Jan van Nuenen is an artist/designer/musician/crazy electronics guy who has created this awesome IKEA solar-powered optical theremin thingy that he calls the Sunnan Synth.

The synth/theremin was made with a $20 IKEA Sunnan lamp, some photoresistors, a handful of pots, and a cmos 556 IC, which is a super-cheap timer chip that you can get just about anywhere. To top it off, when you buy this lamp from IKEA, they donate one to UNICEF to help kids in small villages. Nice.

This thing can really wail, and provides it’s own spotlight to boot. Check it out:

… Sweet, isn’t it? It’s even got it’s own built-in spotlight/strobe lamp effect!

You can find build pictures and diagrams right here if you want to pull out your soldering iron and try your hand at building your own theremin synth.

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