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In the late 50’s, Rockmore visited Moscow and by chance made contact with her old friend Léon
Theremin. After 20 years of mysterious silence, she received word to meet Léon on a subway platform,
where they spoke for a few minutes.
It seems Theremin’s disappearance may have had more to do with the IRS than the KGB. What is
certain is that upon Theremin’s return to Russia, he was arrested and sent to the labor camps. He
landed in a secret Soviet laboratory where he developed spy gear for the KGB. He was released in
1947 but “volunteered” to continue with the KGB until 1966.
In 1991 Léon, now 95 years old, returned to New York where he gave concerts, received awards,
and was reunited with Clara Rockmore. It is not clear that he remembered her. He died in Moscow in
1993, aged 97.
As for his namesake invention, the theremin was just too difficult to play to ever achieve wide-spread
popularity. The performer needed to have a very good sense of relative pitch, if not perfect pitch. Also,
the instrument takes a lot of skill to play in a controlled manner. So besides Rockmore, there haven’t
been many other popular thereminists. But the theremin has never completely gone away. In fact, it
has consistently been at the center of a sub-culture passionate about electronic instruments and music,
where people are not afraid to blur the line between technology and art. One of our personal heroes,
Bob Moog, got his start back in the 1960’s designing and selling theremin kits, before he revolutionized
popular and electronic music with his modular synthesizers. At Zeppelin Design Labs, with our love of
electronic instruments and DIY kits, we hope the Altura MkII will continue Léon Theremin’s legacy of
inspiring both artists and electronics nerds.
HOW IT WORKS
Our MIDI version of Léon’s device uses sonar range finders in place of antennae, and rather than
producing sound directly, the Altura MkII emits discreet packets of digital data that are interpreted by a
separate synthesizer or other sound-making device. The Altura’s right-hand sensor transmits Note-On/
Off messages to play specific notes, thus controlling pitch. The left sensor transmits Channel volume
data, thus controlling volume. But this is just the start! The left sensor can be set to transmit many MIDI
functions, like pitch bend, modulation, note velocity, and portamento time. The
Portamento function causes one note to glide smoothly to the next, emulating that
spooky Theremin sound; but the device is always gliding to a specific note within
a key and scale you designate. As a result, the Altura MkII always plays in tune!
In Arpeggio mode, you can program a sequence of up to eight steps that will
alsways play in the scale you specify.
The Altura MkII was designed as a companion to the Macchiato Mini Synth by Zeppelin Design Labs.
There are a few special features that will only work well when paired with the Macchiato. Otherwise,
the Altura MkII conforms with General MIDI specifications and should easily control any device bearing
this mark. Many MIDI devices do not conform to the General MIDI specification. These devices will
not necessarily respond to the Altura MkII as described herein. In these cases, you may need to fiddle
a bit with your synthesizer to get it to behave. Alternatively, you can route your Altura MkII controller
through a software application that will enable you to redirect its data as needed.
