the built using elementary principles and were York thank Patrick Lemoine, Nina vatory on the cello, and I graduated would like to not physically well done . I was interested in especially Alejandro title of "free artist on the violoncello ." Then ents Boguslawsky, and most a different kind of instrument . And I entered the university, and majored in making hort Tkaczevski . course, to make an apparatus physics and astronomy . I wanted, of The controlled in space, exploiting When did you first conceive of your in- that would be I ly- fields, and that would use little en- strument? electrical ick's electronic technology first came to me right after our ergy . Therefore I used and lease tell us about your early The idea would pro- beginning of the Bolshevik to create a musical instrument that ntly, lite, and about your scientific Revolution, at the of an in- vide greater resources . y in and musical training . state. I wanted to invent some kind mechan- How did Lenin find out about your instru- ns." I was born in Leningrad, strument that would not operate cello and the ment? ercy which was then called St. ically, as does the piano, or the can be com- In the Soviet Union at that time everyone vin's Petersburg, in 1896. My fa- violin, whose bow movements conceived of an was interested in new things, in particular all way ther was a lawyer, and my pared to those of a saw. I sound without the new uses of electricity: for agriculture, ure . mother was interested in instrument that would create for mechanical uses, for transport, and for ants : arts, especially music using any mechanical energy, like the con- the communication . I decided to create a musical Even ductor of an orchestra . iyth- and drawing. be- made the first few devices Why did you make this instrument? use for electricity. I :erns 1: q fore high school I was plat- bled )ody f the (left) is the principal the . He t.ltes developer of i the built his first Theremin in 1949, and his e of most recent one in September 1991 . par- is a musicol- tival Olivia Mattis (center) 990 ogist who specializes in the works of eek- Edgard Varese. She's currently in Paris, val . York conducting research on Varese . 5,50

FEBRUARY 1992/KEYBOARD 49

had a lab. I was the inventor of this instru- ment, the first instrument . I was also the first co in the world to invent a television device; this an was in 1926. wi Then I was sent abroad. I was sent to an the international conference in Frankfurt. My wife im Katia joined me in Paris, where I went next, dic based on the principles of the started to play The Lark. He had a very good and we stayed with my relatives. After that Ne human interference of radio ear, and he felt where to move his hands to we went to America. waves in space, first for elec- get the sound -to lower or raise the pitch. Katia was interested in medicine, and she bet tronic security systems, then In the middle of this piece I thought that he wanted to enter a medical institute that was on applied to musical purposes. could, independently, move his hands. So I about 35 kilometers from New York. So she hel There was a big electron- took my hands off his and he completed the entered this medical school, and she slept ure ics conference in Moscow, there in the dormitory, but she visited me once ing and I showed my instruments or twice a week in New York. ora there. The conference was a I'll tell you what happened afterwards . he 1 great success; it was written up in the literature One fine day a young man came to me and big and the newspapers, of which we had many said, "You know," (he gave me his calling woe at the time, and many doors were opened card), "I have a request to make of you and the, for me in the Soviet Union. And so Vladimir of your wife too. We love each other. Let us his Ilyich Lenin, the leader of our state, learned marry each other." It was not quite pleasant I wi that I had shown an interesting thing at this for me, but I said, "Of course I cannot forbid I ca conference, and he wanted to get acquainted - well, in the Soviet Union we have free- ure with it himself. They asked me to come with dom. Divorce is legal ." But I told him that of tl my apparatus, with my musical instrument, things could not happen in this way. He left, to his office, him. to show And I did so. While at Stanford, Therernin was reintraduced and I felt terrible. phy What did Lenin think of it? to renowned nvusieion/musieyneydopsdia au- I tried to reach my wife, but the phones -I He was very gracious, and I was very thor Nicolas Skr,nimsky, who also hails from weren't working well. After a while, maybe that pleased to meet him. I showed him his St. Petersburg . He also took time to read and three days later, I received from my embassy shin colleagues the Skmhnsky's suspenders, which say "perestroi- control system of my instru- -because at the time I was working under [Len ment, which I played by moving my ka" in the Cyrillic alphabet. hands the leadership of our consulate - a mag- wor in the air, and which at that time was called azine that was published by German rep- 1 the Thereminvox. I played a piece of music, whole thing independently, by himself, with resentatives of a fascist organization in Amer- him after which they applauded, including great success and with great applause follow- ica . In this article it was written that, "The an e Vladimir Ilyich, who had been watching very ing. He was very happy that he could play wife of Theremin is sympathetic to our work, mer attentively. I played Glinka's The Lark, which on this instrument all by himself. and we accepted her into our society, but I he loved very much. After all this applause, Incredible! In in what year did you arrive Theremin doesn't want to pay money, be- not Vladimir Ilyich said that I should show him, New York? cause he's probably a Jew, and he is afraid those and he would try to play it himself. At the end of 1929, approximately. [In fact, to give money. That's why he won't become not He stood up, moved to the instrument, the exact date was December 22, 1927.] a member of our society." Well, there was with stretched his hands out, right hand to the pitch What brought you to New York? such a magazine . ferer antenna and left to the volume antenna. I took When I was working in Leningrad in the At the embassy, the people said, "We that his hands from behind and helped him. He loffe Institute for Physics and Technology, I cannot allow this." Then in a few days, they stead said something more definite. The embassy it wi called me and demanded that I get a divorce one'! from her. They gave us a divorce without there her 1 N F O R M A T 1 O N presence or consent. I talked to her oil I hav the telephone about it. She said, "It's my men friends, but I was never a member of any Then Glinsky, Albert, "The Theremin and the Emergence of Electronic Mu- such society," and that was it. This was my man sic." Pk.D. dissertation, Department of Music, New York University, first divorce. She continued to live there and estec 1992 . to study at that institute. was Mattis, Olivia, "Entretiens inedit avec Lev Termen." to Revue Musi- Are you Jewish? Stokc No. cale, February, 1991 . strun Do you remember meeting Edgard Varese Philac Montague, Stephen, "Rediscovering Leon Theremin." Tempo, June in New York? espec 1991 . No, I couldn't tell you. I met so many peo- certs, Rhea, Tom, "The Unkeyboards of Professor Theremin." ple. Electronic Per- It was long ago, decades ago. I met a lot P/ of spectives column, Keyboard, September, 1978. people . I remember well a lot of my good Al: Rockmore, Clara, The Art of the Theremin. Compact Disc, distributed students. I had a wonderful student Clara ber hi Rockmore, and also Lucie Rosen. These by Delos International. were He w the better ones whom I remember who of cot worked in my studio. but in

