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I've spent the last two weeks making an Arduino-based "air" MIDI controller. Kind of like a theremin but with cheap sonar modules (distance sensors like they us
by bambax 6y ago
I've spent the last two weeks making an Arduino-based "air" MIDI controller. Kind of like a theremin but with cheap sonar modules (distance sensors like they use on toy cars).
It's incredibly fun to play. It's not accurate enough to control a pitch with precision but for a controller, to drive filters, modulators, etc. it's perfect.
Also, my kids love to play with it -- not in a "musical" way but to control the music while they dance. It's a way of using it I hadn't anticipated and it's super nice to see them do it.
- AlwaysBCoding 6y agothis sounds cool, do you have a video of it somewhere?
- bambax 6y agoNot yet, no but I will! ;-)
- geocrasher 6y agoI too would love to see this! Also- perhaps you could have it modulate in steps rather than just arbitrary frequencies so that it can be played in tune with other things.
- jes5199 6y agothat makes me want to put a sonar sensor into my eurorack modular synthesizer. I actually installed a real theremin module today. Eurorack is simpler than midi, each aspect of a sound is a separate DC voltage, the standard for pitch is “1 volt per octive”
- bambax 6y agoLucky you! I haven't taken the plunge of modular yet (I'm afraid it's a hole I would never get out of) but I play around with VCV and love it. I also have a Volca Modular which doesn't have a MIDI input, only CV/Gate and was thinking about adding a CV output to the thing. A real theremin module is probably much more precise than sonar sensors; I use HC-SR04 because they are so cheap but they are really unstable, the values they return tend to jump around a lot. I try to compensate for this in software but it's not perfect yet.