Hoverophone: Theremin Synth

Play a theremin in the air with your hands—no screen taps, controller, or antenna required.

Hoverophone uses the front camera to follow your hands. Raise or lower a hand to glide the pitch, change the distance between your thumb and any finger to control volume, and move from side to side to pan the sound. Raise a hand and you are already playing that unmistakable, otherworldly theremin voice.

A POLYPHONIC SYNTH

Choose a sine, triangle, saw, or square wave, then add drive and ring modulation. Movement across the camera controls the stereo field. Hoverophone tracks up to four hands at once, so you can play chords instead of a single melody.

Bring two sounding hands together to pin a note in place. Pinned notes continue to ring while you play, giving you as many as twelve simultaneous voices: four live and eight sustained.

MICROTONAL NOTES IN THE AIR

Leave the note grid off for the classic continuous theremin glide. Turn it on to snap the pitch to 12-TET notes or 24-TET quarter tones on an isomorphic hexagonal grid. Move your hand into a cell and the note lands in tune without touching the screen. The 24-TET mode opens the door to microtonal and xenharmonic music while preserving the instrument's in-air control.

FEATURES

- Front-camera hand tracking with no screen contact
- Continuous theremin pitch or an isomorphic note grid
- 12-TET and 24-TET tuning with quarter tones
- Up to four tracked hands and twelve simultaneous voices
- Four waveforms, drive, ring modulation, and stereo panning
- Sound through the speaker or headphones, even in silent mode
- No account required; plays without a network connection

HOW TO PLAY THE THEREMIN

A theremin is an electronic musical instrument played without physical contact. In Hoverophone, simply raise a hand in front of the camera. Move up and down to change pitch, open and close the space between your fingers to shape volume, and move left or right to place the sound in the stereo field.

If you are learning how to play the theremin, start in continuous mode and practice smooth pitch glides. Switch to 12-TET when you want help landing on familiar notes, or choose 24-TET to play quarter tones and explore microtonal music.

Hoverophone is a touch-free theremin app and polyphonic synthesizer app for iPhone and iPad, built for musicians who want expressive camera control without extra hardware.

Camera frames are processed entirely on your device and never leave it. Hoverophone does not use the microphone.

Create a soft ambient pad, build a dense drone, or summon the eerie sweep of a science-fiction soundtrack. For the most reliable tracking, play in a well-lit room where the camera can see your hands clearly.