Been looking for a thermin type device that spews out midi data or even just straight USB data for controlling things I choose assigned . I found alesis has a few products that do this (photon, airfx, airsynth) anyone know anything else?
have you considered a glove controller? if its not actually a thermin you want (but simply something that controls multiple axis by moving the hand) then a glove might be just the ticket - perhaps will give you even more control too. i can’t say i’ve looked into it particularly, but i saw an article which showed you how to cheaply make your own somewhere, and also i guess you can buy them (no idea how much though).
or alternatively people are doing things with the wii-mote which might provide another solution?
I’ve run a cheap theremin through my soundcard and into Bidule ( www.plogue.com ).
I used Bidule to convert the theremin sounds to MIDI notes, and Rewired the MIDI into Renoise.
Works!
I can post the Bidule patch for you if you’re interested.
well, I have just started exploring Bidule, which looks great. I have created a Theremin2MIDI converter which is available here.
of course it does not work with Theremin only, but works great with it because of the monophonic/monotimbric nature of the instrument.
the patch uses MIDI Yoke to transmit the MIDI data into Renoise: the note pitch is sent as a MIDI note message (of course), while the amplitude is sent as MIDI CC message (I’ve chosen #01 but it’s easily modifiable) and/or channel pressure messages, because the note velocity only acts as an initial “peak” value, while CC and CP can vary during note playing.
I have inverted the theremin amplitude signal, because I like to use it inverted: the closer the hand is to the volume antenna, the higher the amplitude of the wave is; this is the inverse of how a Theremin works, bit I find it much more intuitive.