Jim's Theremin Page.

If you are looking for the Solar Powered Theremin kit CLICK HERE!

Q: What is a theremin?
A: A theremin is an electronic musical instrument Designed by Léon Theremin in 1919.
Essentially the device produces a sine wave, the pitch and volume of which can be manipulated by
changing the position of your hands relative to 2 radio antenna.

Q: What is a theremin??
A: A theremin is a fabulous device that creates haunting ethereal sounds which have been favored
particularly by movie makers working in many genres. One of the most celebrated examples is the
soundtrack of classic sci-fi movie The Day The Earth Stood Still.
The instrument also remains popular with many modern rock and pop acts such as
Portishead and Goldfrapp.

Q: What is a theremin???
A: It's the thing that makes those WOOOoooo WOOooooohhh noises in creepy old flying saucer movies.

Q: Who is that rather striking looking lady in the picture above?
A: That is Clara Rockmore If you put up a web site about theremins you have to include a picture of her.
I think it's a law or something.

Q: So what?
A: So I HAD to have one :)


Building my Theremin.

I had a few options to chose form when deciding what type of theremin to get. Since I don't have a lot of
cash to throw around and don't really have aspirations to play theremin professionally I decided not to go
for anything pre-built, antique or really mega classy like a moog earthwave pro. On the other hand I didn't
want to get some nasty unplayable toy theremin kit... and there's a few of them about. In the end I went
with the Paia theremax.
It sounded like a reasonable compromise between price and quality and I've built kits from them before.

So I ordered the kit and the antenna/control panel. I didn't order the lectern case though as I didn't think
it was particularly attractive and anyway I wanted to customize my theremin a bit, make it a little more
personal. For my case I got an old scientific instrument box off of ebay:

So I have my case and I got my kit in the post (Got stung by customs GRRR). I assembled the theremin kit more or less as instructed and installed it into my case.

Gaff#1:
I overheated the power switch with my soldering iron and melted it - oops. It's bypassed for the mo.

The instructions said the board should be mounted on a grounded metal plate. The bottom of a biscuit tin
proved ideal for this. The biscuits proved delicious.
As I'm located in the UK the US power supply was of no use to me and I requested that paia don't send it.
That saved my a few $. I found a 240volts to 300mA 12v DC power supply (100mA or over is required). I didn't fancy snipping off the connector and wiring it direct to the PCB as instructed so I fitted a small
power plug (the black thing right in the middle of the picture going through my grounding plate).

Temporarily attaching the paia antenna I fired up my theremax and tuned it in. Success it appeared to make all the appropriate woopwoop noises! That kept me amused for hours, however:

Gaff#2:
I noticed the timbre control didn't appear to do much. As you turned from sine wave to square wave it just
got quieter. No square. I inspected the board and couldn't see a problem. I got on the email to paia
technical support and meticulously described the problem then discovered the page of schematics in the
instructions. Locating the part of the circuit responsible for the square wave signal I traced everything by
eye and spotted a solder bridge on pin 4 of IC 1. Fixed that and it fired up a treat.

I've got to say the paia tech support people are STARS. Even though I fixed my problem and let them
know not to bother with my whining, they still sent a nice email with a whole bunch of extra tips and
advice.

Next I tackled the antenna. I wanted something a bit more substantial than the brass rod paia supplied so
I got some 8mm gas pipe to make my pitch and volume antenna from. I modeled my antenna on plans of
an old RCA theremin I found on the excellent THEREMIN WORLD web site.

The volume antenna attaches to my theremin with 2 gas pipe coupling compression bolts.
The pitch antenna I equipped with a threaded end and it screws into a brass door stop.

I bought a replacement handle for my theremin case but I decided it looked to new. Since the handle is in
rather a prominent position when you play the device I felt I needed something that was more of a feature
so I stole a nice looking handle off an old singer sewing machine.

See how my antenna store neatly away? You may notice the bottom right control panel bolt looks
different from the rest. That's because it's a nut and acts as an anchor point for an external ground cable.

My theremin is now fully operational and I think it looks quite swish in its box. There's still a few cosmetic
things to be done but now it's playable I don't know when I'll get round to them :)

I'd like to say thanks to the folk on the Theremin World message board who offered advice on amps and
antenna.

Here is my first attempt at recording the theremin sound:

Some WOOWOO sounds then 2 hopeless stabs at..
well see if you recognise the tune (and I use the term tune loosely).

I recorded this with a 3G ipod but have decided the ipod is unsuited to the job as the recording software
is still to buggy. You'll hear it glitching out. I think I'll have to try and get my hands on a minidisk recorder
or something instead.

To Do:

I've still to varnish the front panel and add some nicer panel bolts to hold the aluminum plate on properly.

I should fill in some of the old holes in the case, left over from its previous life. It could probably use a
spot of varnish too.

I've to reattach the feet and attach fasteners to hold the lid (which is now the base) on. (DONE)

I should add a tripod or mic stand mount.

I've to replace that switch I toasted. (DONE)

I'm going to build a small amp into the lid section of the case.

That's about it.

If you hunger for more theremin information or would like to HEAR some of these things in action
(believe me you DO NOT want to hear my playing yet), I'd highly recommend Theremin World
as your jumping off point.

And if you see MarbleMad in the forums, that's me. Do say HI.

Also try the free mp3s from Project:Pimento. They're groooooovey.