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March 10, 2020 9:44 AM

Cat playing theremin you’re welcome (SLTwitter, sound up!)
posted by Johnny Wallflower (21 comments total)

Awesome! I think that means I need to get a theremin for my cats.
posted by agatha_magatha at 10:08 AM on March 10, 2020

It's a trivial misdemeanor in the grand scheme of things, but this video was on YouTube at least six years ago. It's still great, though.
posted by J.K. Seazer at 10:11 AM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

Sadly, the cat plays the theremin roughly as well as most theremin owners play theirs, which is why I flounced out of the theremin-building side hustle in a huff nearly twenty years ago.
posted by sonascope at 10:16 AM on March 10, 2020 [5 favorites]

I do not care if this is real, only that it exists.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 10:18 AM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

Is that a theremin?
posted by carter at 10:20 AM on March 10, 2020

I sent that to a friend, who replied "I think that's actually a 'cat though transmitting device', and that's what cats sound like all the time inside."
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:38 AM on March 10, 2020 [5 favorites]

THEREMIN IS HOW I FEEL INSIDE, RICK
ALL THE TIME
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:39 AM on March 10, 2020 [20 favorites]

*'cat thought transmitting device' ...sigh
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:59 AM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

It’s the cat at the end who is the key.
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:14 AM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

Ah, shoot, it's a double.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 11:22 AM on March 10, 2020

Mod note: I declare it okay; I welcome our cats with theremins overlords etc
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 11:28 AM on March 10, 2020 [10 favorites]

This seems to be a theremin specially designed to create the sound the feline in question would make anyway, if it was being sawn in half. Or maybe if you got the food with chicken when you know damn well she likes the salmon kind...

More importantly, what do you call a feline thereminist? Go.
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 11:30 AM on March 10, 2020

Clever Kitty!
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:43 AM on March 10, 2020

Related: animals playing the sprinklers.
posted by Fizz at 12:19 PM on March 10, 2020 [4 favorites]

This seems to be a theremin specially designed to create the sound the feline in question would make anyway, if it was being sawn in half.

I have questions.
posted by solotoro at 12:28 PM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

I think it's kind of creepy how much it looks like the cat actually "sees" the radio waves emanating from the device. When it goes to bite the signal, watch how it cocks its head to the side just so that its mouth perfectly aligns with the location of the invisible beam.
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:28 PM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]

My impression is that there was a small wire antenna there and the cat was batting at it, as they do.
posted by sjswitzer at 12:33 PM on March 10, 2020 [4 favorites]

I bought that theremin as a kit through the make store a few years ago. It's pretty poor and only has the one antenna for frequency. Maybe I should find some local cat to donate it to.
posted by DarkForest at 12:49 PM on March 10, 2020

My impression is that there was a small wire antenna there and the cat was batting at it, as they do.

*slaps forehead*
D'oh! I think I just plain forgot how a theremin actually works!
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:56 PM on March 10, 2020

On the subject of how old this is, a quick check shows I was sending a link to friends in 2008 and I'm sure it wasn't new then.

On the subject of how awesome this is, I watched it loop several times with just as much delight as ever!
posted by I'm always feeling, Blue at 6:33 PM on March 10, 2020 [1 favorite]

this is also pretty cool.

Man playing theremin
posted by philip-random at 9:41 PM on March 10, 2020 [2 favorites]