I've spent the last two weeks making an Arduino-based "air" MIDI controller. Kind of like a theremin but with cheap sonar modules (distance sensors like they use on toy cars).
It's incredibly fun to play. It's not accurate enough to control a pitch with precision but for a controller, to drive filters, modulators, etc. it's perfect.
Also, my kids love to play with it -- not in a "musical" way but to control the music while they dance. It's a way of using it I hadn't anticipated and it's super nice to see them do it.
that makes me want to put a sonar sensor into my eurorack modular synthesizer. I actually installed a real theremin module today. Eurorack is simpler than midi, each aspect of a sound is a separate DC voltage, the standard for pitch is “1 volt per octive”
Lucky you! I haven't taken the plunge of modular yet (I'm afraid it's a hole I would never get out of) but I play around with VCV and love it.
I also have a Volca Modular which doesn't have a MIDI input, only CV/Gate and was thinking about adding a CV output to the thing.
A real theremin module is probably much more precise than sonar sensors; I use HC-SR04 because they are so cheap but they are really unstable, the values they return tend to jump around a lot. I try to compensate for this in software but it's not perfect yet.
I too would love to see this! Also- perhaps you could have it modulate in steps rather than just arbitrary frequencies so that it can be played in tune with other things.
It's incredibly fun to play. It's not accurate enough to control a pitch with precision but for a controller, to drive filters, modulators, etc. it's perfect.
Also, my kids love to play with it -- not in a "musical" way but to control the music while they dance. It's a way of using it I hadn't anticipated and it's super nice to see them do it.