Thoramax

The home of the Studio Zero Thoramax™

I’ve been playing with the idea of creating a Web VR synthesiser for a while. I made the VeRyMin, which was a first pass, but was frankly pretty awful to use, and even worse to listen to. For proof, check out the video

Then I read this review of Roli Blocks Lightpad, and one quote struck me in particular :

Jimi Hendrix would use his entire body, and its position on the stage in relation to his amps, speakers, hundreds of other bodies, and the architecture of the space — likely productive zones chalked onto the floor beforehand, as ‘spikes’ — to form and direct the sound of his guitar.

I realised we could extend the concept of VeRyMin to give back a synthersizer performer some of the energy and physicality that an electric guitar player gets.

Some goals

• A skilled performer should be able to play the instrument without wearing a headset (if they want to)
• A novice performer should be able to make a noise with it, and get some sense of control within a few minutes
• Audiences, present or remote, should be able to be part of the experience.
• I will document the process of building this. This is just the start.

Let the aural torment begin!

Why is it called Thoramax?

Because I like the original Theremin, but it’s turned up to the max. Also, I really like Thora. So, Thoramax.

Some guidelines

Although this is a personal project, I want to get others involved. You can tweet me @toychicken, or raise issues on Github.

I’m intending to do this as a series of experiments, each one contributing to the whole. As it gets a little closer to having something concrete, I’ll start the process of making it into a coherent instrument.

Code stuff

I’m going to be using A-frame as a jumping-off point. In my opinion it’s the certainly the quickest (if not best) way to get a Web VR project going.