The Russian pioneer of electronic music instruments Lev Thermen visited Michel Waisvisz at STEIM in Amsterdam. At this historical occasion Thermen played Waisvisz' instrument The Hands.

Years before this meeting Waisvisz' father had built Thermens invention: the 'ThermenVox' for his 16 year old son. This was Michel Waisvisz first confrontation with an electronic music instrument that had to be played in a physical way. After having experimented with the development of electro-mechanic music instruments, the ThermenVox proved to Michel Waisvisz that, in contradiction to many opinions in that time, a physical approach in electronic music was worth exploring!
The ThermenVox became an inspiration for Waisvisz electronic instrument design. However very soon Waisvisz went for the Touch approach.
Touching the electronic circuit and thereby influencing the sounds became Waisvisz' early trademark.