Broke my arm last week, couldn’t wait for MoErgo adaptors to arrive, so I designed and printed my own (the orange pucks).

The right side of the keyboard has been positioned for my broken arm and hand position at rest.

Getting the magnets right took a little prototyping. First time using brass inserts too.

Will post these on printables so anyone else can follow suit if need be.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/29876719

Something different today. Nothing related to Linux or whatever, this time it's all about hardware. And art! Musical art to be more precise.

I wanna introduce you to the Open Theremin, probably the first and only musical instrument you play by NOT touching it AND that's fully open source, both the soft- and hardware.

It arrived yesterday and I played around with it for a few minutes. Because I haven't learned yet how to play proper notes (it has a HUGE range of sounds it can make!), it sounded more like a tinnitus than music for now. Still, I had LOTS of fun just jamming around 🙃

What even is a theremin?

The theremin is a IMO pretty underrated and unknown musical instrument.

Traditionally, it's fully analog, but the Open Theremin is based on an Arduino, which makes it better (less expensive, better playability, etc.) from what I've read.

The theremin was the first synthesizer invented about 100 years ago. Due to its high prize tag, limited pitch and very steep learning curve, it hasn't really caught up with other musical instruments yet and mostly found its niche in sound effects, because there just aren't that many professional players out there.

Carolina Eyck is one of those. Here for example is a very well done song played on the instrument by her.

How is it played? In theory, very simple. You have two antennas: one for the pitch, and one for the volume.

When you increase or decrease the hand distance from them, you can change the sounds it can produce. So you pretty much play it by just wiggling your arms around in the air.

This 2 minute video explains all of it very well.

The Open Theremin

As already mentioned, the OT is based on an Arduino and therefore digital.
Everything is open source, both the hardware (schematics, instructions, etc.) and the software.

It's a very cool project with a great focus on community.
Here for example you can find lots of cases people designed for the instrument. It's highly modular and customisable, including people who turned it into a MIDI input device.

I bought it for 130€, but had to pay extra ~40€ duty because I imported it from Switzerland.

It came like this:

Just the board, the antennas, knobs, a thread and some screws.

Assembled it looks like this:

I will also craft a case for it soon.

While you can (and traditionally DO) play it as standalone device, I also ordered a Pocketmaster effect "pedal" you usually use for electric guitars.

Without it, it sounds pretty "flat" imo, a bit like a mosquito, because it just creates one signal (and because I have zero experience!). With the effect pedal, you can add some reverb for example, which gives it a lot of depth and makes it sound more like a proper musical instrument. And because it's digital, I can change the sound entirely, from a bass humming up to a metal chainsaw guitar effect and whatever. There are so many modifications in the pedal that I'm quite overwhelmed right now to be fair. I really have to dive into it first.

Are you guys interested in that kind of stuff?
If so, I could post another update in the future regarding the case, some tips and maybe even a few songs I make as soon as I get the hang of it.
When I researched I found it a bit disheartening to find barely any information about this device and think more people should be aware of that cool project...

Longtime supporter (but rare user) of Ardour checking in. This incredible project is worthy of a look by anyone searching for an alternative to the DAW they’re using.

While this is probably more interesting for a synthesizer community, Alex usually touches on how these instruments influence production and writing. Plus he's a brilliant musician in his own right.

And so, I thought it equally belongs here.

Hearing that opening line brings back so many memories.

It looks like the transition to a single company is underway.

This kind of monolithic beast isn't often musician friendly (look at what Waves tried recently). But, it also opens up the door for new players to make some headroom (har har).

It'll be interesting to see how the matrix of these products looks in a year's time.

It could be anything from tutorials, YouTube channels, plugins/software, anything goes for this first post.

One of the most recent things I've stumbled across recently was Baphometrix's Clip-to-zero series. While I don't work on music that needs to be competitively loud, the in-depth series helped provide a new perspective to incorporate into decades-old mixing habbits.

Link to the playlist:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UT42-ur080&list=PLxik-POfUXY6i_fP0f4qXNwdMxh3PXxJx&pp=iAQB (I didn't watch every episode)

I also really appreciate the work Dan Worrall is doing these days: https://www.youtube.com/c/DanWorrall