15 Russian Theremin Schematics

A big thanks to ILYA for providing us with this trove of 15 articles from the Russian magazine Radio.  I've added them to our schematics page, but here's the shortcut:

http://www.thereminworld.com/russian-theremin-schematics 

Enjoy! 

Wow!  Thanks ILYA and Jason! 

Check out the coils in that first article, they look a lot like custom Bournes chokes - I wonder how they expect you to wind them?

The DJVU link seems to be broken?

Thank you for sharing these, Ilya!

When I was searching for data on the Kovalski Theremin I stumbled aross the Russian Radio magazines, but had given up hope of anyone paying any attention to what I said, so I have been going painfully through these archives trying to detect theremins based purely on the schematics..

You have filled in all the pieces, and added MANY more theremins that I never discovered - Saved me months of work.. Now I need to learn to read Russian! ;-)

I have been led to believe (by many, including Russians) that there has been little interest in the Theremin in its homeland until recently - But these articles seem to make that a lie. I wonder how many other treasures are just waiting to be discovered in the homeland.

Fred.

The DJVU link seems to be broken?

Strange.  I guess our server doesn't like serving .DJVU files.  I zipped the archive and fixed the page, so you should be able to download the whole bundle now.

Works now, thanks Jason!

All the coils are homemade. Advanced hobbyists were building the manual machine tools like that (the gear ratio is 20:21 to obtain сross-winding):

I have a simplest factory manufactured mechanism with the counter, like this:

In fact, same of shematics above was developed by great talented 

Lev Korolyov (1930—2012) 

, russian (soviet) radio engineer who works together with Lev Sergeyevich Termen in 1970 - 1980 years.

Lev Korolyov (1930—2012)

Seated!  And left hand firmly in contact with the damn thing - likely controlling more than just volume - it's the future I tells ya!

In fact, left hand control envelope generator (EG).  There are three buttons. It's starts EG  (and there are two knobs, it sets attack/decay time).

It's "Kovalsky System" Theremin.

"Seated!  And left hand firmly in contact with the damn thing - likely controlling more than just volume - it's the future I tells ya!" - Dewster

No problems with having two capacitive systems operating simultaneously in proximity, no physical interference between volume and pitch hand interactions.. One hand firmly in place, with only finger movements..

Yeah!

Except for one thing.. The thing which (IMO) has probably kept the theremin (in its present original form) from going nearly extinct .. Visual preformance 'art' and Novelty factor!

The "Kovalsky System" has the same visual appeal as a keyboard player.. Not saying this is unappealing - Watching Kieth Emerson (or Rick Wakeman or any other great keyboardist or classical pianist) can, for me, be as or more exciting than watching a theremin performance..

But I do not think the theremin with its limited (one trick pony) sound and monophony would have the appeal it does if it wasnt for the visual element of the player standing waving their arms about..

And I think this "visual" aspect is one of the things which makes the great theremin performers great - and why perhaps (certainly as a man ;-) Performances by Clara and Lydia and other female thereminists (including "our" Amy ;-)  are more enjoyable to watch than perhaps sometimes "better" performances by the likes of "our" Peter.. (I have heard of women who love watching Peters performances but hate watching Clara or Lydia)..

For those who dont aspire to performance (or at least dont want to be the primary focus, and are happy to be in a band in the 'role' of a backing musician), sitting in front of a touchable theremin must be "the future" me thinks too..

Fred.