Help needed

Hello guys, I am hoping to get some advice for a project using Theremins. I currently own and use one of Tony Bassets THEREMIN-002, although a little basic, it is much fun and the 1/4 inch jack antenna makes this a versatile little device. But now I want something a little more powerful (range is my only concern) not bothered massively about playability as such. I just want something that has a good range. Any advice I can get from you guys will be greatly appreciated. Also is Tony Bassett still making these devices? Or does anyone else make a Theremin with a 1/4 inch antenna output? Or is it easy to bypass the antenna and use another conductive material to do this Look forwards to hearing from you

Hi digitalearth, welcome to theremin world. :-)

I haven't heard from Tony Bassett in several years, and his website ceased a while ago too. Considering his advancing years, I suspect that he has gone to heterodyne heaven. :-(

You might like to look at the pitch only theremins made by Dan Burns (http://soundslikeburns.com/) and Theremaniacs (http://www.theremaniacs.com/) and Art Harrison (http://www.theremin.us/)'s minimum theremin kit.

digital said:

[i]"Or does anyone else make a Theremin with a 1/4 inch antenna output? Or is it easy to bypass the antenna and use another conductive material to do this"[/i]

These are easily changeable variables as long as you have understanding for making adjustments to the oscillator coil tuning.

I agree with Gordon about using the Theremaniac pitch only version for $80.

I have used it many times when I needed a quick proximity effect or just experimenting. Your output is going to be a variable freq line level low freq tone. You will need some electronic experience to make a circuit to use this in your own application.

If your surroundings are an open area I could see a useful range of at least 4' to 5'. You must have a connection with a good earth ground to the negative side of the circuit board! You may get this ground from connection to a grounded amplifier but you may be doing something different. Stay away from digital theremin oscillators if you need distance away from the antenna.

Edit: The Theremaniac is a natural heterodyning theremin radiating a radio wave around 800 kHz so tuning can be done with a battery operated AM Radio within 2'. No fancy equipment required! Not knowing your application normal theremin pitch drift may be an issue.

Firstly thanks for your reply guys, ever so helpful and gives me food for thought. From reading through the forums i can see the wealth of knowledge on here is vast and i hope i can pick your collective brains and call on your wisdom as i figure out my needs again, thanks for the info, i can now start making decisions.. Brilliant and thanks again..

Cool. :-)

I am curious about what your project is. Maybe you'll keep us updated?

Hello guys many thanks again for your help, would anyone be able to contact me via email, as i have a range of questions i would like to ask out of the public domain
d.young@ysj.ac.uk

Much appreciated for every bit of your wisdom..
many, many thanks

My email to this address just bounced ("retry timeout exceeded"), four days after I sent it.

gordonc at theremin dot org dot uk

Sorry about my mix up, i have emailed you Gordon, again many thanks for your wisdom and interest

David

Hi Guys just to clarify

I am going to be using one of the theremanics Theremins and a 12 volt battery practice amp, I plan to make a bollard, most likely out of aluminium.
I want the bollard to act as the antenna, It will have a solid steel base and frame, the aluminium shell will fit over it, inside I will house the amp and Theremin.
I want the bollard to react when people walk towards it and be quiet when no one is there, is this feasible and can you explain again how I can achieve this?

Look forwards to your wisdoms

David

2 questions before:
A) what is a bollard? (sorry for my weak English)
B) is a schematic of this theremin available?

I think I will be able to give a qualified answer when I'll have these informations.

It's all about the relationships between the capacitance of the tank circuit, the static capacitance of the device which acts as the antenna and the dynamic capacitance which adds when approaching...