Zeusaphone

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A zeusaphone, also called a thoremin, is a high-frequency, solid state Tesla coil, when its spark discharge is digitally modulated so as to produce musical tones. The high-frequency signal acts in effect as a carrier wave; its frequency is significantly higher than human-audible sound frequencies, so that digital modulation is able to reproduce a recognizable pitch. The musical tone results directly from the passage of the spark through the air. The flexibility of the sound is limited by the fact that the solid-state coil produces square rather than sinusoidal waves; but simple chords are possible.

This is a variant of the plasma arc loudspeaker, designed for public spectacle and sheer volume rather than fidelity.

The first known public demonstration of the device was on June 9, 2007, at the Duckon 2007 Science Fiction convention. (See video at http://hauntedfrog.com/gt/movies/2007/duckon/SingingTeslaShow.html.) The performance was by Steve Ward, an Electrical Engineering student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who designed and built the Tesla coil he used. Since then there have been numerous other performances; see, e.g. "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies," performed on September 8, 2007, at the 2007 "Cheesehead Teslathon," a/k/a "Lightning on the Lawn," in Baraboo WI, by Mr. Ward and fellow designer Jeff Larson on matching 41 kHz Tesla coils.

The name "Zeusaphone" was devised by Dr. Barry Gehm, of Lyon College, on June 19, 2007, in a conversation with his friend Bill Higgins^[1]. It is a play on the name of the Sousaphone, instead giving homage to Zeus, Greek god of lightning. The name was adopted by Mr. Ward on June 21, 2007.^[2]

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