A Version of Theremin's Rhythmicon

Intro - Screen Shot - What it sounds like - How you play it

Intro

Theremin's rhythmicon plays interesting and harmonious polyrhyhmic pitched rhythms. The original invention is probably the first ever drum machine.

Theremin's rhythmicon plays interesting and harmonious polyrhyhmic pitched rhythms. The original invention is probably the first ever drum machine. It was invented by Léon Theremin. Each key plays a number of beats per bar and a pitch in the harmonic series. These combine to make the pitched rhythms, which change as you press and release the keys.

It is an astonishing invention for its time (between the two World Wars at the dawn of electronics, in 1931). To find out more about the original invention see Rhythmicon (Wikipedia).

In this instrument the first key plays 1 beat to the bar, then it's 2 beats per bar for the second key all the way to 16 beats per bar for the last key.

The notes always sound harmoniously together as each rhythm is played on a different note in the harmonic series. Notes of the harmonic series sound good together (on most instruments, anything with a "harmonic timbre").

So anything you play on this instrument sounds nice, whatever you do is right.

It's an instrument for making interesting intricate pitched polyrhythms. Don't expect to be able to play tunes that you know.

To find this metronome, download Bounce Metronome Pro, and select the A Version of Theremin's Rhythmicon from the drop list. You get a free 30 day Test drive - with all the features completely unlocked.

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Screen Shot (doesn't play notes)

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Screen shot of the version of the Rhythmicon with some of the parts in colour and some in gray - the ones in gray are silenced

As with the Basic Metronome, you can accent or unaccent beats with RIGHT CLICK, skip beats with LEFT CLICK, adjust beat volumes with MIDDLE CLICK or SHIFT + LEFT CLICK. For details see the page about the Basic metronome.

You can also play your rhythm with a lilt or swing, varying the metrical pulse for each part if you like too, which alters the rhythm in interesting ways - or play with a gradually changing tempo, or add a lilt to the bar timings. For more about this see the page about the Pro metronome.

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What it sounds like

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Here is what it sounds like with a selection of the rhythms playing: Rhythmicon with 1 2 3 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 15 and 16 beats to the bar

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How you play it

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The instrument starts off with all the parts silenced. You silence or play any of the parts by pressing keys on your keyboard - the number keys 1 to 9 for the first 9 parts, then 0 for part 10, then the first six letters of the next row of the keyboard for the next six parts (usually q w e r t y).

You can also press the letter key A at any time to silence all the parts. This is useful if you have set up a rhythm and want to switch off all the parts quickly to make a new rhythm. You can also press the Z key to play all the parts. Alternative keys are available for both shortcuts, for easy access while playing.

Here is what the keyboard display looks like mid-play.

Screen shot of PC Keyboard with some of the key locations highlighted, with numbers to show which part gets silenced or played by each key

Here is what it sounds like with the keys pressed as shown: Rhythmicon with 1 2 3 5 7 8 10 12 14 and 15 beats to the bar

By pressing other keys to silence or play parts you can play many different pitched rhythms like this.

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