New theremin? Nano from Poland...

I notice a new (or at least ive never seen it before ;-)  theremin has found its way into our photo albums, from a new member assec. Welcome assec!

Hey! That horizontal volume antenna was an idea I floated here a while back, but was rejected by everyone here! - Everyone wanted their precious loop! - I should have just bloody ignored them!  :-)

Anyway, it looks real compact and neat to me - that pad under the 'control box' - is that metal to extend the ground field?

Interesting theres such a long lead to the antennas - Are these active antennas (as in, is the oscillator actually built into them?) - I presume they must be.. I suspect the VFO is in the pitch antenna, and the reference oscillator is in the box ... And that the volume antenna is self-contained (all circuitry is in it, except perhaps the VCA)

I do like the look of that antenna arrangement! Really stable.. Have been thinking on the same lines, but having the box on the floor makes it a lot simpler!

Fred.

OH! - Correction.... Thats not a grounding pad - its a "volume sensor" .... Now this is really getting interesting! I can think of one TW member who may well be even more interested than I am! ;-)

A few questions jump to mind..

Looks like there is only one knob on the control box - Tuning...  [Edit] -> So how does one tune the volume sensor pad? (I notice a tuning control on the optional volume antenna). Ok.. I see that its not a capacitive foot sensor, its a pressure pad.

Two audio waveforms out on separate connectors - One "harsh" and one "mellow"  - Is there a separate VCA on each? Is there any way to mix these to taste other than with an external mixer?

Been listening to the samples.. Well, some sound closer to playing a tune than I have heard from the Theremini ;-)...

The "harsh" sample isnt that "harsh" IMO - Quite usable, and reasonably clean. IMO theres no point in any of the other samples (other than to demonstrate that perhaps one might actually manage to play the thing) as they sound horrible, and give loads of ghost tones and rubbish... This leads me to think that lots of HF might be coming out on the audio.

There is something that looks like it might be a preview output  (Nano "Pitch Spy") but this is unclear to me - A picture of the connectors would help.

The core "harsh" waveform (at about A2) is this:

and its rich in odd and even harmonics.. The harmonics (core waveform) doesn't appear to change as frequency is swept, except that there is obviously a simple LPF rolling off the higher harmonics - I recon there's a 1st order filter (RC) with its -3db just under 300Hz, but that this filter probably doesn't continue this attenuation up much beyond audio, as is the way with HF.. If the noises I heard on the other samples are due to HF leakage.

There really isnt any point in doing a demo of a theremin through a TM or mush of reverb or whatever - A clean sample of the "mellow" sound would have been much more useful.. You are trying to sell the theremin, not the effects unit! - The usual reason people apply effects is because they dont want to expose their instruments sound to scrutiny.. But to me, the only sound in your set of samples that was worth listening to (and not painfully horrible! ;-) was the "clean" one.

ADDED ->

More concerned about the samples after listening again.. I think that perhaps (just perhaps) the horrible tones on the "soft" sample could be from volume interaction - The clean "harsh" sample is, I think, the only one where volume is not being modulated by the volume antenna.. The "noises" are on the "soft" sample.. Some artifacts are present on the other samples, but you cannot hear the theremin on these as its driving things that are extracting pitch data and  the mix is 100% wet, so its impossible to say whats happening.

They may not be related - all the tones and distortions may be coming from the effects units.. But if they are coming from volume oscillator interaction then its a killer.

Could we hear some samples direct from the audio outputs, when the volume antenna is being used? Because if there is a problem in this area, the cost of returns you will receive could kill your venture before its a toddler.

THat is neat!

I would love to test this unit! 

(hmmm... that sounds kinda bad... ) 

I think Assec should do a video demonstration of his theremin. THat would be fantastic! I'd invest in one of them so I'd log less luggage when I gig!!

"I'd invest in one of them so I'd log less luggage when I gig!!" - Amey

Certainly would be easier than lugging the Wavefront about!

But... I have a feeling that this theremin is probably better suited to lesser thereminists than you ;-)..

Please dont get me wrong, assec, I am not knocking your theremin - I really know nothing about it.. Its linearity, its stability, its - well - almost everything is unknown! The only thing that is known is its neat construction (and this is a subjective matter anyway - others may not agree)

I expect (given the construction and price) that this theremin will at best be in the low-end of the mid-band.. Perhaps better than the Theremini, inferior to the EW, on a par perhaps with the LV1... But this is almost pure guesswork.

The Nano has (IMO) big advantage even if technically similar to the above, because of its style and the volume pad - But I would be really surprised (and highly impressed) if you achieved good thermal stability with the oscillators (as I suspect they are) split into separate locations, and even more impressed if you managed to achieve good linearity given the price and the physical constraints.