SO KEYBOARD/FEBRUARY 1992 CLARA

I lwre ~%,1, ()11( . %% III) inlew,led ill Ille wlml new characters of sound could

cml(n~ .lltul,i( Ilm(m~~~li(nlln~Wmmlli : ;III lu~ m111,1inc "cl .

,111(1 Intlsit , ,rtld 111,11 ~Y,I, \Ilx rt~ I ilt,ltti11 . I-ii, 1)(1 you rcvncvnhcr loseph wilt , 111,1Ytvl 11(,111(1 ~( r~ ~~t ll . l u 11111111 pl,l\ tic hilhn-(v?

ill( , Yil)Iill-llldlit , Iritv1111111,1YIlu Ilwlclll tic hillingc1; y( " ,, I kiww hint I Imd Ill\()\. lII " ,I,1,t4111w it II( , t ()111(111,( Ill\,111 HIM)Y ( 1nnc~r,,111(nt, with 111111, 1x11

di11 . 111,111 ,I 1111, . 1111 ; II(111`"t III,II 11( 11I1 (I III I(,1181111 "" ,n,ev11u1r, ; .ll~nlllli,w(nl. .

Nt~w 1w11, . I It ( 11,1, I1,llllc ; he was I'l- I Im,l( ill ,v .I, 1111(11 ,l(vl 111 Illw ( (nuno lilnl Itunn .,llll~r,III . Iril`,\((11111(I,H .IIUI}4(gll(1111 .11111(11(, :11(d )(nl m1r1w(I I(1~(~Ilu r. ,u1rl 1(nl (,11(n (Ilk lr(1l Ilul,ll~ 111,1111 ;1(, II(~ .I~. ;(nl, 1x~11(noa0llu ,(1hlll,ulit) ollcol - his II(y d .1t~( 111,, . 11IIwl( 111 111 u I"" ~ .I l,( ~( 1111( ~II is ,11 Ill (lnlynl,ililnn .II11,1 \illdunlic Still(' u11~, .II(~~Y,1111(~(II(11(n1111I1u~IlI(~,(~II11(v(11 " W nn Iln-wourl,nul,n,1'1'9.1 I,I,1 .1(I~~IuIlu1lit , (I)I11(III,I\(,11,11) )("Ill, lit , (111II1ul,c "r, hill (n,lt(n\ ill .1'111,11i l1Rg11111111~ 111111,( . ~~Ih 11 II(u11Ill\ 1)()illl()I\i('\% IB'YV,1s(xu-

