I discover the magic of theremins only weeks ago. I was curious how low can the detectable energy go - I searched and did find a cat creating tones, how low can the life form detectable threshold go ? (Hamster? mouse? Snake?). Does the lower levels of detection depend on the sophistication (technically) of the theremin equipment? does anyone know?
What is the lowest life form that can create a sound?
Posted: 12/1/2013 9:59:55 PM
From: Eastleigh, Hampshire, U.K. ................................... Fred Mundell. ................................... Electronics Engineer. (Primarily Analogue) .. CV Synths 1974-1980 .. Theremin developer 2007 to present .. soon to be Developing / Trading as WaveCrafter.com . ...................................
Joined: 12/7/2007
Hello Cyberfind ;-)
Perhaps one of the stragest questions ever asked on TW, I think ! LOL..
But I dont understand a word of it!
Are you talking about lowest pitch, "lowest" lifeform, lowest energy, detection, or production ?
And how does any of this relate to the theremin (or, for that matter, to "technical theory")?
You see, theremins dont detect energy - they respond to capacitance .. So a slug on an antenna will be 'detected' (it will change the capacitance marginally, which will change the theremins pitch - even if this change in pitch is too small for most people to hear)
In general, the theremin responds to capacitive 'bulk' and the distance of this 'bulk' from the antenna - an elephant at 2M will probably have the same influence as a human at 60cm - or something like that - depends on the bulk of the given human vs given elephant.. and whether the elephant is facing the antenna or sideways to it, or what its doing with its trunk...
But also, life-form has nothing to do with it - we are detected because we are conductive "ugly bags of mostly water" - An inanimate bag of iron filings will also be detected (As will a bag of water), the only difference being that the bag of iron filings will (probably) find the theremin even more difficult to play than we do!
;-)
Fred.
#ps - In terms of sensitivity, its not about "lowest" or "highest" life form - its about size.. would be damn difficult to detect an ameoba moving its pseudopodia with a theremin, even if it was the "highest" and most intellegent organism on earth -
#ps.. I like your selection of animals - but you left oot guinea pigs.. They are quite closely related to us, and I think they (like us) learned music from the birds..
If you meant to ask what the "lowest" life form capable of PLAYING the theremin is, well, thats unanswerable - because you need to define what you mean by "playing".. Were those notorious cats actually "playing" ? - for that matter, are many of the you-tube "thereminists" actually "playing" ?
As this is a TECHNICAL theory forum, we dont engage in such "subjective" discussions here! ;-) Perhaps one of the musical theory or philosophy or other forums are better for such discussion..
Particularly as us Technologists are so extremely well behaved that we never invade those forums to talk technologh ;-) ROFLMAO !!!!!
;-)
Posted: 12/1/2013 10:40:44 PM
Hello Cyberfind,
You have an exploring mind and I like that.
"I was curious how low can the detectable energy go"
Like you I do not speak engineer-eeze so your question is logical. Your use of the word "detectable energy" I would think of as the senses detecting sound or light energy. Your use of the word "low" I think of frequency.
Humans can't hear the very smooth sine wave audio sound below 20 Hz unless it has distortion but if instead of driving a speaker cone, you drive a light bulb humans can see a sine wave below 20 Hz down to anything if you wait long enough, its called a blinking light.
This animal senses below 20 Hz or (pulses) cycles per second.
deep.mp3 A hint, it lives in the ocean. This sound was generated with a theremin. (-:
Christopher
Posted: 12/2/2013 7:03:24 AM
From: Eastleigh, Hampshire, U.K. ................................... Fred Mundell. ................................... Electronics Engineer. (Primarily Analogue) .. CV Synths 1974-1980 .. Theremin developer 2007 to present .. soon to be Developing / Trading as WaveCrafter.com . ...................................
Joined: 12/7/2007
Just re-reading the title of this thread (rather than the content of your posting) - "
What is the lowest life form that can create a sound?
the answer probably is that every living animal creates sound - even the ameoba creates complex sounds continuously due to the vibrations of its pseudopodia, and everything that produces regular mechanical actions (breathing, heartbeat, whatever) is producing "pitches".. Both the "highest" and "lowest" forms of life eat and excrete - and these functions always produce sounds ;-).. then, of course there is replication, and the often noisy processes involved with that..
Even irregular movements produce sound - the flow of liquids in plants, for example, produces sound..
Then, up at high frequency, even inanimate objects produce sounds (all of which can be detected with appropriate equipment) - everything above absolute zero temperature is moving / vibrating.
I guess everything creates sound - even in space.. except that in space the sounds are contained in the originating body and cannot radiate. (in space, nobody can hear you scream.. Except yourself! ;-).. (sound in such circumstances is damped through conversion to heat, which is radiated - as happens in all circumstances - except that in space none of the sound energy is 'lost' through propogation - so screaming in your space suit will warm you up! .. How much will depend on the quality of your suits thermal insulation ;-)
* There is also a question about "sound" vs "emissions" - I worked for Jeremy Lord (Designer of the Sky-Wave analogue synthesiser) , a brilliant whacky analogue engineer, back in the 70's (I was employed as a primarily digital engineer, in his medical electronics division - there was Jeremy, a Suit / Salesman, a software engineer, and me - I learned mor about analogue from Jeremy than from any other person ever) - He produced a "Bio-activity Translator" which detected ES "signals" emitted by plants, and converted these to audio - Whilst not verifiable (the electronics was being driven in ways well outside design specification, and exactly what was being "monitored" was ambiguous) it did seem that plants were "talking" or "singing" to each other - and that certain persons invoked different reactions from the plants - It was really interesting..
If I have answered the wrong question (either in this post or the last) please take a little time to formulate a question which can be understood by technical people in this technical theory forum! - Because if I havent answered your question, I have absolutely no clue about what your question might be! ;-)
@ Christopher:
This forum is for " discussing the math, science, and electronics theory behind the theremin." and a little understanding of basic "Engineer-eze" is probably required for any meaningful participation here.. There are plenty of other forums on TW where one doesnt need any understanding of science or maths or theremin technology, including:
Theremin Newcomers Discussions for new theremin players and enthusiasts
Theremin General General theremin discussions.
Other, Off-Topic, and Misc. A place for "off topic", personal theremin thoughts, non-theremin,and questions about whether cats can really play the theremin, and whether theremin playing is a low-life persuit, and where theremin "imitations" of whale noises may be relevant!! ;-)
;-)
Posted: 12/18/2013 1:41:56 PM
From: Eastleigh, Hampshire, U.K. ................................... Fred Mundell. ................................... Electronics Engineer. (Primarily Analogue) .. CV Synths 1974-1980 .. Theremin developer 2007 to present .. soon to be Developing / Trading as WaveCrafter.com . ...................................
Joined: 12/7/2007
"How about some of the life forms in Washington DC? They make lots of noise...LOL! " - Bisem
Yeah, dont they! - And its not just in Washington - That Sub-Species is dominant everywhere.
I suspect their dominance is due to the sounds they produce - it resonates in the minds of those who hear it, and distorts / confuses any reasoning capability the hearer has - it works best on the simple minded.. But alas, sometimes even normally rational people fall victim.
Fred.
Oh, "normally rational " is probably wrong.. Rational is probably an abnormal state.
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