One-handed operation?

Is there a way to create a theremin which can be operated with only one hand? My daydream vision is a dome-shaped model, and I imagine being able to control volume with proximity and pitch with position...maybe bottom-to-top or circularly oriented (like clock hand positions) pitch control?

Ethan, I too have enivisioned such an instrument.

The antennae could be positioned in such a way as to control both with one hand but they may interfere with each other.

You might be able to tune the theremin to compensate for it, though.

The real problem would be now you would have to precisely control the movements of one hand in two axes as opposed to one.

The Alesis Air Synth and Air FX have a setup similar to what you described although they us IR instead of RF.

[i]The Alesis Air Synth and Air FX have a setup similar to what you described although they use IR instead of RF.[/i]


Would IR have the same analog distortion/wobble as RF?

Basically, my ultimate goal (which is starting to sound potentially farfetched as I read more of this great website) is to simultaneously play two one-handed theremins. Ideally, I would cut the octave range down to three and have one treble and one bass theremin. The notion of a dome shape just naturally made sense to me, for some reason.

I have an Alesis Airsynth. The first thing to understand is that they are digital instruments, but because they sample the location of your hand very often and adjust the pitch and volume accordingly, it does have that wobblyness that analog instruments have.

The Airsynth has quite a few different sounds, several of which are theremin-like. It measures your hand in three axes of motion, x, y, and z, over the instrument. At least one of the theremin-like sounds allows you to use this fact to control pitch, volume, and tone all at the same time.

The next thing to understand is that they're fairly small - the complete pitch range of the instrument is controlled by moving your hand perhaps four to six inches from side to side. This makes it essentially impossible to get a precise pitch. Also, because one hand is doing three things at once, it's nearly impossible to, say, alter the pitch without altering the volume and tone while you're at it.

This brings up a fundamental problem with your instrument concept - the performer is going to be trying to control four different things at once with two hands, namely pitch for tone A, volume for tone A, pitch for tone B, and volume for tone B.

Now, Clara Rockmore said that Lev Termin once built an instrument to do this, but nobody he knew could play it. He asked Clara to do so, but before either she could visit him or he could send it to her, he fell out of favor and the authorities destroyed all his instruments. Now, I don't know if Lydia Kavina was old enough at the time to give it a go or not, but I don't consider it a good sign overall.

If your goal is to make wobbly noises with two theremins at once, that's doable. If your goal is to play distinct notes on two theremins at once, I think you may be hoping for too much.

My goal lies somewhere between wobbly noises and music, to be honest, but another thought occurred to me.

The knob-oriented theremins I have seen so far on this website have all been mounted on a perpendicular axis, like the volume control on a radio that has been set on its back. What about mounting a volume control knob like the scroll wheel on a mouse? If it were on a flat surface, and the pitch control was set to, say, an arc-shaped field, one-handed operation seems a bit more feasible.

Would that type of pitch control demand a digital setup, or are there ways to mount the vertical antenna parallel to the flat top of the box?

Yet another idea came to me.

The mouse-click-wheel style volume control function seems like the way I want to go. Perhaps a wired (or even wireless?) egg-shaped pod with a scroll wheel to control volume would work.

That device could be held in the palm while the vertical antenna is played with the same hand. Some electrical interference seems possible, but there is probably a way to insulate against that, no?

You can't effectively articulate notes with a volume knob, you wouldn't be able to turn it fast enough.

Is that not just a matter of tuning the knob...increasing the sensitivity?

Tom, Lev's polyphonic aetherphone (as far as we know) did not rely on having multiple pitch antennae. I don't think that Clara ever saw it, or understood how it worked.

There is a recording of a man that is *supposedly* Lev reciting a line of poetry in Russian, after which he plays a few phrases of melody on the instrument. It sounds as though he is playing one line himself, whilst the others are controlled by a handheld switch - which moves the pitch of the oscillator pairs to preset harmonies.

The recording can be found at thereminvox.com.

P.S Would a one-handed theremin really still be a theremin?

Ethan, I think you are talking about using the know for volume control, which would be possible.

You could also use a foot control.

I get multiple voices by running my theremin through effects, either a pitch doubler/harmonozer or a digital delay or looping device can give a nice sound.

If you are going to try to control two theremins at once I wold run them in stereo, one on each side. Or maybe headphones....