Hello, I’m looking to create a voice for my second robot (a humanoid robot)—I’m including a few photos of the first robot just for fun. A theremin could be an interesting choice, but I would need to be able to control it remotely. Normally, it works by moving a hand in front of the sensor; is there another way to vary the sound from a distance?
If you have any ideas.
Thanks.
Antoine
PS: Sorry for my English; I'm French.
Theremins use oscillators and filters to make their sound. Changing the way you control the theremin turns it into another synthesizer.
Much of the sound of the theremin comes from the way your body directly interacts with the circuit via the electromagnetic field which gives it the organic and hyper expressive quality that seems part-biological and part-mechanical.
I believe this blend is something many people creating a voice for a robot strive for. Ben Burtt achieved this with R2-D2 by vocalizing into different patches on an ARP 2600.
I think your best bet of achieving a theremin-like quality is having a small stylophone on your controller that interacts with an oscillator inside the robot. It won’t sound as organic or unruly as a theremin can, but as far as physical logistics go, it’ll probably be the right design choice.
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