Excellent job! Definitely something I would love to play someday!
I built my own tube theremin, which was a lot of fun, but obviously not near as challenging as what you have had to do!
At my radio club, we were donated a large quantity of radio transcription disks. One of them was demonstrating the Novachord! One of our guys took it home to record and hopefully will soon burn me a copy of it. It's pretty cool!
Kyle
I built my own tube theremin, which was a lot of fun, but obviously not near as challenging as what you have had to do!
At my radio club, we were donated a large quantity of radio transcription disks. One of them was demonstrating the Novachord! One of our guys took it home to record and hopefully will soon burn me a copy of it. It's pretty cool!
Kyle
So was it a tube Theremin?? I would love an original 1920's RCA Theremin to keep my Novachord company
I would be very interested to hear the recording you refer to. I've been collecting all sorts of things like this on the Novachord over months of research into this amazing instrument. Any chance of a copy?
Just amazing, thank you for putting those clips up on You Tube and for the additional details posted here..
That's OK
Here are a few pictures of the 100% rebuilt PSU. There is a third transformer in the generator chassis that drives the filaments for all of its 146 tubes of which there are 163 in total!!
I must say a very BIG Thank You to Majestic Transformers of Poole for making such a superb job of cloning the two main HT transformers in this beast. The clones were so close to the 70 year old wrecks that the original end bells fitted perfectly and mounted straight onto the original chassis. Without their help this project would not have been possible.
Dan Wilson, Hideaway Studio.
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Yes, it is indeed a tube theremin! When I first decided to build a tube theremin (I would have NO silicon in my theremin!), I looked at building the RCA Theremin, but since at the time there was only a little data on the more complex coils, I decided to go with Mark Keppinger's design. With five easy-to-wind coils, lots of information, easy-to-find tubes and parts, and supposedly great tonal qualities, the Keppinger theremin is a great choice for any DIY-theremin builder.So was it a tube Theremin?? I would love an original 1920's RCA Theremin to keep my Novachord company
I would be very interested to hear the recording you refer to. I've been collecting all sorts of things like this on the Novachord over months of research into this amazing instrument. Any chance of a copy?
I have been talking to a few people regarding the production of these theremins. I have found someone who is making the chassis for the Keppinger design, and possible even some RCA-lookalike cabinets. Though the circuitry and thus tone will be different than the RCA, I feel as though it is still a great instrument with great tone. I think the upsides definitely outweigh the downsides!
Here's a link to some pictures of mine: Kyle Owen's Keppinger Theremin Project
Kyle
Superb Work!! Very neat construction. You've really tempted me here - I think I'm going to have to build one of these too. I will look into the chassis availability too.
A friend of mine in Italy has built one of these and housed it in a lovely RCA style wooden box.
I would love to hear it in action.
Another monster synth that happened during the same time period, but was never commercialized, was the Trautonium in Germany, based on thyratron relaxation oscillators and keyboards tapped into string-type controllers. German composer Oskar Sala took over the design from its originator, added refinements, and was pretty much its only proponent until his demise in 2002. Only a few of these things were ever built, and I believe that the one Sala used now resides in a museum in Berlin.
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I often wonder if my 1939 Novachord is the largest surviving tube design in the UK - period - obviously with the exception of Colossus at Bletchley park but its not exactly portable!
It still amazes me how cool this 1/4 ton synth runs considering there are 163 tubes present
www.novachord.co.uk
It still amazes me how cool this 1/4 ton synth runs considering there are 163 tubes present
www.novachord.co.uk
I often wonder if my 1939 Novachord is the largest surviving tube design in the UK - period - obviously with the exception of Colossus at Bletchley park but its not exactly portable!
It still amazes me how cool this 1/4 ton synth runs considering there are 163 tubes present
www.novachord.co.uk
I thought your Novachord was very cool, glad you shared. Hasn't someone restored a Colossus type computer recently? -- Possibly one at Bletchley Park? (I haven't followed it much lately..)
Yes.. I think you are right - another tube computer has joined the land of the living. Colossus was restored a number of years ago and is still operational.
Interestingly enough, the Novachord has a claim to fame here - this beast runs its heaters at 5 volts instead of 6.3 and this massively increases the lifetime of the tubes. In fact, over 90% of the tubes in my beast are the original Sylvanias from 1938!! I believe that this technique was taken on by the designers of the 1943 ENIAC in full knowledge of the Novachord's design.
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