Idea for Theremin Staccato Pedal

"I thought the pistons might be pricy, but gosh! That much!" - Gordon

I did a quick search for "linear displacement transducer" - The application I needed one for was quite special (detecting surface tension of a film of phospholipids on the surface of water as a barrier compressed the surface, and therebye first detecting the peak at which the surface molecules overlapped and the film collapsed but then using this tension reference and controlling the barrier so one could maintain a layer of 1 molecule on the surface while dipping substrates to deposit this layer on them) so I thought perhaps I was way out, and chep ones might be available.

Ones capable of what I did them are far more expensive now!... And in a quick scan I only found (among the £150+ transducers) one cheap one at 89p! ..  Just had to look into it ! ;-) .. RS components  Data sheet .. Even with the data, I have no real idea about its operation (resistive?) but it looks possibly interesting.

Oh, did see one at £4.84 but it isn't the transducer, its a mechanical adaptor for a transducer.

Anyway, there are hundreds readily available from RS, Mouser,Farnell etc.. Search for "linear transducer" "linear displacement transducer" and / or LVDT - I only looked at the first hit -

Fred.

Perhaps you folks would like this since it is cheap and user friendly:

https://www.boss.info/us/products/sl-20/

I prefer staccato the old fashioned way, with fast hands and a tight volume field.

You just have to alternate between staccato and legato otherwise you might have to take year off from playing like I did.

Using the foot to tap out rhythm is a lot slower than what the hand can do. That also brings the problem of body movement affecting the pitch.

Fortunately there is a way to do faster volume play - invert the volume  field mapping. You can move your hand downwards a lot  faster than you can move it upwards. 

Perhaps you folks would like this since it is cheap and user friendly:https://www.boss.info/us/products/sl-20/
I prefer staccato the old fashioned way, with fast hands and a tight volume field.You just have to alternate between staccato and legato otherwise you might have to take year off from playing like I did.Using the foot to tap out rhythm is a lot slower than what the hand can do. That also brings the problem of body movement affecting the pitch.Fortunately there is a way to do faster volume play - invert the volume  field mapping. You can move your hand downwards a lot  faster than you can move it upwards.

Off topic for the O.P., but I tried just using a passive stutter pedal (like this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exUVH0Fnoo0) it works really well to create staccato notes but unfortunately it makes a popping sound in the amp when you engage/disengage due to change in voltage. A similar active (powered) pedal might work better but I haven't been able to find one (and of course I'm all ears if someone has another idea of how to eliminate the popping).

An alternative might be to use some sort of noise gate pedal to mute below a certain threshold (e.g. equiv. of 2" above volume loop) to allow quick staccato notes just at that particular volume for those of us whose wrists don't move fast enough to get from 0 to 2" quickly enough

Thanks Christopher. The clip you posted doesn't have as sharp an attack as I want but I assume this one is generated w/ the same hardware? http://www.oldtemecula.com/theremin/pitch-popper/sounds/altermen12db.mp3

I'd rather have a pedal so I can use the volume loop for expressiveness, pedal for "punctuation" but I'm guessing this is a simple variation. Also, pardon my ignorance, but how do you connect this to the instrument?  

I'd rather have a pedal so I can use the volume loop for expressiveness, pedal for "punctuation" but I'm guessing this is a simple variation. Also, pardon my ignorance, but how do you connect this to the instrument? 

The audio signal from the theremin output passes through this configuration into your amplifier. You would use a breakout cable for an ideal match.

The simple method with a longer black tube for the foot to step-on might work or use no tube, you just break the beam for clean 1/2" movement switch action, the audio passes through the Cds or LDR Cell. Mechanical switches of any type are going to add unwanted noise to your sound.

All one needs for staccato play is very fast hands and a model 302 theremin. Standard volume mapping makes staccato play impossible without an assist. Reversing volume mapping and making the volume field small permits staccato play. If one persists, pizzicato play is also within grasp. Guitar distortion effects make it even crisper.

EHX Attack Decay works well to get short bursts from theremin...I’ve used it to get some clunky drum sounds from the theremin’s unprocessed output (has to be first in the effects loop to trigger reliably).

Can’t trigger the bursts very fast—I find the gesture over the volume antenna to be difficult—and the Attack Decay ‘s sensitivity is not ideally suited to fast “theremin drumming”....but i’ve Gotten some satisfying slow rhythms from this setup.