Build an Electro-Theremin or Tannerin

Hmm... It would work just fine, and it is nice in the sense that it would give you four different waveforms and a practically linear control, however it would be susceptible to drift, but mine seems to be quite stable. Anyway, my circuit uses a 555 timer as a voltage controlled oscillator. I have never been bothered by the fact that my circuit isn't linear. Theremins aren't linear either, so I was happy.

I have a version of the electro-theremin that works quite nicely. It was made by Mike Beauchamp of Canada, and he sells them. You can see his web site: http://therevox.com/

...sorry, I might be a little off, but, are you looking for something like this:

http://www.doepfer.de/R2M.htm?

I did use the 'R2M' in my 'very noisy intro' - which is available for listening at my MySpace-site at http://myspace.com/o8o8; with it I control an synthesized accordeon, which is then routed through some filters...ok, it sounds more like a guitar or bass ;o) - the same effect can be achieved using a theremin, passing the audio through the MIDI-Wave, btw...

Actually, a ribbon controller such as that one would be awesome! It has a control voltage output, which is perfect, since that is all that would be needed to control the circuit in the Tannerin. Linearity would still be a problem, but I don't think that that is a big deal. I wish I could get my hands on one so I can play with it...

And I do know about the Therevox, and I'm sure that it is superior to mine. However, I was quite short on funds, so I had no choice but to build one myself.

I found a nice article explaining the linear vs. exponential problem:

http://www.synthmuseum.com/magazine/linexpo.html

[i]However, I have never been able to find a multi-turn logarithmic pot, so I'm stuck.[/i]

Probably it's a silly suggestion, but could you fit a fusee (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusee_%28part_of_clock%29) onto a linear multiturn pot to make it respond logarithmically?

[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Fusee_With_Cord.png/230px-Fusee_With_Cord.png[/img]

Oh, yeah. I remember a Leonardo da Vinci drawing that used just such a device. It would probably work very well, but unfortunately, I don't have the equipment to make an accurate fusee. I'll still look into it. Thanks for the idea!

To build an accurate fusee, one would need a lathe. I have one with a two inch throw, and I can use it efficiently. If you require a larger radius, my Dad has a four inch throw lathe.
My Dad's lathe could easily make both the shapes required for the fusee. Nylon would be the best material for this application. Interested?
Good Luck!

teslatheremin

I've finally uploaded pictures of my Tannerin. Again, I posted them to my LiveJournal account. You can get to them here:

http://valveman.livejournal.com/

If you want some descriptions of the pictures, or more information, let me know!