Ken Moore´s wii and kinetic homemade theremin

I've always loved theremin... one of the first electronic instruments and with one of the most eerie sounds so close to the human voice and still so difficult to tune and play. One day for sure, it's in "I must have" list.I've felt tempted to buy a theremin several times, though price for a decent one rounds 450 dollars and up.Thus I ended up surfing the net looking for several home-made theremin like gadgets just investigating and I ended up finding the blog of this talented man Ken Moore http://www.kenmooredesign.com, that has managed not only to make affordable home-made thermins but also add a very cool and visual aspect to the playing.

In his site he explains to us the basics and some examples of his Wii Theremin (controlled by a Wii remote) and the Kinetic Theremin. It really worth to watch the videos, because in this case "to see" explains much more than words. Not that I would not recommend a real theremin for serious playing but it resulted that Ken's experiments opened brand new possibilities both in sound and in visuals that rendered a mention for its own merit. so here we go:

Above: Homemade Wiimote-powered Theremin made by Ken Moore. The technology links a Wiimote controller, infrared LED gloves and a Roland JV-1080 synthesizer to create Theremin-like sounds (sine wave) or a nearly endless world of bizarre sounds. And the overall cost was 35$ to have your own MIDI theremin. I may say I already collected the materials... so feeling tempted to try this one soon and adapt it to my show. :) There are specific guidelines and instructions at his site.

Recently Ken surpised us with a new idea... his kinect theremin with a visual representation of the intensity and pitch by brightness and different hues for the notes. Well see yourself... and everything explained as the other example in his blog.