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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 took 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 instead of antennas, 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 with
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