Adafruit’s Sophy Wong shared this DIY project guide for making a Halloween Jack-O-Theremin.
While the project is Halloween-themed, there’s no reason you couldn’t build it into any type of encloser that you like.
Project Summary:
“The theremin is an electronic musical instrument that you can play without even touching it – spooky! The theremin senses the distance from its antennae to the player’s hands, and changes its pitch and volume based on these distances. The theremin was used to make soundtrack music for many iconic spooky movies, like The Day the Earth Stood Still (1958), and is perfect inspiration for a Halloween project!
Here, I’ve turned a pumpkin into a Jack-o-Theremin using an ultrasonic distance sensor and a Circuit Playground Express (CPX). The CPX uses the distance measurement to generate a sound and flash the onboard NeoPixels in various colors. This version of a theremin has a much more digital-bleepy-bloopy sound than a traditional theremin, but you still get to make music by waving your hand around in the air!”
Composer & synthesist Eric Mouquet (Deep Forest) shared this live improvisation, October Melody, on the Haken Continuum.
The Haken Continuum is a unique synthesizer that’s designed to provide the same level of responsiveness as traditional orchestral instruments.
The Continuum uses EaganMatrix, a powerful modular synthesis platform developed by Edmund Eagan, as its synth engine. This is the same platform used by Expressive E for its Osmose synthesizer.
Novation has announced the launch of a new free virtual instrument for owners of its Launchkey Mk4 MIDI controller.
Developed in collaboration with Swedish software developer Klevgrand, Play features 80 curated presets based on samples from instruments such as the Novation Peak and Bass Station II, Sequential Prophet-6 and Oberheim OB-6, spanning leads, basses, pads and drum kits.
Play is designed to integrate seamlessly with Launchkey. Presets can be selected directly from the hardware, and each preset’s macros are automatically mapped to Launchkey’s eight encoders.
Play’s four Pad FX (Chorus, Cassette, Spinner and Freeze) can be punched in live via dedicated pads on the controller, and these are joined by three global effects, including a “lush, cavernous reverb”, a one-knob compressor and a flexible delay.
Launched in August 2024, the fourth generation of the Launchkey range is made up of six models, from the 25-key Launchkey Mini to the semi-weighted 61-key Launchkey 61. The MK4 series reimagined the look and feel of the controllers while introducing a number of new features.
Novation Play is compatible with macOS and Windows and available both standalone and in AU/AAX/VST/VST3 formats. If you own a Launchkey MK4, head over to your customer portal on Novation website to download the plugin.
