Thereminists and theremin enthusiasts have a tough time being anything other than perpetually fascinated and enamored of our favorite electronic instrument. For myself, the magic factor encompasses a) It’s elegant simplicity – there’s a wonderful video segment of the late Dr. Robert Moog, wide-eyed and smiling, saying that if you look inside Theremin’s early instruments “there’s nothing there!” b) You’re not touching anything when you play! c) Playing gives rise to a level and quality of concentration that is entirely unique to the experience; d) The Theremin is so sensitive to external conditions that we ascribe behavior to it – this anthropomorphism eventually imbues it with a full-blown personality (or is it just me?); e) regardless of the type of music or sounds you produce, spectators are immediately enthralled.

The theremin has been used with full orchestras, electronic ensembles, for movies, TV, rock and roll records, and countless other ways. The one subject rarely, if ever, touched upon (and again, maybe it’s just me): the theremin has got to be the silliest instrument ever created. It’s essentially a box with two antennae that makes noise corresponding to the slightest movement. A theremin produces only a single, continuous tone. That’s all. Sure, it changes pitch, but in its most elemental state all you get is:

Oooooo!

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The Korg Kaossilator is an ultra-portable pocket synthsizer. It comes with 100 great sounding on-board presets ranging from acoustic instruments through to spiky lead patches and gut wrenching bass. Along the way you will come across chilled out pads, sweeping chords, a variety of percussive sounds and drum loops featuring some nice and dirty granular decay. This little groove box also gives you a comprehensive arsenal of synth effects, including some wicked analogue blips and beeps. The range of sounds available from the Korg Kaossilator belies its diminutive size.

Perhaps the most significant distinguishing feature of the Kaossilator is its lack of a keyboard. The device is played using a touch sensitive control surface, a characteristic of Korg’s range of Kaoss Pad effects processor units. The Kaossilator’s touch pad has a two octave range, with pitch controlled along the x-axis. The y-axis provides an additional dimension of control which varies from on preset to another. Similar to the control surface on the Kaoss Pad range, the y-axis on the Kaossilator touch pad often controls a filter, or changes the timbre of the sound produced. For other presets the y-axis can be used to add layers to the basic sound, or degrade it with nice, crunchy, granular distortion.

But it’s not just about the sounds. The Korg Kaossilator is stuffed full of other features that make it the miniature musical monster that it is. The pitch and tempo are fully controllable from 20 to 300 bpm, and across a two octave range. Tempo can be dialled in manually, or entered using the “tap” feature. The device also has a gate arpeggiator which boast 50 different programs, controlling the way the current preset is played. The gate arpeggiator setting range from a regular LFO style standard rhythm tied in to the Kaossilator’s tempo setting, to intricate syncopation across three or four bars.

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Anyone learning to play electronic keyboard will need an instrument to practice on at home soon after starting tuition. This guide aims to help beginning electronic keyboard players decide on an appropriate first instrument, as there is an overwhelming range of electronic keyboards on the market today.

As the saying goes “a bad workman blames his tools”, but you can get a great head-start as a musician by purchasing the best quality electronic keyboard you can possibly afford. I’d say you should budget on spending £200-£500 on your first keyboard. This isn’t that much if your going to be forking out for weekly lessons- I imagine you want to hear the the best results of all that time, money and effort when your practising at home!

Most teachers should have no problem with you waiting until you have the money to buy a good quality keyboard with all the features you need, rather than buying something straight away which will quickly need upgrading. And compared to other musical instruments, good keyboards are quite inexpensive. At least they can sound like any instrument you choose and can play in all styles. The keyboard is certainly the instrument for those who enjoy variety!

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