Just ordered Theremax

Hi,

You guys have probably heard this story before. A few days ago I got curious about what instrument was used in the Doctor Who theme. Fast forward and I am waiting on my PAiA kit to build that very same instrument. I considered the Open.theremin, but it was out of stock and I was concerned with issues such as sound, range (distance) from the antenna... 

Anyway, I am super stoked about this. I was thinking of making a triangular enclosure, so it could be used as a music stand (will I even be using sheet music?), and possibly making both sides symmetrical and putting the controls on the side or top so a lefty could use it if need be.

How hard is it to set up one of these as a midi device? I was hoping do do something a little weird with it. Say you are working with a Digital Audio Workstation like Cockos Reaper. You load a vocal track into the program and connect the theremin as a midi device. You then add an autotune effect to the plugin chain and link it to the theremin midi device. Theoretically, you could auto-tune the track in real-time with your theremin. What do you think? Is it possible?

Also I found this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILU0DFBc1ao&list=UUGmAzForvf0sns_PjZhllSw&index=20

I believe it is THE quintessential beginners guide for theremins. For reals.

Hello osterac,

Your email address is only visible to you, no one else can see it. If you like private email put you address in the bio section. I don't respond to people that don't give any information about where they are coming from. I am writing because I now see you are in California and the same time zone. You look a bit young as we here are mostly old grumpy men arguing over who achieved the most greatness in our short lives. (-'

If you have thick skin and ignore the minimal postive support you will get, then you will do fine here. I know little about the PAIA Theremax other than John Simonton the designer was a inspirational person who passed a few years ago. I respect theremin designers who "demonstrate" their research.

You seem to be after an aspect of theremin that I don't encourage but is fine for the digital age. Do you own a cell phone?  <= That is inside humor. LOL

My guess from your picture is you are about 25 yrs old. Are you in So. Cal?

I am just outside Pechanga Indian Reservation and now that we have the Casino my people no longer feel anger towards the white man (Europeans) because I never have to work a real job again. (-'

Christopher

My picture? Do you mean my avatar? ...that's not me. That's just some picture I found on the internet that I thought was funny. A picture of a toddler in fact, not a 25 year old... Is this a joke?

I am actually 28, so you weren't far off. I do actually want to play the theremin, I love music and I also play (or used to play, quite out of practice now) piano, trumpet, and drums. 

You say I will get minimal positive support here? Because I am young? Sounds odd to me.

I am actually in Northern California, in the valley. 

"You say I will get minimal positive support here? Because I am young? Sounds odd to me."

No No not you, don't take anything serous here. It took me awhile but I did realize the kid in the photo probably didn't type your message.

Temecula Valley has better wine than Napa or even France for that matter. lol

Good Luck

Edit: Minimal support troubleshooting a Theremax as others recommend the Jaycar, not me. (-:

Hello Osterac!
Welcome to ThereminWorld! I am sorry if you were told you will not be getting a lot of help on this forum. I canno speak of anyone else on here, but only for what I have experienced over the last 2 years I have been here.

All of the people that I have encountered on this forum are wonderful.

I got a lot of help, encouragements and wonderful discussions will all that are active on here. You will learn as you read more into this forum the different personnalities through writing styles. I think there are just as many personalities on this forum as there are different ways to play a theremin!

Welcome again, and please feel free to post to your heart's content :)

The Theremax is a nice theremin, especially when it works... ;-)

But the kit is difficult to build and to tune. In the last two years I had three of these instruments on my workbench from people who built it but didn't manage to make it sound.

Thus don't hesitate to ask your questions here. I'll do my best to help you at distance.

Hmm, well I hope my soldering skills will suffice... You say it's hard to tune. Do you think I will need an oscilloscope? I heard that I can turn my computer into one, if not I have access to a lab at my friend's business where there is an o-scope. 

Thank you for your kind offer to help!

An oscilloscope will only be needed if there appears a complex problem, most test and tuning tasks can be done with an AM radio which covers the range between 600 and 1000 kHz besides the theremin.

Although it has been said many times here, I'll repeat it once more: Simple and cheap software based oscilloscopes (mis-)use the audio input of the computer's sound card. That limits the bandwidth to the audio spectrum, maximum 22kHz. This is far not enough for diagnosing a theremin where the oscillators' frequencies are somewhere between 135 and 900kHz depending on the brand. The oscilloscope's bandwidth should be at least 5 times higher, thus a 4 MHz oscilloscope (which means a sampling rate of at least 8Ms/s) would be the minimum requirement.

Thierry said: "most test and tuning tasks can be done with an AM radio which covers the range between 600 and 1000 kHz besides the theremin."

I am happy you mention this practical approach. Also just connecting the audio output to an amp will blast a whistle if heterodyning occurs, tuning the L1 & L2 IF transformer. If the tone does not occur the AM Radio will reveal which oscillator is dead as the active oscillator creates a quiet spot on the radio dial. This spot is validated by touching the IF can or shield.

Heterodyning has to be the magical moment for the theremin builder. Anyone that builds their own theremin will be able to keep it in tune for the rest of their lives. (-:

Christopher