| StoreTags: balls, Ondes Martenot, French
Author: Roshi on August 25 2008 Viewed 1741 times. 25 people liked this blog. You can rate it below if you haven't already.
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I have fallen in love with the Ondes Martenot.
The OM is an early electronic instrument that was invented by Maurice Martenot, a fellow cellist. Much like the Theremin, the Martenot has no restrictions on pitch. Unlike the theremin, it's much easier to play. The pitch control consists of a ring on a wire that rests beneath a keyboard, which is worn by the player. By using the keyboard as a reference, the OM player can specify notes by moving the ring around. Wiggling the ring back and forth allows for wonderfully expressive vibrato.
The other large difference between the OM and the theremin is how notes are articulated. Notes are articulated by a weighted button, which controls the volume. Both string like articulations (slow fade ins and outs) and percussive piano like articulations (by tapping the button) can be made.
These two control mechanisms make the OM a wonderfully expressive instrument. It can sound wonderfully ethereal and haunting (like a theremin) or growly and fierce. Different waveforms allow more different timbres. Another option is the type of speaker output, including a speaker that integrates sympathetic strings as a resonator, and another that oddly incorporates a gong.
Many early pieces were written for the OM, including many by Olivier Messaien. Jonny Greenwood uses one quite a lot in both Radiohead and his solo work.
Unfortunately, OMs are no longer made, but Analogue Solutions makes a CV/gate controller called the French Connection that uses a similar control system. They're spendy, but hopefully one of these days, I'll be able to get one!
Here's some videos and OM related links for your viewing pleasure.
Jean Laurendeau and the Ondes Martenot (a wonderful introduction to the world of OM).
Thomas Bloch playing Messaien:
SOS article about the French Connection: link
Obsolete Instruments Article: link
Edit: French Connection video (thanks, energygiant)
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edited: Aug 25 2008
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bodo
Truly wonderful instrument indeed. They sound like magic!
Here's another nice page on the ondes:
link
Don't you just love this photo (EDIT: the one with the ladies, direct linking seems to be down)
link
08/25/08
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Roshi
Thanks for the link, bodo!
It would be neat to get one of those resonator speakers to play around with - it's such a cool idea.
08/25/08
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Fredo
oh my god! Amazing amazing amazing! But how can you get your hands on one? It must be very rare to come by and massively expensive. But, wow, thatnks for sharing!
08/25/08
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energygiant
yesss!
love this video too: youtube.com/watch?v=5XsLwkc67lw
and i love jonny greenwood for bringing this instrument to the masses
08/25/08
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Roshi
Fredo said: "oh my god! Amazing amazing amazing! But how can you get your hands on one? It must be very rare to come by and massively expensive. But, wow, thatnks for sharing!"
Yes, it would be really expensive to track a real one down.
The "cheapest" solution would be to get the French Connection ($2500, oof) and a simple Modular synth (however much you want to pay) to control it with. Although a ribbon controller could possibly work, but not as well...
08/25/08
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lowlifi
The persephone link is pretty close to that, I have wanted one of those for a while.
08/25/08
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Roshi
lowlifi said: "The persephone link is pretty close to that, I have wanted one of those for a while."
Any synth with a Throbbing Gristle recommendation has my $$$. 
Seriously, looks pretty neat. Though I do wish they'd spent more time on the demos.
08/25/08
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Roshi
Also, found this page about L'Ondea, which was a replica that used to be manufactured: link
08/25/08
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goguru
Yeah, it's a great instrument indeed. I had the chance to assist to an Ondes Martenot workshop when I was studying at the University of Montreal. There was this lady (I wish I could remember her name) from the Montreal's music conservatory who specialized in it and she did a demonstration of all its possibilities. She even let some of us try it. It seems very fragile though. Hearing it live is very special, it as a very strong but ethereal presence. She played some of Messiaen's repertory I hadn't heard before and it was amazing.
08/25/08
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jarvis
there seriously needs to be a revolution in modern controllers. there's no reason electronic music has to be stuck with keyboards, piano rolls, or mpc pads for the masses. i feel absolutely no connection with the piano layout, it feels incredibly unnatural to me. granted things like the OM and french connection are monophonic, they open up a whole new realm of expressive ability to people who don't typically relate to standard interfaces.
08/25/08
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Fredo
I want one of these so bad it hurts!
08/25/08
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Roshi
jarvis said: "there seriously needs to be a revolution in modern controllers. there's no reason electronic music has to be stuck with keyboards, piano rolls, or mpc pads for the masses. i feel absolutely no connection with the piano layout, it feels incredibly unnatural to me. granted things like the OM and french connection are monophonic, they open up a whole new realm of expressive ability to people who don't typically relate to standard interfaces."
I agree. It just seems to me that the piano keyboard denies us much of the expressive potential that our synths are capable of.
If one was clever, one could probably adapt a ribbon controller and something like a trigger finger for a similar control scheme. The trigger finger's pads can put out a continuous CC (and could stand in for the left hand control) based on pressure.
08/25/08
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jarvis
well it shouldn't be too difficult to create a CV/gate version of the sliding ring. you just have to figure out how to hook up the string to some sort of multi-turn pot the expression button seems like it would just control the vca level. so i guess it qould be more of a dual CV output: one for pitch, one for vca level (which you could also probably team a gate or trigger output to).
08/25/08
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fora
haha, not quite the finesse of the OM but found this on youtube Video
also this... link
the last link the photos are broken but is an interesting DIY page... link
08/25/08
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fora
strange the you link isn't showing in my last post
link/watch?v=UKjrIoIgdVg
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