Terence Eden’s Blog

Optical Theremin - Demo

@edentandroid demo development hacks ota12 over the air theremin · 3 comments · 950 words · read ~597 times.

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At Over The Air I demonstrated what I considered a novel use for one of Android's sensors. I wanted to create a Theremin - a type of musical instrument which is played by moving one's hand over it - changing pitch and tone by moving nearer or further away. My first attempt used the proximity sensor. However, on all the Android phones I tried the sensor's accuracy was binary - it could sense if something was close by, but not say how close. So, what else could I use to detect how near or…