Published October 21, 2025 © CC BY

Heat Theremin

Wondered what music the weather makes? This device is a theremin that changes pitch based on the heat- higher temperature, lower pitch.

BeginnerWork in progress1 hour23

Things used in this project

Hardware components

Resistor 220 ohm

Buzzer, Piezo

Arduino UNO

Breadboard (generic)

Temperature Sensor

Software apps and online services

Arduino IDE

Story

Ever wanted to know what music the weather makes? This is a theremin which changes pitch depending on how much thermal energy it detects.

Creating this was not too difficult, it reminded me of the light theremin in a way.

Video depicting how it works

Code

Untitled file

/*
  Parts required:
  - temperature sensor
  - 10 kilohm resistor
  - piezo

*/

// variable to hold sensor value
int sensorValue;
// variable to calibrate low value
int sensorLow = 1023;
// variable to calibrate high value
int sensorHigh = 0;

  // calibrate for the first five seconds after program runs
  while (millis() < 5000) {
    // record the maximum sensor value
    sensorValue = analogRead(A0);
    if (sensorValue > sensorHigh) {
      sensorHigh = sensorValue;
    }
    // record the minimum sensor value
    if (sensorValue < sensorLow) {
      sensorLow = sensorValue;
    }
  }

}

void loop() {
  //read the input from A0 and store it in a variable
  sensorValue = analogRead(A0);

  // map the sensor values to a wide range of pitches
  int pitch = map(sensorValue, sensorLow, sensorHigh, 50, 4000);

  // play the tone for 20 ms on pin 8
  tone(8, pitch, 20);

  // wait for a moment
  delay(10);
}