Theremins
 

http://www.interfold.com/rabit/Theremin.htm (careful theres sound there)

I'm thinking of buying one off of Ebay for around $80. They apparently have some that respond to light, and you can get some wierd effects from strobe lights, lasers, etc. I'm pretty interested. Anyone have one or know about them?

There is a documentary about them. I think it is called "Theremin". They look like fun.

I'd love to hear a duel between a theremin and a DJ scratching.

Captain beefheart used an electric theremin on his '67(?) recording of 'Electricity'.

Jon Spencer of the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is pretty good on the theremin...

The guys in dredg used Theremins at random live sometimes. Good stuff.

Theremins rock, but unless you're interested in it for it's musical history then you might tire of it pretty fast. Haven't heard of ones that respond to light, sounds kinda cool - probably not a traditional theremin though, might be some kind of jazzed up version.

the theme music from the original Star Trek was made with a thereamin you know.. yup... neat stuff...
they can be amazing instruments if you have the patience to learn... with some decent filters/effects, the most amazing sound scapes can be had..

Re: Theremins
 

I heard one on this american life two weeks ago and I want one too. I think they can be made pretty easily.

I had a keyboard player in one of my bands years ago who built one from scratch. The only thing we used it on was Good Vibrations by Beach Boys. However, the audiences always loved to hear him screw around on it and do creepy sounds.

I'm slowly accumulating parts thta I need to build a real, original-style, analog theremin. If you don't want to just go with the standard sound, guitar pedals can do some amazing things to the sound.