Hello Theremin world!!

Hi! Mi name is Matias Gaburri and i'm from Argentina! I love electronics and i'm willing to build a theremin so, looking in the web i found this forum and aaaaall its information. Thne i thought "if i'm going to take so much information fron this site, i should join it!" and here i am! 

Hello MGab.....JazzDude

(Ok - thats way too long a name for me to remember is JazzDude ok ? ;-)

So, your looking to build a theremin! - Beware! .. Dont pick the Glasgow or Strange Apparatus 'designs' for starters! And its a good idea to post a link here to anything you are thinking of building before you start or buy anything!

Probably the best (depending on your knowledge / skill level) are the Jaycar / Silicon Chip kits, Or if advanced, an EM or EW clone.. A lot depends on what you think you want a theremin for! ;-)

If you want a playable instrument, the simplest is probably the silicon chip with Max Baars modifications. Start by getting the basic instrument running, then upgrade one step at a time!

You could also build an Enkelaar clone using the Silicon Chip board - this is a little more complex than the above.. See all the Enkelaar schematics and photos etc on this page

Greetings, and welcome to TW!

Fred.

Jazzdude,

I swear by the EtherWave Standard design, it is the simplest and most reliable approach to date with plenty of troubleshooting experience found here at TW. You can develop your build around a finished board for under $100 usd. Don't reinvent the wheel unless it is the curse that chose you.

The EWS board and this is a bargain! Any other approach is filled with grief and like some you might never have a working model.

T

Oh, I absolutely agree - If its a theremin for playing that you want, Buying the EWS board is the only sane thing to do.

But if Jazzdude's comment " I love electronics and i'm willing to build a theremin " is taken at face value, it could mean that the theremin is almost secondary to the fun of building the thing..

Not much building with a ready built board.. But if its the theremin rather than the process of creating it that one wants, the board is the way to go.

Fred.

First of all, thanks for the coments!

Now,

"Oh, I absolutely agree - If its a theremin for playing that you want, Buying the EWS board is the only sane thing to do.

But if Jazzdude's comment " I love electronics and i'm willing to build a theremin " is taken at face value, it could mean that the theremin is almost secondary to the fun of building the thing..

Not much building with a ready built board.. But if its the theremin rather than the process of creating it that one wants, the board is the way to go.

Fred."

That's EXACTLY what it means, Fred! I thought that the Thierrymin project was ok for a theremin newie. Then i will look for a more complex project, but first i would like to build a very basic one just to see how it works and all that stuff. Principally, because a theremin is not a "standar" circuit design, i mean, it's not the kind of circuit that every electronics fan builds! So i wanted to try the basics first.

Apart from that, forget about building kits... Here in my country is almost impossible to bring something from any other country...

So, what do you think? Is the Thierrymin O.K to an starter on this?

Matias.

Apart from that, forget about building kits... Here in my country is almost impossible to bring something from any other country... Matias

That sounds so restrictive, how are you going to get the proper electronic parts if they cannot be found in your country? That does seem like a fun project, I will be waiting to hear you play a tune.

Thierrymin Project

T

Hello again Matias,

I know nil about the Thierrymin, so cannot comment either way.. But at least you would have Thierry on hand to give help / advice if its needed, and component tolerances aren't critical as I understand it, so it could be a good choice.

Not knowing what parts are easily available to you does make advice difficult but lets go over the basics.. You need two high frequency oscillators >100kHz and <1MHz I would say. At least one of these oscillators needs to be tunable in some way. You can make a really crap 'theremin' using RC oscillators - in fact, you can make one with a couple of CMOS gates, resistors and capacitors, but I wouldn't bother!

However - in terms of simplicity, avoiding inductors does make life easier! You only need a couple of cheap unbuffered CMOS inverters, and tuning is performed with simple variable resistor - I suspect you could get the parts for this in any country http://www.theremin.us/100/minimum.html

But if you can get all the components for the Thierrymin, then this is likely to be better.

If you can get 455kHz IF transformers, then I would be inclined to point you in the direction of using these with simple CMOS oscillators and use my adjustable antenna for tuning.. In fact, this tuning scheme is IMO the easiest to implement for all simple theremins as it removes any need for electronic tuning.. its far easier to tune than a telescopic antenna, and could be used with the Thierrymin.

I used aluminium tube into which the studding fitted (- as tightly as possible, but you need to be able to push the studding into the tube over its whole length.. I then put the tube with studding inside it into a vice, and squeezed the tube so the studding 'cut' (more like squashed) a thread into the tube.

When this is done, firmly fix the stud to the theremin, and by rotating the tube on can finely increase or decrease the length of the antenna.

I would make the stud and tube lengths about 45cm, about 2cm of the stud is used to secure it to the theremin, and the effective antenna length can be adjusted from 45cm (tube fully down) to about 80cm (tube fully up) .. Set the tube to mid position (top of tune ~60cm above theremin), tune the electronics, and one has fine tuning control by slight rotation of the tube, but can cater for almost any variation in environment.

The tube I used had an inner diameter that accepted M6 stud.. But none of this is critical, length and diameter can be adjusted to taste.. I just like long thin antennas! ;-)

This picture shows one (nearest) of my 16 pitch only theremins which used this tuning method at the Royal Festival Hall (2010)

And a close-up of the antenna:

 Really, the first thing we need to know is what parts you can get! - Do you have a local supplier on the WWW so we can view their catalog if you post a link here ?

Knowing whats available to you would be a big help.

Fred.

found http://www.electrocomponentes.com/pdf/Catalogo_web.pdf which has transistors pots passives CMOS but doesnt seem to have IFTs or inductors

Also looks like RS components has a distribution network in Argentina, and seems to stock nearly everything - but I cant find trimmable inductors or IFT's .. Can find Bourns 6300 series though ;-)

Digikey ships to Argentina for $40

And Mouser seems to be local

Hell, looks like you can get any part you need!

Touchless: What i mean with that is that it's almost imposible to import something of a respectable big and weight, importation restrictions are extremely (and REALY inneceseary) high, at the point that you have a very small limit of amount of things that you can import PER YEAR (being a "particular" not a bussiness). So, it's really tedious to import whaterver you want (apart from all i said before, you trully cant know when you'er going to recieve what you paid for once it entered to the country...)

Fred:

I can get everything that i need for the built of the theremin. But, when you are an argentinian electronics fan, you have to learn that you are going to walk and enter into a lot of shops until you complete your list of materieals...

We have an inductors and bobins factory, so i think i can get what i need to the project from them. Then, "Microelectronica" is a good resource of materials, they have a very vary stock of products. 

Thanks for the antenna hack! That will be really usefull!! 

I want to repeat that what i meant when i said " Here in my country is almost impossible to bring something from any other country..." is that its almost impossible to bring something on your own (anyway, it's getting difficult to shops and that kind of bussiness too, nowadays...)

Thanks for the coments, boys! 

Matias.

EDIT: I found YEL S.R.L. that is the RS Components (the one you named) official respresentant , so yep, components aren't definitely a problem!