Theremin/electronic references

Hi

I plan on building a Theremin. I'm still gathering as much info as I can get about theremins and electronic, but I'm not sure I will eventually be able to sort everything out. So I'm here to ask if anyone could recommend the best possible references. Especially about electronic: while I can manage to read a schematic, I have no knowledge about electronics and I'd really like know what I will be doing or make the best choices. I'm more into books, but web sites are good to. As long as the difficulty level are graded I wouldn't mind to eventually go through relatively advanced references.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I can recommend without reservation "The Art of Electronics" by Horowitz & Hill now in it's third edition.  I don't own the third edition but I have the second which is most excellent, though dated - particularly the op-amp and microprocessor sections.  I can't think of a better place to start than that.  Any book by Douglas Self is a treasure trove of knowledge particularly "Small Signal Audio Design". These sources give you the straight poop in as easy and entertaining (yet serious) a manner as I've found, and they call bullshit when they see it.  Self does a lot of intrinsic noise analysis which is critical to making professional level products.

Though it is quite dated, "Musical Applications of Microprocessors" by Hal Chamberlin is an incredible read.

Nothing like simulation for understanding what's going on, get a free copy of LTSpice and try to simulate some simple circuits.

For building anything real, particularly a Theremin, get a good DMM, a cheap scope, a sensitive LC meter that resolves below 1pF, a function generator that goes to 3MHz minimum, and an assortment of parts.

For your first Theremin you may want to try a kit or something really simple like the 3-FET Thierrymin which is pitch-only.

Thank you!

What about vacuum tubes? I think I will go that way for no good reason other than my preference for tubes in the guitar world...

Thanks again.

I doubt I will end up nuking everything but, if that happens I'll sure be laughing

Tubes heat things up, and heat isn't your friend when you're trying to heterodyne two RF frequencies to audio in a stable manner.

Tube Theremins are quaint, but they need a certain amount of warm-up time before you can play them.  What if your guitar needed to be warmed up for 15-30 minutes before it would stay in tune?  You couldn't just pick it up out of the blue and inspiration would kinda languish.

Even if you do go the tube route, making a transistorized Theremin or two before you invest in all those expensive transformers and chassis and cabinetry and whatnot can give you valuable experience.

I'm the opposite extreme, but it seems many jump into designing and building Theremins before they get the rudiments down.  Heck, the oscillators in the Theremini are pretty much crap, so maybe it's a dying art.

Marc that guy in my graphic is really me. I was one of the few that enjoyed original theremin design around the vacuum tube as it adds a characteristic that is sweet & natural. Not all tube theremins have this sound, maybe none. My tube design did not drift and warmed up in about 2 minutes.  I abandoned my research because I was unable to hear the noise in my sound that everyone else did. I am still hoping to find someone local before I forget everything, hopefully they are an accomplished musician. Most of my stuff is put away now but I would like to one day make a better sample. I think my problem is in the recording of the sound rather than my theremin audio output or I would see distortion on my analog scope.

This is my sound, a $130 single tube theremin hybrid. 

Christopher

Thanks everyone!