lit (((uf'~((Il ; " n( IIIII1,I,111(h 11'11\19\ 111 III .III\ iIII(-II,Iill4 11)11 peop1( .

1(,111111 111111 ,111 .I  I,I,llll (111( . (11 111% ( 1) - \%h, ( \%( , I( . inlc1T . , 1(v l ill ()1(1 i,l,lli(In( d Cbra Rockmore \\lH1,19, MI(( %%,I-1 11,11111(1 1() Iwlp 111111 (11 " 111 111( ,),'llul 1t t~11(1i111, 111,11 \%c 1(111()1 `" : pWng an RCA V on, I mdlllc,( ,k( , I( lit- , lit L~ (111i(I ( (nil(I11d 11( 1 ,(1i1 .1hIc 1()1 Ill( (I( ~( k11nI1t ltl (1111111 c. vow his 1%ork. I hmcYtv, it \\,I, 1l(11 tlw Iwld 111,11 ,ic ,11 lit . I was interested in, these geometrical figures. Tell us about your dance instru- I can't say that from my point of view the fig- ment, the Terpsitone. ures had a psychological effect on the colors This is a platform that a person dances on . ed with my work, with the I had of the music. When the dancer's body is low, you hear the to see . But anyway, I felt lonely. I sometimes As for him personally, Einstein was a lowest pitch. When the dancer raises her called my wife on the telephone, but I couldn't ` physicist and theorist, but I was not a theorist body, the pitch also goes up. It's also possible get her attention - well, we reallydidn't argue - I was an inventor- so we did not have to dance without changing the sound. For in- - but I felt lonely that I had no wife. that much in common. I had much more kin- stance, ifthe dancer raises one arm and low- I had my studio, where I was conducting ship with someone like Vladimir Ilyich ers the other, there will be no change in pitch. many studies on the Terpsitone . I had a very [Lenin], who was interested in how the whole But if the dancer raises both arms, then the beautiful student, a black woman. She danced world is created . pitch will go up . well . And it happened that we liked each other Vlrese came to you to ask you to build How about the loudness, the volume? very much. When I said in my consulate that him an instrument for his piece Ecuatorial, If the dancer goes more forward, it gets I liked a black woman, they said, "Okay, marry an electronic cello. Do you re- louder. When she her." Then we went to the consulate, where member that? steps back, the we were married, and that was my marriage I made my electronic cello, sound gets quieter. number two . Her name was Lavinia Williams. not only for Varese, but for all I had a Terpsi- When I left America - I had to leave America those who were interested. It was tone dance studio - she was to be sent in a few weeks. not just the instrument played in New York . I Why did you leave New York? with hands in the air. It was a dif- had many pupils I left New York because at that time the dancing there. war was coming . The military troops of the ferenthadinstrument, like a cello, that a fingerhoard . But in- There was an- fascists were approaching Leningrad, and so stead of pressing down on strings, other instrument, on . I asked do be sent to the Soviet Union it was necessary just to place the Rhythmicon? so as to make myself useful . I asked many For a whole year I asked to be sent one's fingers in different places, This was an in- times. had thereby creating different pitches . strument that pro- back. The war already started, and they I have photographs of the instru- duced one pitch, didn't send me, they didn't send me. Then ment . It was also called the plus all of its har- at last they permitted me . They assigned me Thereminvox . There was one As part of the Stanford concert monics . Each of to be an assistant to the captain of a large man who was very much inter- given in honor, instru- the harmonics motor ship. So I went home, but they did not ested in this instrument. He ment designer/ Don was heard as a se- take my wife. was the conductor Leopold euchlo performs using his Thunder ries of repeating So what happened then? Stokowski, who had ordered in- controller. notes separated by I was arrested, and I was taken prisoner. struments especially for the silences. For each Not quite a prisoner, but they put me in Philadelphia orchestra. I made ten instruments harmonic, the repetition speed was related a special lab in the Ministry of Internal Af- especially for Stokowski . They used it in con- to the number of the harmonic . For instance, fairs. There I worked in this lab just as oth- certs, and it created a great impression . when you have the pitch three times higher ers worked. (Airplane designer] Andrei Please tell us about Stokowski. [the third harmonic], it will repeat three times Tupolev was imprisoned in such a way too, About Stokowski I can say yes, I remem- as fast as the fundamental pitch. You could if you know about that . He was considered ber him. He was of course a great conductor. select which harmonics you wanted to hear. to be a prisoner, and I was considered a He was very interested in technical resources, Do you have anything more to add about prisoner too. of course: not in the electronics specifically, your life in New York? So what did you do in that lab? but in what new sounds, what new timbres, There are many interesting things connect- Electronics and other things that were

