In this particular laser harp midi signal is sent from the arduino through midi interface to the laptop running midi software i used mulab, because its free and simple. The device features a numeric pad for note input, which can also be used as a drum pad, and a variety of knobs and themidinator is a marvelous midi controller. The beams reflect off mirrors to form square shaped beam paths. When the beam is blocked, a note is played by the instrument. The arduino software has a terrific midi signal library created by francois best, so it. Im using a single laser pointer for the laser beam. Midi jack from the arduino is connected to the midi in port a of the midiman interface.
When you stick your hand into one, a light detector picks up the reflected light, and that causes the arduino to play a note. The number of instruments is not limited by the arduino and music shield. Harp is installed on custom cabinet that contains all the needed electronics, stereo sound system. X40 laser rangefinder midi controller with arduino nano v3 and x40 laser rangefinder 703a module.
It is played by moving hands over laser light sources in order to send midi commands when a beam is interrupted. This project was for creative electronics, a beng electronics engineering 4th year module at the university of malaga, school of teleco. We will explain shortly how the system works and why a laser can turn into a virtual string of an electronic harp. The second usb ab cable just powers up the arduino it is possible to use a. Please practice handwashing and social distancing, and check out our resources for adapting to these times. A curated list of midi diy projects on instructables. Controlling the type of midi signal created is also possible. Any number of laser beams can be arranged in this type of laser harp, from as few as one or two, up to 32 or more, depending on the capacity of the midi controllers and software being used. Well, you could build a harp of all instruments out of lasers and then play it by breaking the beams of light. His instrument is controlled via an arduino due, with 85 buttons arranged in a diagonal pattern. A couple of tutorials on hooking these things up to an arduino, a bit of coding, and i had a working one note laser harp. In this project, i built a laser harp with stacked laser beams that propagate horizontally. This harp doesnt make sound itself but generates a stream of midi data to drive an audio synthesizer. Lharp laser harp shield for arduino laser pointers.
This is the first publication of the laser harp project that im developing for some months now. Il get music out of mij laser harp, but the notes are blinking, like morsecode. Each beam strikes a photocell, and when the players hand interrupts it, the sensor prompts an arduino microcontroller to send a midi note on message. A demonstration of a quick arduinobased midi laser harp using low power lasers. In this particular laser harp midi signal is sent from the arduino through midi interface to the laptop running midi software i used mulab, because its free and. A very simple laser harp running with an arduino uno. Everyting works with your explonation with the wii mote and the software, only the frequency of the wii is faster than the galvos of my laser. Jon bumstead has created an awesome arduino powered note midi harp after receiving funding from the optics group spectra at washington university. It fires the beam into a mirror attached to a stepper motor. That vibrating mirror turns the single beam into a fan of beams. The arduino software has a terrific midi signal library, so it wasnt tough to. Ever wanted to make your own techno music, but are tired of the standard midi controller. This is a basic introduction to make a framed laser harp with an arduino.
Frameless midi laser harp element14 ben heck featured content. I constructed a midi laser harp controlled with an arduino for spectra, an optics group at washington university in saint louis. If you use a linux machine as the sound generating device, the test procedure described in the main page of the library on. Both builtin speakers and audio output jack are available for playing music. I consider it a prototypebase for future builds, so im calling it the laser harp i. The second usb ab cable just powers up the arduino it is possible to use a 5v power supply or couple of batteries instead. Several laser beams are produced, and a note is played when one of the beams is blocked by the player, similar to plucking a stick on a real harp. There is free software available that can do this, such as mulab or. In this instructable we will tell you how to make an inexpensive laser harp using arduino. We are a generation that love sound and light cant do without them really. The midi protocol only required a current limiting resistor to interface the serial output pin of the arduino to a midi synthesizer. Continue reading midi harp looks pretty sharp posted in arduino hacks, musical hacks, raspberry pi tagged harp, midi, midi harp, pianoteq, strain gauge, zynthian. Build a xy midi pad using arduino mega and a tft touchscreen displayshield.
Instead of a midi output like my previous laser harp, this device has builtin. Arduino blog play some tunes on a note midi laser harp. Midi program change for the opening cn 7e and the closing cn 7f of the beams frame. Aug 10, 2015 im using a single laser pointer for the laser beam.
In other word, laser harp works as midi controller. Lmmsusers lmmsusers lmms and arduino, the laser harp lmmsusers lmmsusers lmms and arduino, the laser harp. Jan 26, 2015 14note framed midi laser harp arduino powered velocity sensitive by chris ball. So, for the first laser harp at least, i took the laser diodes from a bunch of cheap laser pointers purchased in a corner shop, and built a small test rig consisting of one diode and one photodiode. Take jon bumsteads an electronic harp, for example, that plays music by blocking laser beams similar to how a musician would pluck a stick on the real thing.
Instead of a midi output like my previous laser harp, this device has builtin midi. This means the device does not have to be connected to a computer or midi player e. Github squirtifierx40 laser rangefinder midi controller. Im watching your show for a while, and i really really enjoy every second. You could program the harp to direct the beam to any position at any speed. However, after finding this pursuit frustrating, he instead decided to assemble his own 3dprinted midi jammer keyboard, inspired by the axis49 interface pad. Arduinopowered laser harp lets you make your own techno.
Progetto arpa laser il software project laser harp. As part of my building virtual worlds class at the entertainment technology center i built a laser harp using an arduino and some sharp range sensors. This laser harp is safe, cheap and temporary, and only intended to be. Laser diodes 5v 2 x 220 ohm and as much 10kohm as ldrs.
