Hello, new member here (Art Deco Open Theremin)

Hi everyone,

I'm a Paris-France based composer and sound engineer. I got interested in the theremin for more than 15 years, but without serious practice.
I know this forum for a very long time but I never registered.

I've had a beautiful KeesEnkelaar Theremin for years. It wasn't a great instrustrument, and played by a not great player, the results were obviously not great.
Last year I got an Open Theremin (v4.5) in the hope of level up my practice. Though it's a much better instrument, I feel i'm struggling with technique but also with technical issues (how to get something stable, how to get rid of the background noise). I'll post my issues here and hopefully I'll have some help from experimented people.

I'm also a 3D printing enthousiast, so I made an enclosure for my instrument. It may be the time to solve my problems and go improve my theremin technique. Here's a picture.

Nice to see you here. Cheers

Francesco, welcome to Theremin World.

In the world of the theremin (every model!) a good earth is needed.
You have no idea how many weird problems can be attributed to not having a good earth.

Obviously every model has it's idiosyncrasies (linearity, sensitivity etc etc etc) so essentially, you just have to work within the functionalities of the model you have, which means...stick with it and don't give in!

I love your Art Deco thang!

Welcome,

The enclosure is beautiful! Would you be willing to send me the STL file? If not that totally ok but, I have a printer and would love to print it if I get a v4.5 down the road.

Thank You RoyP! 

You have no idea how many weird problems can be attributed to not having a good earth.

I read a lot about it over the years. The topic will probably show up in the thread I started about my sound issue: 
http://www.thereminworld.com/Forums/T/34065/open-theremin-v45-technical-issuesqestions?post=224862#224862

I'll try to stick to it but I'd like very much to solve my problems 

Thank you also Trymeinchess!

Would you be willing to send me the STL file?

Absolutely. But:
- I made this a while ago and I remember having struggled to fit the exact dimensions. I may even have ended tweaking the file in the slicer... I'll have a look the weekend in my drives and I'll probably find 15 versions, so I have to figure out which one whas right and how off it is. 
- I didn' plan any vent, and it may be the cause of an instability issue. I'm running some tests. It would be cool that I add this feature.
- It's a pain to print. The box itself is printed with wood-PLA that I dyed afterwards (but feel free to use whatever you like). It's a modification of the official enclosure stl file. The moher-of-pearl effect layer is just silk white PLA, printed with a .2mm nozzle. I had many failures with my Ender3 before getting a good one, because of the lower part design which is very thin. It may work better with my new Bambulab A1. 
- The knobs are printed too, then dyed and clear-coated, but they're not so great to deal with. It would be better to get pre-made metal knobs, but I remember I didn't find the ones that fit (both technically and aesthetically)

With this in mind, I think I should work a little bit more before sharing the design (I like to share things that are working and fine-tuned). But If you like I can share the files as they are now.

I'm thinking about making a bigger enclosure to fit my old KeesEnkelaar's antennas, that are much bigger (etherwave-like) and that give a feel of stability, even though it's purely psychological. It could be a step in my problem solving process. But I'd like to keep this design idea. 
So... a lot a work to do.

Oh there's also a backplate btw, which I'm a bit proud of
All the best

You deserve to be proud of that! And I’d prefer to wait for the finished file anyway because I’m completely helpless in CAD…

Similar to you I have an Ender 3 pro. When I bought it, it was a top-of-the line budget reliable printer. Nowadays compared to newer stuff it is COMPLETELY outdated with stuff that’s the same price  (looking at you bambu lab lol)

One of the reasons I didn’t want to purchase the v4.5 was actually the look compared to other theremins like the burns b3 deluxe. I looked on thingiverse a little bit ago and couldn’t find any shells I like. But your design is great imo, I really like the vintage feel.

Whelp, now I’ve found one
Share the files when you finish them! No rush though, I’ll be here.

Get a standard A1. Not so pricey and soo great ! I've got it without combo (color printing wastes too much plastic for my taste).

Anyway, thanks. I'm working an a new enclosure now, I want to use my thicker antennas. But I'm going to do what I said, I'll chack all my files to have something sharable. Good if you're not in a hurry 

Congratulations for your new theremin !