CLARA ROCKMORE PHOTO COURTESY BIG BRIAR, INC . FEBRUARY 1992/KEYBOARD S 7 1111 as 1Crrihle' ~11 "Ixiscn," but I %%,1ti i1nI)ris- olued tlwre lot 6k"111 \c'll" . Il'Ilm dicl l rnc clo xicr tou lu (mm . Ircc! I sl,cyed ill Im bol) . I irsl l w,ls 11111cv some supervision, and [lien I became Ilw director of the lab . I remained in the same place. I had some new things that I invented . I received mostly associated with mili- tunately there would he a second investiga- a big bonus; I received an apartment . It was tary matters : television and tion . There was a second investigator, who at that time that I got remarried, to Maria. Eight other types of communica- also asked questions . And they wrote down years elapsed while I was there. tion . that everything would he fine . But after that, Even when I was interned I was treated Weren't you in a camp? together with the other prisoners, I went with very well . I was not considered to be in At one time, on the way Tupolev. Officially I was (onsidered a prisoner, prison, but I worked as a normal person . I was to the laboratory, I was sent but as soon as I arrived they made me the su- the head of the lab, and when they liberated to a camp, where they did pervisor of a group of prisoners . me I was still working in the same lab. It road construction . I was assigned to be su- Why was your name not mentioned in the turned out that when I was free it was much pervisor over the prisoners . From there, after West? We have one book that says that you more difficult to work in the lab. When I was eight months on road construction, I was sent died around 1945. [Andy Mackay, Electronic considered to be imprisoned I had a super- with Tupolev to the Aviation Institute . Many Music: The Instruments, the Music & the Mu- visor, and they would say to me that I had important people worked there: [Missile de- sicians, Control Rim Publishing, 1981 .] to do this and that . Then, when I was freed, signer] Sergei Korolyov worked there for me. Because at that time my arrival was kind I had to do it myself. Then I had to fuss, do Why were you arrested? of secret . At the end of the long situation, much more paperwork, keep an office in or- We were all under suspicion, all the peo- a long time passed, about half a year, and der. The work became much worse,. ple, and I as a suspicious person was assigned then there was a procedure that was standard I went on pension in 1966 or '67 . Then to be under investigation . The investigator with many people who were under suspi- I started to look for an organization where was occupied with my case for a month or cion. At that time it was quite acceptable I could work . The first place I came to work more . He and the magistrate asked me all for people to he det .iincd in such a way. I was at the Moscow Conservatory. Thvy gave kinds of questions . This was all very formal, was appointed to be in charge of the lab- me a space, and I started to work on the elec- and they congratulated me and said that ev- oratory, but it was written that they could tronic musical instrument and the dancing erything was okay, but they said that unfor- detain me as a prisoner . They used a word instruments at the conservatory.

