Theremin Harness?

Mmmmmm, i forgot about the Bonzo's theremin leg. i have several prostetic legs lying around, I thionk i need to make one.
i'll have to order one of those small kits

Andy

Thomas,

I was wondering, had you thought about incorporating steadycam technology into your harness?

DIY Steadycam (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/)

I was thinking about a steadycam, but ultimately dismissed the idea, since steadycams are designed to keep the camera (in this case, Theremin) steady and smooth, even when the body is moving more violently. My concern is that if this is used, the Theremin would not be in exact unison with one's body, thus throwing off intonation. The Theremin would sway instead of stay with the body. Then again, the Theremin only needs to stay in unison with one's hand movements. Perhaps it COULD work...it would then be a concern of holding one's hand steady enough to play.

...maybe a rig that solidly hooks the Theremin to one's elbow. Full range can still be achieved by pivoting the elbow. The steadycam would hold the Theremin still enough to play, while remaining in synch with one's arm movements. IT COULD WORK!!!

OMG! I was just checking out steadycam images earlier. Carport's right, a locked down version of steadycam would work nicely. If anything, you'd want the theremin to be in sync with your torso to allow both volume, and pitch arms to be free to move. Hey, I've allready got a B3, just need a steadycam vest, or something like it.

Seriously.
If you have a design for a harness and could add a wireless output to it,
it could open up a lot of creative options for multiple theremin performance.
If nothing else, we could move more freely out of each others playing fields.

I'm not sure I could walk and play at the same time, but I'm not joking about the image of a theremin marching band.
Expanding the gestural impact of the actual playing to cover an entire stage in coordinated motion is an exciting prospect.

Please try and do a harness for the EWPro too if you think it's possible.

thanks for the inspiration!

I'm thinking a new Theremin may be very beneficial to create for this purpose. It should have the following features:

[b]Wide Linear Note Spacing[/b]: I'm talking about one or two octaves in the span of an arm. This would make it easier to hit notes on the go, rather than the tighter tuning which can be beneficial for stationary playing. It will be adjustable, though, in case people JUST CAN'T get used to it, or their arms get too tired. Also, it should have an octave switch, similar to the EWPro, as to get the full tonal range while utilizing wider note spacing.

[b]Multiple Timbre Control Options[/b]: I think a lot of cool things can happen here! Imagine 50-100 Theremins on the field playing, with no other instruments, but you hear Trumpets, Tubas, Clarinets, Violins, Cellos, women singing...all you would need would be right there! If a Tuba timbre dude is out sick, give their sheet music to someone else in an overpopulated timbre group. Violin dude is now Tuba dude. Percussion may be tricky, though...unless MIDI is introduced somehow...

[b]Wireless Signal Emitters[/b]: There will be no need for everyone to lug their own amp. The signal will be transmitted to a sound booth and sent over the stadium speakers. All that will be needed are headphones for the musician's monitoring. They COULD lug an amp if they want, but it would not be necessary. All the sound could be properly processed in the booth, too. Soloists could be turned up when needed. High-quality recordings can be made of the performance for whoever would like to purchase a copy to support the event.

Anything I'm forgetting?

For a limited 2 octave range, one only need turn the pitch knob to the left, and expand the field.

A bluetooth, or wireless audio connection like what wireless mics use would work nicely.

The B3 is small enough to fill this requirement. All you need now, is a battery.

Expanding the field, though, would throw off the note spacing, and therefore the practice sessions as well. I think a two octave range would be good, with an octave switch. This way, if they need to hit something lower, everything will still be tuned exactly the same. Tuning by knob can be a pretty messy practice for an on-the-go live show.

While the B3 is small, I'm thinking that something wider would be preferable. This way, the wide two-octave pitch arm tuning won't be thrown off by the very close volume hand. Maybe a cabinet redesign is in order, too...