Theremin-like sound synthesis

Hello everyone,

I have been looking for a tutorial or some infos about making a theremin-like sound from my synthesizer. Unfortunatly I didnt find it, so here I am ! Im new to it and have absolutly no idea on how to set the oscillators or which waveform and speed I'm supposed to pick.
I'd ask as well which effects works greate on this particular sound when the result wanted is that "Horrific-UFO" vibe, like in Mars attack's main theme.

I know getting the sound from a real theremin would be way better but I've got to work with what I've got, hey !
Looking for anything that could help me find get to it ! Sorry if I make spelling mistakes but english is not my first language

Oh, and here's the theme I was refering to : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBomQh0np6w

Hello buzhard,

I've created this with Audacity and the vibrato.ny plugin:
http://www.sebulli.com/theremin/ufo.wav

- Generate a sawtooth.
- (I have modulated it in frequency)
- Add a low pass filter. I have used f0 = 1800Hz and -24dB per ocatve. It sounds now nearly like a sine.
- Add a vibrato with f=8Hz and 30% depth.

Or just a sine with a vibrato ....

"I know getting the sound from a real theremin would be way better but I've got to work with what I've got, hey !"

Not necessarily!

What I hear is very close to an ideal sine wave, the simplest of waveforms. If you can only work with what is available at the moment you could always whistle the tune.

T

@ gerd : that is exactly what i'm looking for ! Got almost the same result as you did with my own tools.

@ Touchless : The idea of whistling the tune made me laugh at first but it finds itself to be an actually quite interesting path to explore

Thank you guys for taking the time to help and for quick answers I also just remembered about that film I saw years ago, that shows the making of similar sound with a saw ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k34hnNesDK0

Korg's Kaossilator has a theremin-like sound. It's a cool little gadget  I only know the original square one, though.

Hello buzhard,
the old RCA theremin waveform looks like a square wave with a duty cycle of about 0.2. A suitable low pass, some vibrato and proper adsr should be also successful to imitate a theremin.