Recommendations for beam controller/theramin

[detsme]

From my hazy memory...I recall Roland licensing the d-beam from a company that invented the e-beam(or something else beam). They were still selling them (~200$) around 6-7 years ago.
Almost bought one

[lung]

One way to go about this is to build a PAiA Theremax which can output CV pitch / volume / velocity / gate/triggers(for notes) at the same time. Take these CV outputs and plug them into a CV-to-MIDI converter, like the Doepfer A-192 CV-to-MIDI module. Doepfer also has a cool ribbon controller on their site. Many keyboards have an expression pedal input which can be used as a CV-to-MIDI converter. The Lexicon MRC 4-fader MIDI controller with 2 CV inputs will output MIDI, as the Peavey PC-1600(x) does.. and other keyboard midi controllers have these as well. This way, if you find an easy DIY theremin online that spits out CV data, you can just use an expression pedal input. http://www.ucapps.de/ and http://midibox.org/ are other great sites (previously mentioned) for building these kind of controllers easily. Check-out their other projects (MIDI step sequencers/analog MIDI sequencers/MIDIBox SID).

Another possibility is to go the Video Theremin way (the Amiga1000 Video Theremin was a pain to find the vintage computer parts for/setup/use etc., I don't recommend it). These days I'd use EyesWeb. It is free modular video processing MIDI program which can be used to make custom controllers. It's really powerful and has been mentioned on KvR before.

[Ben [Camel Audio]]

Hi,

I've got a gig coming up fairly soon. Therefore, I really want to buy an off the shelf midi controller device, whose output value is controlled by the position of your hand. As far as I can tell, none of the options mentioned so far can do that. (Apart from the DBeam controller with keyboard - but I just want a controller).

Is anyone aware of any products that meet my requirements?

Thanks
Ben

[Midiworks]

http://www.vintagesynth.org/roland/mc505.shtml

Ben, this is the only one I know.
Sends the beam data as midi too I think.
Search Ebay for it !

Cheers

[ugo]

here's an option: http://www.synesthesiacorp.com

and someone here is selling one:
http://www.kvr-vst.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=51770

-ugo

[Ben [Camel Audio]]

Thanks very much everyone! I'm on the case now - hopefully I'll have a nice controller before too long

Ben

[tetraplan]

These days I'd use EyesWeb. It is free modular video processing MIDI program which can be used to make custom controllers. It's really powerful and has been mentioned on KvR before.

Eyesweb is very nice, but a Heavy User told me that it consistently crashes on WinXP after a 20 minute session. Not sure if this is fixed, but you might want to use Win2000 (if that's an option) if you're going to explore that.

Groet, Erik