The Theremin Project

And now that the first coat of varnish is drying I will begin the tale of my theremin project.

A theremin is a completely unique musical instrument. It was the world's first fully electronic instrument (invented in 1919), and it's the only instrument contolled through empty space - played without being touched.* Its sound produces a rich, round tone (originally intended to imitate the violin), with inherent glissando (and sometimes tremalo)which has made it the champion instrument of "eerie sci-fi" soundtracks ever since the 1950s.

It is controlled via capacitive coupling between the body of the player and the aerial on the instrument. Most theremins have two aerials - one each to control pitch and volume - while some have only a pitch aerial. Capacitive coupling to the layman means that there's a difference in voltage between the instrument (connected to a mains electricity supply) and the player, who is grounded (0v). This means electrical charge is stored between the two, and how much of this can be stored (capacitance) is dependent on distance. So waving arms and other extremeties around the theremin creates changes in capacitance. Electronic wzardry detects the change in capacitance and creates the corresponding noises. The circuitry of the theremin is in fact nearly identical to that of a radio receiver. Under special circumstances I'm too lazy to look up, radios can act as theremins, emitting capacitance-dependent wails over the usual radio broadcasts.

These instruments can be bought and enjoyed by all, in preassembled and kit form. It just so happens I have recently been gifted the Moog** Etherwave theremin kit, and I have decided I shall be chronicling the progress of my work here.


* - I might make a note here about the thorn in the side of this grand proclamation that is the laser harp. The laser harp works via the interruption of laser beams to light sensors which approximates the plucking of a harp string. While it's true this doesn't require any physical contact with the instrument, I'm not sure it can be argued it's actually "space controlled" since playing the instrument involves blocking a discrete number of sensors rather than actually making use of the region around the instrument.

** - I've decided to save you all imminent ridicule by pointing out that the pronunciation of the word "Moog" is somewhat of an invitation to be sneered at by the elitists if you get it wrong. It rhymes with "vogue".

Buckingham Pi

My university career, it seems, has come like the tail-biting snake to finish exactly on the topic it began.

It began with Physics Foundations, and an overview of dimensional analysis, and the Buckingham Pi theorem. The first lecture I ever went to. I could say I've learned a lot since then, and I have in some ways, although not as academically based as the idealist might think. I could also jest that I've learned nothing except loathing for my subject, but that would also not be entirely true.

The close of the course on Chaos and Complexity, on my last day of lectures, was on dimensional analysis and the Buckingham Pi theorem. Perhaps this provides a unique poetic closure. Perhaps this means it is time to go. Goodbye university.

Scylla and Charybdis

I'm busy writing up the report on that final project of mine.

On reading the introduction to "Specific Heats at Low Temperatures" by E.S. Raja Gopal, I discovered the following claim:

"It has been a difficult task to steer between the Scylla of encyclopedic completeness and the Charybdis of shallow banality."

This is a fancy way of saying "I recognise that this book is not at all interesting. I'm trying to squeeze blood from a stone by injecting grandiloquent references to Greek mythology."

God. Even the professional physicists know their subject is boring.