Archive of the former Yahoo!Groups mailing list: MOTM

----- Original Message -----
From: Sikorsky <vulture.squadron@...>
something occured to me - if i had a pair of old MOTM850s,
how could i build an adaptor to use them as theremin controllers..?
easy / difficult / worthy of a stooge panel..?
cheers
paul b

--LH--
The short answer is no. But, if you were looking to do something along the
lines of a "Theremin-like" device (the one actually used by the Beach Boys
in good vibrations), you could. Here is a link to a modern version of what
has been loosely dubbed a "Tannerin" because the original one was built for
the Beach Boys by Paul Tanner (I think I have the name right)
http://www.prismnet.com/~tpolk/music/music.html Tom Built the modern one
that Brian Wilson is/was using currently.

I have spoken (e-mail) with Tom several times about making a kit for this
controller. He is a busy guy and has never made the commitment to make that
happen. But, as you can see, you are essentially controlling two pots.
One for pitch (the slide along the top) and one for volume (out of site on
the side I think). If someone wanted to DIY the box with the two pots,
certainly a couple of pedal interfaces would be all the electronics you
needed (as opposed to the self contained device Tom built).

Clearly, the challenges are in the smooth slide operation of the arm that
controls the pot, and to design the mechanics to produce a linear keyboard.
What really appealed to me about this idea is that one could have multiple
keyboards or indicating devices with various scales printed and swap them at
will. Since the controller is continuous, the number of different tunings
is limited only by your imagination of drawing the appropriate stop points
for your slide pointer to point at. We need someone good with wood (hint,
hint DH) to design and build these for us.

But, for Theremin control, Harry Bissell's pitch to CV PCB has got to be the
way to go. This was adapted from the Moog schematic (with permission) that
comes with the Etherwave for CV outs for pitch and volume. I am ashamed to
say I have had one of the PCBs for over a year and have done nothing with
it.

Larry H