Any luck with this beasty? I'm wondering how playable it is. I have a Korg MS-2000 that would be tons of fun to control with it :)
Jaycar electronics selling a MIDI theremin
Posted: 12/16/2005 9:42:38 AM
hello,
i'm a new poster here so first let me thank the community for giving me the incentive to go ahead and order one of these jaycar midi theremin kits, which hopfully will arrive before the holiday.
i also went ahead and paid to download the 2 silicon chip articles that detail the construction as i felt the extra expense might forestall any possible problems - you don't actually have to buy a year's subscription as a previous post states.
i guess others may wish to read the articles but i'm not sure of the legality of posting them wholesale on a forum such as this, so here are a few links to images(jpeg) of schematics. (if this violates any forum rule please let me know)
overview (http://wildchurch.com/mtcd1.jpg)
analogue circuit (http://wildchurch.com/mtcd2.jpg)
digital circuit (http://wildchurch.com/mtcd3.jpg)
i'm aware that the discreet note limitations of midi will make it less than 'theremin-like', but i'm fairly confident that the pitch shift messages can create something interesting. i'm kind of more interested in this thing as another means of enabling human interaction with my software. for those interested you can see what i currently use to manipulate soft synths here (http://wildchurch.com/techinfo.htm).
that's enough for now.
i'm a new poster here so first let me thank the community for giving me the incentive to go ahead and order one of these jaycar midi theremin kits, which hopfully will arrive before the holiday.
i also went ahead and paid to download the 2 silicon chip articles that detail the construction as i felt the extra expense might forestall any possible problems - you don't actually have to buy a year's subscription as a previous post states.
i guess others may wish to read the articles but i'm not sure of the legality of posting them wholesale on a forum such as this, so here are a few links to images(jpeg) of schematics. (if this violates any forum rule please let me know)
overview (http://wildchurch.com/mtcd1.jpg)
analogue circuit (http://wildchurch.com/mtcd2.jpg)
digital circuit (http://wildchurch.com/mtcd3.jpg)
i'm aware that the discreet note limitations of midi will make it less than 'theremin-like', but i'm fairly confident that the pitch shift messages can create something interesting. i'm kind of more interested in this thing as another means of enabling human interaction with my software. for those interested you can see what i currently use to manipulate soft synths here (http://wildchurch.com/techinfo.htm).
that's enough for now.
Posted: 1/1/2006 8:39:50 AM
built it, having lots of fun.
here are some photos, showing my custom box/antennae:
[img]http://wildchurch.com/miditheremin1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://wildchurch.com/miditheremin2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://wildchurch.com/miditheremin3.jpg[/img]
just need lots of practise now, i'll post some midi files/mp3s if anyones interested.
regards
here are some photos, showing my custom box/antennae:
[img]http://wildchurch.com/miditheremin1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://wildchurch.com/miditheremin2.jpg[/img]
[img]http://wildchurch.com/miditheremin3.jpg[/img]
just need lots of practise now, i'll post some midi files/mp3s if anyones interested.
regards
Posted: 1/12/2006 5:03:39 AM
hello i have a question what exactly is T1, T2, T3, T4 on this schematic ?? i don't know what i must buy
and if i buy all parts and put together will be working ?? or i must save something to microcontroler and if i must someone know that?? :)
sorry for english ;)
and if i buy all parts and put together will be working ?? or i must save something to microcontroler and if i must someone know that?? :)
sorry for english ;)
Posted: 1/17/2006 6:29:29 AM
hi dagi,
T1, T2, T3, T4 are the coils that provide the variable voltage that theremin use to adjust pitch and volume.
if you purchase the kit from jaycar all the components are included. if you want to build one from other sources i'm not sure how to advise you but the coils i believe are the same as in a regular theremin. the midi components may also be standard, but i can recommend this kit from jaycar for convenience and ease of build. however i built my own box and antennae to improve the playability and looks - the kit supplied looks like the image in the first post, on page 1 of this thread.
if you have any specific questions or want a list of the kit components, please ask and i'll be happy to help.
one more point, the pitch antenna is opposite to a regular theremin for some reason, i.e. moving your hand inward lowers pitch and away increases it. why? i don't know, the article that jaycar provide states this as being the way a theremin works which is wrong. i posted at their forum but no answer yet. still, as a gestural controller for software it's very effective.
regards
T1, T2, T3, T4 are the coils that provide the variable voltage that theremin use to adjust pitch and volume.
if you purchase the kit from jaycar all the components are included. if you want to build one from other sources i'm not sure how to advise you but the coils i believe are the same as in a regular theremin. the midi components may also be standard, but i can recommend this kit from jaycar for convenience and ease of build. however i built my own box and antennae to improve the playability and looks - the kit supplied looks like the image in the first post, on page 1 of this thread.
if you have any specific questions or want a list of the kit components, please ask and i'll be happy to help.
one more point, the pitch antenna is opposite to a regular theremin for some reason, i.e. moving your hand inward lowers pitch and away increases it. why? i don't know, the article that jaycar provide states this as being the way a theremin works which is wrong. i posted at their forum but no answer yet. still, as a gestural controller for software it's very effective.
regards
Posted: 4/25/2007 8:54:18 AM
Did you ever get an answer about why the pitch volume works in reverse?
Normally I would say that you simply need to tune the pitch circuit but if their documentation says it is supposed to work that way I can only scratch my head and wonder why they designed it that way.
Normally I would say that you simply need to tune the pitch circuit but if their documentation says it is supposed to work that way I can only scratch my head and wonder why they designed it that way.
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