There was a very unpleasant situation at Then how did you live? How did you Main chassis the conservatory that I'm going to tell you survive? of an RCA ?e,7 about. One of the journalists from The New Later on I had some other kinds of in- Theremin, me York Times came to Svishnikov, the director, ventions . I was working in the university. recently for and said, "We thought Theremin was dead, Which university was that? restored by ad but it turns out that he's working here . I would Moscow University, dep .lrtnlent of Robert Moog. ed like to nuvet him, 10 S(Y' 111111, 10 lilld out wh,lt ac OUSlic s. vas he's been doing." Svishnikov called me to his You spoke about a polyphonic instru- ght office, and I talked to the journalist . I showed ment. laid it exist? I11V the man musical instrunu'nt, ,1 gluul Yes, I did m.1k1- slk 11 ,111 inslmllwnt . ec 1 llulmvilwlll,l I Il.ulm,ulm.,uvlllu'll.uu I wrs()11 mu l11 rcgu l, l l~' ()I)(' ~ l lll < . irn.; instnumvll . H1' li~l'cl tlu'111 w'n m1k h . ()1 4lll " s,1meIinu 11 It 1H,kldIm1 a1S ilk'[]11 ~IUI II,111In d 111.11 ill .1 Ow 111I1u1'1'Ilulll \lnll' , \\Il11II \\1111111 l,llu ecl 1k\\,I 1,1111\191,11n1l .11111111 .III11Il'Ill,ll I u' II I ~111111' u 111 111 111111'( I II II1'I\,IIIk 1,(I(1111, It Flu 1 I1 , 111i11 ; Illi,,11111111,11, 1 11'1 Ilk ,11 11111 I 1111',111 11111111,11, 11'1,1111111,11111 111 ch sisal instruments in the conservatory, instru- some natural pitch system . You as ments for dancing. ('Music: Leon Theremin" change the pitch with the right er- by Harold C. Schonberg, The New York hand just as it was with my other instruments, and rooms reassigned . The instrument was ad Times, April 26, 1967.1 This very newspaper and the amplitude with the left hand. But then left in a room for four years, where people !d, got into the hands of Svishnikov's assistant ; if you move the left hand from left to right, you could come and gradually dismantle it. So now do u his name z was Nuzhin, and he did not know can select 12 or 13 different intervals in exact it is in a completely dismantled and ruined )r- what I was doing there. This is how he learned relation to the melody - 3:4, 5:7, and so on . condition at the university somewhere . that electrical musical instruments were being So there m were two antennas for the left After that I started working on a new in- en made in u the conservatory. He announced that, hand, one for the volume and one to select strument . The old instrument was made using re m "Electricity is not good for music. Electricity the chords. "radio lamps," but the new instrument I started rk is to be used for electrocution ." So he ordered That is correct . making was based on semiconductors . The ve that all these instruments be removed from 0 Does the instrument still exist? project was going well . It was partially com- u the conservatory, and Theremin too, and to I had the instrument 0 in the university in pleted when I had to clear out the place rig throw all these 0 things out, and that there be a special place where I demonstrated it for where the instrument was located because x no more d projects at the conservatory. my lectures. But the university was reorganized there were other projects going on that were

.~.~ . s . . . , . . ., INTRODUCING THE FIRST PORTABLE STUDIO WITH A PH HIC MEI Y You didn't become a musician to clutter 99 different "scenes"can be storied, and your head with repetitious moceradjustrr , therearealso 12 SoTascam invented AutomaticlAbaer mon tracking "W and W*195 - -1 Routing k1i newtechnology that letsyou ftr instant use. getthe old hasslesdmultitrack meting. The result? Alot lesstime spentasa Our 644integrated portable studio knobjockey and a lot moretime as a .....4..r ...,-..__I_IAr.L A . _~ 4 musi- Maef Routinggyou make the adjustments (like inpAselections, channel mute_settingsand group

tronic,*usingthe remarka*simple Display Scieen, 4 Once setup the644taeair "snapshot"ofit. Up to

YOU must make the impression that Ili'il I vv,i~ ,ill()wed to (()111( , here. II \l ( mS IIx"rn" will he 110 Ixmishnx "n1 l()r IM, it VI1u %%I tc ill Il l( , nc "wtl~ .~lx "r,1Ixxlt ill I liavVI(fld vcxI . I li()pc" nothing will haplx"n . Well see What happens . The same with my inw"ntiom. I want to stress to you that all this needs to done in a disciplined way, and that when In what year was this? be unrelated to music. The chair- people will be asking about me and writing Approximately - I am afraid to say - man of the physics depart- me, that all this be done in a respon- It was about '78. about ment considered music not to '78. if you write that I have said a message now that you sible way. But science, that this should Do you have government and be a Western World? something against the Soviet place at the uni- would like to convey to the else- not be taking wanted to that I have said that it is better to work the What words! The only thing I versity, and I had to vacate where, then I shall have difficulties back home ask, if it were allowed by the Soviet govern- room that I was occupying at [ironic laughter] . is that I be allowed to promote my in- the university. ment,

l T'°9FF~ AG~~rFsL.F Requests? A~ Ma ,7/ Special tigsFSr 9r s

00

(800) 800-4654 FILLED OVERNIGHT!

