Optical Theremin


Posted on Feb 7, 2014

As part of the National Instruments Tinker, Learn, and Do Engineering with NI myDAQ course ware, the hands on experiments demonstrate the wide range of possibilities of using NI myDAQ hardware. The 10 lab experiments cover a wide range of topics including analog and digital circuits, sensors and signal processing of audio sound tracks. View all o


Optical Theremin
Click here to download the full size of the above Circuit.

f the labs for the Tinker, Learn, And Do Engineering With NI myDAQ course ware. In the 1950s and 1960s, a new spooky background sound was introduced to fans of ScFi and horror TV shows and movies. It was not a new sound but a rebirth of the Theremin invented in 1928 by Professor Leon Theremin using 1050s electronics (Fig. 1). The Theremin was the first electronic musical instrument. It had two antennae which were part of resonant RLC oscillators. When you placed you hand near an antenna, the electric field was disturbed, resulting in a shift of the resonant frequency. One antenna controlled the frequency or pitch, while the other antenna modified the amplitude of the sound. The Theremin now has a cult following, and you can see and hear the early sounds in some of the references. This lab uses myDAQ and two optical sensors to build an optical Theremin with its own unique sound. One hand moves over a photodiode to change the pitch. The other hand moves over a second photodiode to change the amplitude. There is a lot of scope in this project to make your sound unique and to let your creative juices flow. Download the files aboveto access the courseware pertaining to this lesson that illustrate how the mDAQ can be used with NI LabVIEW covering a range of tools from introductory level exercises to design challenges. A photodiode (when radiated by a light source) generates a very small (microamp) current. The signal level can...




Leave Comment

characters left:

Related Circuits

  • New Circuits

    .

     


    Popular Circuits

    Telephone handset tone dial encoder
    Mini Logic probe with transistor circuit
    555 timer touch activated alarm circuit
    markII
    SG3525A Pulse Width Modulator Control Circuits
    Low Cost Battery Condition Indicator
    Automatic Garden Lamp Simple Electronic Circuit Schematic for Turn-on and Turn-off Lamp Automatically
    MHz FREQUENCY COUNTER
    NE5532 manufactured by headphone amplifier circuit



    Top