A new year calls for new challenges. About a week ago or so, I came across a construction kit to build a miniature theremin musical instrument. The kit piqued my interest because it provided me with a chance to learn how to assemble an instrument designed to electronically produce musical tones via antennae and manipulate air currents with the wave of a hand. While the Theremin Electronic Kit functions primarily as an educational device specifically designed with STEM or STEAM students in mind, anyone can create the theremin. It also does not require any extra tools to assemble. The kit contains the following:
• A “breadboard,” which feature holes arranged via an x/y coordinate grid
• several colored pins, which provide different musical functions once inserted into the breadboard
• electronic circuitry chips
• two antennae, which can be bent into any shape and inserted into the breadboard
• A speaker for emitting audio
• A base inserted at the bottom of the breadboard to connect to the battery holder
• The battery holder, which is used to power the miniature theremin on or off during and after construction
• Three AA batteries
The Theremin Electronic Kit presents detailed verbal and visual instructions for how to build the machine using the given materials. It took me about an hour or two to complete the project as presented in the instruction manual. The guidelines encourage people to test their work while creating the theremin to check for potential errors. This situation occurred only once while I inserted the speaker pin into the breadboard. I tried several times before placing the speaker pin in the correct spot on the grid so that I would get sound when turning on the theremin via the battery holder. My only other obstacle lay in managing the tiny pins, some of which could easily bend to the point where I need to fix their shapes so that I could fit them into their respective sections on the grid. Those who are curious about the Theremin Electronic Kit can check out a brief demonstration video on my ZEKE SPILLED INK MUSIC YouTube channel to so see the sound that the machine generate primarily, “square wave” tones reminiscent of 8-vit video games from the 1980s and 90s. I have also included an experimentation of sorts where I recorded sound from the miniature theremin and combined with added audio effects through the Lexis Audio Editor smartphone application.
• A “breadboard,” which feature holes arranged via an x/y coordinate grid
• several colored pins, which provide different musical functions once inserted into the breadboard
• electronic circuitry chips
• two antennae, which can be bent into any shape and inserted into the breadboard
• A speaker for emitting audio
• A base inserted at the bottom of the breadboard to connect to the battery holder
• The battery holder, which is used to power the miniature theremin on or off during and after construction
• Three AA batteries
The Theremin Electronic Kit presents detailed verbal and visual instructions for how to build the machine using the given materials. It took me about an hour or two to complete the project as presented in the instruction manual. The guidelines encourage people to test their work while creating the theremin to check for potential errors. This situation occurred only once while I inserted the speaker pin into the breadboard. I tried several times before placing the speaker pin in the correct spot on the grid so that I would get sound when turning on the theremin via the battery holder. My only other obstacle lay in managing the tiny pins, some of which could easily bend to the point where I need to fix their shapes so that I could fit them into their respective sections on the grid. Those who are curious about the Theremin Electronic Kit can check out a brief demonstration video on my ZEKE SPILLED INK MUSIC YouTube channel to so see the sound that the machine generate primarily, “square wave” tones reminiscent of 8-vit video games from the 1980s and 90s. I have also included an experimentation of sorts where I recorded sound from the miniature theremin and combined with added audio effects through the Lexis Audio Editor smartphone application.
RSS Feed
