Some items have sound clips- click on a picture or highlighted text to get an mp3 of that device

The OptoVox is an optical type theremin with 8 different sensors. Each has it's own "pitch" for the 5 different voice settings for a total of 40 different tones! I built it out of a FisherPrice toy and miscellaneous parts and jammed it all into an old reel to reel tape recorder case (it has a lid, too). To top it off, I used a piece of salvaged birdseye maple for the top panel. Under stage lights, I've taken to using a very small flexible goose-neck pen light as a kind of wand to play the thing.

 

Proximity Feedback Machine #3 is the same guts as PFM#1- installed in an old oak meter enclosure. This is an optical-type of theremin. You can get a self-playing loop by closing the lid.

 

The Classic GeigerPhone Theremin. (this is my personal unit). Red phones are not the easiest to find since we traded the Cold War for this bogus War on Terrorism!

The Solar Theremin is a commission project for Christian McShane of If Thousands. The case is from some kind of antique capacitance checker.

The Theremin-with-Flanger used a different antenna. The built-in flanger makes for added sonic texture! A fellow in California bought this one- he loves the sound, but his room mates asked him to move out!

Proximity Feedback Machine #2 is an optical theremin that works on a basic 555 circuit. The photo sensor head also has some very bright LEDs for working on a dark stage. The head is mounted on a flexible gooseneck. Now at Pogo Studios.

 

 

The Lonestar I built for my friend James in Arizona. The internal lamp on this one is particularly "twitchy."

The Proximity Feedback Machine is based on an AirFx unit. The blue dome (which can be removed for standard theremin-style use) traps the infrared signal and makes it bounce around in a crazy kind of feedback loop. I love this thing- I'd like to make more of them!