Theramin-style X-Y CC controller??

[Bunnyboy]

...Less a hardware question, i guess

Well, I was thinking this morning - the X-Y controllers on certain keyboards, the ability in Ableton Live, the use of laptop mouse pads, etc.

But what about a theramin style one?? maybe one CC per antenna, imagine that?? of maybe two per antenna?? Or three??

Would be awesome live

[kodama]

Closest I can think of would be the Alesis Photon.

[Bunnyboy]

Closest I can think of would be the Alesis Photon.

I see what you mean, but i really do mean "hands-off" control like a theramin - you're not gonna weald a Photon around like a small theramin

[husker]

Here ya go You have to build it yourself though. I've got the kit, haven't built it yet...i'll let you know how it goes...

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.as ... &SUBCATID=

[Bunnyboy]

Here ya go You have to build it yourself though. I've got the kit, haven't built it yet...i'll let you know how it goes...

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.as ... &SUBCATID=

Wooo cool

But can it sent CC values

[knockman]

that thing looks interesting, i see from the web page there's a discount if you buy 5+, maybe a candidate for a group buy! - but i'd like to know what it's really like to use. please keep us posted husker

[peter01]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct01/a ... ndbeam.asp

and there's the d-beam controller on various Roland stuff.

[Bunnyboy]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Oct01/a ... ndbeam.asp

and there's the d-beam controller on various Roland stuff.

Looks good, but £1600+

and there is a suggestion of getting a flight case. Not that portable then

[husker]

But can it sent CC values

CC's? sort of...it sends midi notes, with a pitch bend between notes
(to get the thermin type sound).

but is also does midi volume, so you can use that CC. it has a plate
and aerial that can be switch between notes/bending/cc

it also has some stuff around GM program selection, so
is really designed for 'beginner' midi stuff.

I'm sure it can be coaxed into doing fun stuff

p.s. the $ on the site are Australian, so it translates to about US$120,
but there will shipping on top of that.

[Adambomb337]

that's really cool! But I think the Electric Shock Roulette is my most favorite

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.as ... BCATID=738

[haydxn]

i've bought the various parts from some electronics components retailers to build something to do this. when i get some real free time and i'm not doing some proper work, i hope to one day finish!



i've got a bunch of these IR distance sensors. they output 0-5v depending on the distance of an object. i think i bought about six of them so i can make 3 devices, each using 2 sensors.

there's a schematic online [ mindaugas ] for a home-made USB joystick. This has everything you need to build a USB 'joystick' type device, but it can provide you with a number of ADC terminals to which you can connect any kind of element that outputs 0-5v. I plan to use my sensors so that you can just wave your hands around over them. Because it's a joystick type device, windows will detect it as a joystick, and so that's how the data will appear in the computer. There are already a load of tools to read joystick data and convert to midi, but i'm going to write one myself so that it can be specialised for the task; it'll probably be a VST plugin and a standalone version. When that's all done, it'll be a nice little USB MIDI generating pseudo-theremin

altogether the parts are pretty cheap.

These are the sensors i have (although i got them elsewhere).

The other important component you need is the controller chip for the USB device (it's all explained on the mindaugus site). I had a hard time trying to find them, but in the end i bought about 6 "ATMEGA8-16PI" chips from a german site. That was tricky (all in german!) but i got them in the end! Someone pointed out a few american retailers that had them afterwards, so it's surely a lot easier if you look in the right places!

The mindaugus site has all the schematics and partslists, and guides on how to build the joystick device. There are several driver versions, and lots of information on how to go about customising the device to your needs.

Like i said, i've not managed to finish this yet, but i don't see there being any problems. This is pretty much all the information you'd need if you wanted to tackle this yourself. I hope this is useful? Best of all is that it's really f**king cheap.

[husker]

>haydxn

that sounds cool...the Jaycar device does it all with a PIC chip, and spits out midi so is quite simple in terms of not worrying about USB drivers, etc.

Also a 'real' theramin sensor works via capacitance to detect the hand position, rather then ir distance detection. It even goes so far as being able to play very subtle stuff just by wiggling your fingers. I'm not sure an IR distance detector would be sensitive enough. Interested to hear how it goes once all built!

cheers

[husker]

p.s. the sensor output in the Jaycar theramin kit outputs a 0-5V signal, so can be used to drive a CV input directly if you have a hardware synth that supports it...i'll be trying this with my Andromeda...should be very cool

[james0tucson]

Also a 'real' theramin sensor works via capacitance to detect the hand position, rather then ir distance detection.

They have really bizarre response characteristics too, and a certain amount of hysteresis that's, I'd say thankfully, missing from devices like the D-Beam.

I truly marvel at people like Clara Rockmore (and WHO ELSE?) for actually being able to play friggin Bach and Vivaldi fiddle parts on a Victor.