Lately I've gotten obsessed with the sound of a couple of old Outer Limits scores from the 60s, namely The Nightmare and (same music repurposed a bit) The Mice, which used an instrument called the ONAFETS (the surname of the show's producer, Joseph Stefano, spelled backward). Composer Dominic Frontiere often paired it with flute in these episodes, but here's a clip of it playing solo.
https://youtu.be/Mt5Zvf2q0eM?t=298
If you google a little you'll find a description of the instrument as "a makeshift, synthesizer prototype created by John Elizalde especially for the episode that looked 'like a big studio time-clock'; it was operated by means of a 'rheostat-type dial with the approximate pitches (notes) marked on the dial by masking tape.'
I started playing around with a couple of synths in my DAW last night to try to get this sound, even experimenting with the Soundiron Theremin vst, but to no avail. When I first heard this score, I actually thought the instrument was an Ondes Martenot, so I wonder if that might get me closer
What do you guys think?
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