6"N AMERICA'S IN-STOCK IRM-7L 51' I AILABLE I FA X: IN I-LOHIDA DIAL 2204 FAST /I// ISROR011GII A WNW, (813)237-5597 813)238-5443 33610.

.. R E_.,_ F EA T S

82 GENESIS The world's most successful trio discus%e% the Phil Collins drum sound, the Tiny Banks keylxurd style, Mid d dirty guitar sample from Mikv Rullierford, along with other enlightening details on a track- by-track tour of We Can't 11rrmv.

20 WORLD VIEW Starr I'arodi sleln out Irom the I'osse. le( hrwids gather ,if AI S . Air! news flows in honr tar and wick.

36 MOZART'S KEYBOARDS A search for the comlxrser's favorite instruments le .uls 1() .i few dead ends but also finds some harp- sichords, clavirhoxds-1nd even a tiny practice key- hoard in the oddest places .

46 LEON THEREMIN After more than 11.ilf a century under Irx k and key in Rus- si.t, .I lt'go"ndary instrument designer returns to America to visit old friends and share recollections of Einstein, Lenin, and the pioneer days of .

57 KEYBOARD CYNIC: MARK OF VOL . 18, NO . 2 (ISSUE x190) FEBRUARY 1! THE UNICORN PERFORMRR How to Perform, including time code and sys-ex tricks, fun with sliders, and the KEYBOARD : mystery of moving chunks. 139 ALESI5 D4 Percussion tone module. 130 GIVEAWAY Win one of four huge Atari-based sys- 140 OPCODE STUDIO S tems, with software from C-Lab, Stein- Integrated multi-function MIDI interface . berg, Hybrid Arts, and Dr. T's powering 1040 STe, TT030, and other Atari ma- 145 ROLAND 5-750 chines. Total value-$30,000! Rack-mount stereo sampler.

96 ZAPPA'S UNIVERSE 148 DIGIDESIGN PRO TOOLS, PART ONE Backstage at Frank Zappa's 50th birthday Multi-channel direct-to-hard-disk recording festivities, where a famous classical pi- & editing system . anist, a 21-yearold Swedish synth whiz, and the shade ofeErik Satie find common ground . Also, a look at Zappa's best-known piano piece, "Little House." 157 SNORT TAKES Anatek Pocket Mapped Curve, & Sync. COVER: Manipulation by Richard Leeds Studio Electronics Obie-Eight & Midimini .

LETTERS 1313 a I N S T R LI C T 1 O N A L C O L U M N S 1S OTHER WINDOWS Jim Aikin prescribes a cure for mediocrity. 112 TECHNOLOGY FOR POETS 126 IMPROVISATIONAL PIANO Jim Aikin introduces the synthesizer. Robert L. Doerschuk looks at the 1 QIIBSTImNE Professor Longhair style. a 116 MAKING TRACKS 19 CRUTIVE OPTIOIIB Brent Hurtig finds that every monitor 130 MIND OVER MIDI has its place. Connor FreffCochran dusts Chris Meyer tackles the myths of off & boots up. General MIDI . 118 REEL WORLD NOTEBOOK 21 DISCOVERIES Jeff Rona joins Hans Zimmer on 131 DRUM MACHINE PROGRAMMING Green Card. Norman Weinberg sprinkles some 25 IN percussion spice. uwuF 123 INSIDE THE MUSIC 163 SPRC !1"111 Dave Stewart shows how to avoid 133 POWER SEQUENCING arguments over cross-rhythms . Craig Anderton on the fine art of tweaking. 171 CLAfS1H1D ADS 124 ARRANGING Eric Turkel squints at small 135 SONG11MITIINi 176 ADVERTISER INDEX horn parts. Jesse Harms celebrates melody.

FEBRUARY 1992/KEYBOARD