One might argue that every musical instrument is controlled by the body—from the strumming the strings of a guitar, blowing into a saxophone, striking the keys of a piano—but no instrument is controlled quite like the theremin. Patented in 1927 and originally known as the aetherphone, the musical instrument looks like something that came off Nikola Tesla’s lab bench and it sounds like it too. The instrument uses electromagnetic flux between two poles as affected by the presence of the human body.

Its sound has been heard in such music as the soundtrack from The Day the Earth Stood Still.

And now, your Kinect can become one of these amazing instruments.

Ken Moore has developed a Kinect hack that allows us to experience this instrument (see the post image, theremin graphic not included in the demo.) Look to the bottom of the post for a YouTUBE video showing it off. Here’s some information from him summary,

First look at my next generation Theremin simulator which uses the Microsoft Kinect controller. The system interprets depth data visually and sends output to Absynth 5 software synthesizer. The sonic possibilities are endless, I’m just scratching the surface here. For more information http://www.kenmooredesign.com.

The simulator provides the two primary controls for the theremin have been simulated and one extra added—which raises the question: what other interesting controls could be added to the initial set?

Perhaps we’ll see a band use a Kinect on stage at some point in order to control music.