I bought a Theremin in early 1999, and then realized I couldn't play it at all. So I decided to make an instrument that I could play producing the same sound.
A theremin is the first elecronic instrument, and it is played by moving your hands closer or farther away from 2 antennas sticking out of the unit. One antenna controls pitch, the second antenna controls volume. It is the only instrument played without actually touching it. Used in many horror movies, and made famous by Jimmy Page in "Whole Lotta Love". Some of you may also recognize it as "that weird instrument Jon Spencer from the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion plays".. and that is also very correct.
I owned my theremin for about 3 months, before selling it. The reason I sold it was because it is next to impossible to play a theremin in any sort of melodic way. If I play piano and I want to play an F, I press the F key. If I want to play an F on the theremin.. where does my hand go?
I assumed there had to be an easier way, and after reading about Oscillators and such.. I realized that a better way was infact possible.
I ordered a "Cheap Function Generator" from QKits.com. This circuit creates a sine wave at any pitch desired. The pitch is controlled by a potentiometer (thing that turns). So basically, all I have to do is turn something to get the desired note.
I went to Home Hardware, and picked up some wood. I went to Radio Shack and picked up some switches and potentiometers and such. I started building what I thought would be called "Mike's Crazy Instrument". I decided to do some research before assembling my instrument, and found out that the exact instrument was developed over 40 years ago by a man named Paul Tannerin. The instrument was called "The Tannerin". He used a Sine Wave generator, which was about the size of a computer back then.. and turned the pitch knob by using a network of strings and wires.
My Tannerin design is fairly simple, and involves a large wheel inside connected to the pitch potentiometer. A string then wraps around this wheel, and comes out at the front of the instrument with a small loop to put your finger in.
I also drew a keyboard underneath the string, so you simply "point" to the note you want to play.