Im computer engineering student, last year before masters degree. It starts with a laser tape measure modified to serve as an arduino rangefinder, coupled to custom midi code to make a laser harp midi controller. The inventor is one stephen hobley and he has shared his workings online. The harp works as a midi controller, so it doesnt make sound itself. A laser harp that you can play techno music on built by stephen hobley. Lmms lmmsusers lmmsusers lmms and arduino, the laser harp. But we will connect those sections together to a common power source and a common midi interface program. Why build a laser harp with dozens of lasers when you can trigger the whole keyboard range utilizing a single laser. Dec 06, 2012 so, for the first laser harp at least, i took the laser diodes from a bunch of cheap laser pointers purchased in a corner shop, and built a small test rig consisting of one diode and one photodiode. With this design, the lasers land on frets, which makes it much simpler to block notes with a single finger. And the results are outstanding watch the following video. During a summer eecs class at uc berkeley, three students decided to pitch an ambitious idea to their professorto build a laser midi controller that can play music through a plasma speaker. Arduino is an opensource electronics platform based on easytouse hardware and software.
Nov 27, 2019 we will explain shortly how the system works and why a laser can turn into a virtual string of an electronic harp. The output is read and software updates the volume of the midi signal. After much research i found all ready to go on ebay on the store. Oct 26, 2019 in this particular laser harp midi signal is sent from the arduino through midi interface to the laptop running midi software i used mulab, because its free and simple. Laser harps are musical devices with laser beam strings. Apparently not content with a traditional laser harp, jonathan bumstead set out to take things in a different direction. The laser harp is an electronic instrument that is played by blocking laser beams. This session will take you through using arduino as the basis for various music projects. This style of laser harp can be created in any size, from a lap sized harp to a room sized installation, or larger, like the installations seen at burning. We will cover midi interfaces and how to code an arduino to be the bridge. May 05, 2016 jon bumstead has created an awesome arduino powered note midi harp after receiving funding from the optics group spectra at washington university. Some form of midienabled synthesiser for most this will be a music program on a pc. These commands can be sent to different electronic devices such as synthesizers, samplers, midi controllers.
Ive created a few arduino and more recently, olimexino framed midi laser harps see one here, and i frequently get emails asking for more information on how to build one. Software the program for controlling the laser harp was written in arduino programming environment. Can you all please help out on how to start designing and. Framed laser harp with up to 16 beams, midi over both usb and. Frameless midi laser harp element14 ben heck featured. Instead of a midi output like my previous laser harp, this device has builtin midi player so the output is an audio signal. Arduino blog horizontal laser harp is like none youve ever seen. Each beam strikes a photocell, and when the players hand interrupts it, the sensor prompts an arduino. The harp works as a midi controller, so it doesnt make sound itself, but generates a stream of midi data to drive an audio synthesizer. If the light level at a detector drops, we know that the laser beam has been blocked, and we send a midi note on message to the computer via the usb port or by another. Its intended for anyone making interactive projects.
The device must therefore produce a laser beam for each note and also have a sensor for determining when a beam is blocked. These messages are usually control change messages, used for adjusting different effects and filters in music software, although i have programmed a. Our laser harp has 5 independent sections with 7 lasers on each section, thus we will use 5 arduino boards to control each section of the harp. Initially, the laser harp was intended to be run through a midi interface and control ableton live. But we will see with the good software, we can even make an electric guitar out of it. Another of the projects ive been working on for the maker faire is something a little simpler than the laser harp a range sensor that converts a detected distance to midi messages. Feb 02, 2014 a demonstration of a quick arduino based midi laser harp using low power lasers. A 3dprinted, arduino duebased midi jammer keyboard. Affordable and pretty simple to build framed laser harp using cheap. These commands can be sent to different electronic devices such as synthesizers, samplers, controllers and other. The way it works is simple, when the players hand interrupts the laser beam theremin, the photocell sensor send signal to arduino microcontroller to send a midi note on message.
At the same time it probably is a good start for anyone else wanting to build a laser harp, so just go ahead and build one if you feel like it. The fritzing file contains a simple sketch of the wiring. This tutorial shows how ho use the native usb port of an arduino or genuino zero, due or 101 board as a midi device using the arduino midi usb library. Dec 18, 2012 the harp works as a midi controller, so it doesnt make sound itself, but generates a stream of midi data to drive an audio synthesizer. Usually laser harps have the beams travel vertically in the shape of a fan or vertical lines. Nowadays, it seems like instruments come in all different shapes and sizes. There are loads of arduino projects out there that output midi via the arduino s usb cable and maybe some software on the computer side too.
The laser harp is a lightsensitive musical instrument. Working in stand alone mode as a learning instrument. Arduino laser harp microcontroller project circuit. In addition to arduino and laser strings, we have a midi shield, which is the actual sound generator. I am busy to upgrade my laser harp to a frameless one. The library can be installed using the arduino library manager. Allthough i am not entirely done yet, i still wanted to share this with you because i need some feedback. Do not bother to describe the connections of the hardware, it just works. Hi everyone, i am the maker of the laser harp shield for arduino microcontrollers. His instrument is controlled via an arduino due, with. Im here to share a project of a user of my italian forum of lmms, who won a contest thanks to arduino and lmms. In addition, the laser harp had two pushbuttons and a pedal switch used to control the range of the notes. Im putting this instructable together to give a basic int. The arduino continuously monitors the light level at each light detector.
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