photo L.E.Parker
Well maybe not exactly a steam theremin (at least not yet) but performance artist, and Art Institute of California faculty member, Lorin Edwin Parker did build a steam powered synthesizer, The Parker Steam Synthesizer.
As part of his UFO installation with artist Jay Stuckey, he built ten different custom theremins.
And for his latest Electric Western project, he built an all retro-tech tube theremin recreating as closely as possible Lev Termen's 1919 original.
Keeping a Do-It-Yourself approach to all his work, his projects have included a wide variety of unique apparatuses. Parker also teaches DIY Workshops and tutorials.
He's been featured in the Wired Blog By Alexis Madrigal.
It's incredible how Parker pushes the envelope, even into the past, he's helping keep Lev's creative influence alive today.
Feeds:
9 Comments
I think these guys are frauds. Almost all the links on the front page are dead or stopped links.
I would think that a couple of tech guys going to tech school could have a working knowledge of posting links on the internet.
I think you have been had.
Good Luck!
teslatheremin
Try this one:
http://electricwestern.com/steam.html
I get the impression that Parker's web page is still under construction... though, even so, I have to agree that it's none too carefully planned.
I checked the links in the news post and they all seem to work. I did find one broken link on Parker's page, but device construction skills don't necessarily guarantee internet development expertise so I chalked it up to just a bad link. Over all the third party corroborations did convince me he exists and has built theremins and other devices for larger scale projects.
Brian R, appreciate the extra info. too. That is a better link, I'll revise the article.
Good work fellows!
Thanks, Brian R. for the better link. The steam powered synth doesn't seem so far fetched now, but, is not that impressive.
The steam powered Theremin? A carbon-based fueled steam boiler sending steam to a steam engine or turbine that runs an electric motor/generator to supply electricity to power a Theremin.
Ho-Hum, I get my Theremin powered that way every day, just by paying my electric bill.
Good Luck!
teslatheremin
"steam powered theremin" again.
but hey, got you to take a look,
and if one more person
learns the word "theremin" today,
I figure that's a good thing.
thanks again guys.
Meanwhile, perhaps owing to my fondness for Baroque repertoire, I'm more interested in the [i]pre-[/i]steam-era theremin... I'm guessing it would take up half of a converted mill, powered by a water wheel, heard through speaker cones made from heaven-only-knows what membrane out of a sheep's innards.
Gordon, writing on his clockwork computer (http://www.mlahanas....).
I've been "time tripping" with a hand cranked gramophone, and the sense of presence that comes from both the old phono-disk and the player itself is astounding, something I've never experienced listening to restored CDs of old recordings.
It gives me a feeling of what the times were like when electricity and the theremin were emerging on the scene. Maybe a bicycle generator, human-powered theremin? Would give you an interesting vibrato at least.
Phonophone II (http://www.dezeen.co...)