Comments on: Tiny optical theremins

By: jcocchia

jcocchia — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:24:36 +0000

googfan is right! I’ve seen his can o noise 1st hand when he made it a few years back.

By: Ching Durnil

Ching Durnil — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:27:06 +0000

Wow! Was für eine Idee! Was für ein Konzept! Beautiful .. Amazing …:)

By: Roly

Roly — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:01:57 +0000

The Frostwave Spacebeam Theremin and CV controller is a developed version of something similar, that has been around for a while now. For potted Theremin history and Spacebeam overview see;
http://www.frostwave.com/spacebeam/

@stunmonkey – It’s cute to make it very simple, but the real trick with theremin design is to make it *controllable* by a *musician*. /elektor/ published a design (and discussion) that, while pretty complex, looks ‘safe’ for performance work.

By: googfan

googfan — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:38:28 +0000

that dick! he stole my idea!! go to http://www.instructables.com/id/Googfans_Can_of_Sound

By: medix

medix — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 17:06:19 +0000

Let’s grow a pair and build it with tubes.. then you really *can* call it a theremin..

By: j-striker

j-striker — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 15:57:07 +0000

Yeah, that laptop thing IS neat. Too bad the code doesn’t run :/

By: strider_mt2k

strider_mt2k — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 11:51:12 +0000

Careful man, those Theremin guys will cut you if you even pretend to emulate a Theremin and call it by the only name you could possibly reference.

They’re mean and quick with the sharp steel!

Beware!

By: stunmonkey

stunmonkey — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 10:01:07 +0000

It takes a pair of analog oscillators heterodyning, not just one, for the frequency control. Its raw and messy, as the different harmonics you >don’t< intend from the interaction of the analog coils is what makes the warm signature sound of a theremin. Digital square waves don’t work for that and make for a lousy emulation. There is also the touchless volume control on a Theremin through a similar setup, and that isn’t even attempted to be emulated.

Again, cool synth/noisemaker/whatever. Not a Theremin though. Might as well just call it a guitar or a cell phone. They all make noise so they are the same thing, right?

By: stunmonkey

stunmonkey — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:47:43 +0000

That is a >truly< brilliant hack on that laptop!

Still not a theremin though :(

By: ragnar

ragnar — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:47:06 +0000

do a google for “theremin schematic”. and as i see it, a theremin is an oszillator with a touchless frequencycontrol, which this little project offers.

By: Gert

Gert — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:34:52 +0000

How about a theremin on nothing but standard PC laptop hardware:

http://zevv.nl/play/code/ultrasonic-theremin/

By: stunmonkey

stunmonkey — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 09:10:42 +0000

Neat toy, good project, looks like fun, but it’s not a Theremin. At all. Not even kind of.

Anybody out there have insights into actually constructing a Theremin? It would be really interesting to a lot of folks here I’m sure. I’d really love to see how to build one at any rate!

By: Tony

Tony — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 05:43:55 +0000

This is pretty sweet, very low parts count too. This is by far the simplest theremin (if you can still really call it that) that I’ve seen. Good find.

By: Louis II

Louis II — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:51:35 +0000

SWEET <– capslocked.

By: Drew

Drew — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:59:32 +0000

I made one of these for a project; I used the schematic on the last link, but I translated it to use on a breadboard. It worked well, and it makes awesome sounding square waves.