Hello,
A few years ago I developed some source code to add MIDI to open theremin V3. Recently, I saw that @Dewster was asking himself the same question as me.
Then I thought that it would be good to discuss how digital theremins manage their MIDI messages. I started the discussion there but I don't want to sidetrack this thread which contains a lot of important information about the D-Lev Project.
The goal is to see how we can use the MIDI standard to transmit the most precisely the subtle information about hands' position near the antennas and get a MIDI signal that is intelegible for any external synth.
I'd like this forum thread to be for all those who have a project of MIDI theremin.
I start taking as a prerequisite that the reader has basic knowledge about Theremin itself, MIDI connections, MIDI message structure, etc...
So, what are we speaking about ?
We want to play our favorite MIDI synth with our favorite MIDI Theremin.
For that, we have the MIDI standard which defines NOTE ON/OFF messages, aftertouch messages, Pitch Bend messages and Continuous Controler changes (MIDI CC).
MIDI was designed in early 1980's arround a 7 bit architecture. It has some limitation that recent evolutions of the standard try to cover.
Our chance is that theremin is most frequently a monophonic instrument so we will probably not have to deal with MPE (Midi Polyphonic Expression).
But it is a precise intrument and, as such, we may need to extend our architecture to 14 bits sometime and reach some limitation of the standard.
[EDIT]: I currently just present the topic. I'll post more reflexion in a while. If this topic is interesting for you, just let me know...