OPTICAL THEREMIN MAKES EERIE AUDIO WITH few parts
[Fearless Night]’s optical theremin job takes advantage of the type of highly-integrated parts that are offered to the contemporary hacker as well as hobbyist in all the right ways. The result is a compact instrument with software application that can be customized utilizing the Arduino IDE to take it locations the original Theremin style might never go.
The style is based on a ‘Blue Pill’ STM32 MCU advancement board as well as two Avago APDS-9960 gesture sensor breakout boards, together with a few other supporting components. Where the original Theremin sensed hand proximity utilizing two antenna-like capacitive sensors to manage note frequency as well as volume, this style relies on two optical sensors to do the exact same job.
[Fearless Night] provides downloads for the schematic, code, parts list, as well as even 3D designs for the enclosure. PCB data are likewise included for a practical assembly, however since the element count is relatively low, a patient hacker should be able to get away with soldering it up by hand without much trouble.
This job produces the audio utilizing the STM32’s direct digital Synthesis (DDS) ability as well as a simple low-pass filter, as well as has a number of methods to fine-tune the output. What’s DDS? Our own Elliot Williams explains it in terms of audio output for microcontrollers, as well as if you’d like a more comprehensive overview, Bil Herd will happily tell you all about it.