Whatever - You got it on the market, and it has some (IMO) innovative features.. Even if you got some of the ideas from this forum, that's great! - You have put flesh on the bones, and whatever your theremin is it will inspire others to better it!

Congratulations!

;-)

Fred.

Interesting!

With those spikes sticking out into the air, the threaded mic mount appears to be a T-nut?

"Are these active antennas (as in, is the oscillator actually built into them?) - I presume they must be.. I suspect the VFO is in the pitch antenna, and the reference oscillator is in the box ... And that the volume antenna is self-contained (all circuitry is in it, except perhaps the VCA)"  - FredM

That would be my guess as well.  Might be a bit weird bending down to "tune" the pitch side.  An option to stick the control box on the volume antenna bar might be good?  Though integrating a foot volume control is a great idea!  All it needs now is an LED tuner...

Oh boy! I am this close to postponing ordering a theremini so I can have one of these as soon as my flnances permit. But I have some questions first.

I need to see a slow sweep through the pitch range from lowest to highest so I can get an idea of the linearity or otherwise Of the pitch field. Likewise a slow crescendo to get an idea of the topology of the volume field. Is there a difference in the size of the volume field if I hold my hand over it and move my hand up and down or if I hold my hand at the end of the volume rod and move it left and right?

Can I connect effects pedals between the pitch circuit and the volume circuit?

As Fred guessed, I am very interested in the foot volume control. I have been discussing one in the theremin effects forum recently (it is second on my wish list after the theremini) and have a good idea of how I want it to function.

What are the minimum and maximum sizes of the capacitive field of the volume sensor? I am hoping for a small field to make staccato sounds and momentary interruptions to continuous sounds.

Does moving my foot closer to the pedal reduce or increase the volume? Ideally I would like this to be user selectable with a switch, but if only one is possible, then I am strongly of the opinion that the volume should reduce as my foot approaches the plate, just as it does with an ordinary theremin volume loop. If it does not do this, is it possible to modify it to have this behaviour?

Can I use the foot plate volume control with other theremins?

Thank you, and welcome to Theremin World. :-)

"An option to stick the control box on the volume antenna bar might be good?" - Dewster

LOL ;-)  - I think we think alike! (except about visual tuners ;-)

And perhaps that's the problem... Because its exactly what Ive been drawing, planning, designing on-and-off for quite a while..

But the box kept getting bigger to take all the knobs I wanted on it  - And the simple horizontal antenna became a loop - And the simple convenience of just rotating the stand to cater for left-handed / right-handed became more complex.

Yeah.. it looks like some kind of exposed T-Nut .. IMO that bits not pretty! ;-)

But I understand why - Getting connectors or whatever that couple neatly into tubes has been a bane of my life.. And gluing jack plugs or T-Nuts or the like into the damn things is the stuff of many of my prototypes. If I had the space and the money and the skill and the time I would have bought a lathe and turned dedicated parts... But prototypes are bound to go like this if one doesn't have these mechanical aspects... And then, if one doesn't have the means to get the prototype engineered for production, some of these bodges must pass to the customer... And if you aren't willing to do this, if (like me) you are too pedantic and paranoid, you end up spending your time writing for TW and pretending its a job! ;-)

assec has just ploughed in and made the thing - It might be great, it might be crap, its probably somewhere inbetween the two... He has taken probably the only realistic route - get the stuff out and sink or swim.

Good move, assec! I wish you well, particularly if your theremin is any good!

Fred.

Gordon! You insisted that the loop was essential.... Now you are being seduced by two loop-less theremins!!

Bloody thereminists! You lot are so damn fickle!!!   ;-) You going loop-less, Thierry going digital, Coalport going missing... What is TW coming to? .. Perhaps I should declare that capacitance isnt how theremins work, just to join in with this forum schizophrenia! ;-)

Fred. Let's not quibble over matters of geometry. I call it a volume loop because I try to avoid the misnomer, antenna, not because I am fixated on the shape of It.  That's why I referred to it as the volume rod above. :-)

Let us not speak of the theremini's volume croissant. It is a silly shape,

Yeah - Sorry Gordon..

And you never actually said the loop was "essential" on that other thread, you were more restrained - saying it was "a good idea" ;-)

Damn.. I was hoping to keep this going a bit longer ;-)

"I try to avoid the misnomer, antenna" - GordonC

Brave man! I have almost given up on that! - If one uses the correct term (That Lev used) "Electrode" people dont know what you are talking about - think its something nasty like a box to administer ECT! (perhaps it has a similar function though... ;-)

http://www.thereminworld.com/Forums/T/28989/is-a-loop-essential

http://www.thereminworld.com/Forums/T/29514/idea-for-theremin-staccato-pedal

Some vague similarities ?  ;-)

If so, putting it all together into such a neat composite is just brilliant!

Fred.

Croissant??? Someone said Croissant???