Lev is named after Lev Termen (Leon Theremin), a Russian scientist who invented one of the first electronic musical instruments, an instrument which is played without touching, and which bears his name.
Lev is made out of an old floor lamp, some plumbing supplies, a few empty mint tins, and some microprocessors. Lev will never replace the human theremin virtuoso, although, as there are so few of the latter, a mechanical substitute may someday be vital to our economy.
A portable version of Lev went to Electro-Music in June, 2005 to warble for the musicians, artists, and shiny classic synths that attended the conference. To set the scene, here’s a few photos from the event. (For many more, see the official Electro-Music site.)
I’ll be presenting Lev, the theremin-playing robot, at the AUTO+MATOS show at New York University on Thursday, Oct. 19. Come see singing, dancing, performing robots! Best of all, it’s free!
Behold sensational innovations in the fields of movement, science, and art in an evening of noise, high impact dance, and robotics. Visitors are encouraged to interact with robots, experimenting with noise and paint, and to observe the vigorous and propellent dance of STREB.
– from the AUTO+MATOS web site
The exhibition will take place the evening of Thursday, October 19, 2006 at 6:30pm in the Eisner Lubin Auditorium of the NYU Kimmel Center (60 Washington Square South, 4th Floor). Get tickets at the door or from NYU Ticket Central.
Here’s LEV, my theremin-playing robot first seen at Artbots 2003, playing a familiar song with the help of the newly built thumpbot and an obsolete synthesizer.
Lev is a machine for playing a theremin.
