Analog Laser Harp Final Project - Seth Sandler

[DJBassiv]

we should get a way to mix with that haha !

[Z3R00NE]

please dont build a spaceshuttle and fly away from earth^^...because i enjoy your videos so much and they inspire me to build stuff of my own...great work - thumbs:UP!

[lightharp]

beautiful work, sir! i 2nd... number dude's... comment about getting some MIDI output going. in fact it would probably have been 100x easier to do all of this with a microcontroller. i've built analog light harps and they are a BIOTCH! :?P if you ever wanna go digital, let me know and i'll help you any way i can. though you probably wouldn't need my help considering your credentials. ;?)

[lightharp]

@lightharp oh... never mind! i checked some of yer other vids and you definitely do NOT need my help! lol.

[cerupcat]

@lightharp Thanks! This was my first experience with electronics actually. I wanted to make it digital and route through MIDI or OSC, but never got to that point unfortunately. I like your videos though and they did what I wanted to at the time! :D Maybe one day I can get back to it.

[FearInYourHeart]

SERIOUSLY DO WANT

[BillyBobsMustard]

Hey someone in my electronic engineering technology final projects class is doing a similar project except he incorporated a synthesizer to generate custom sounds. pretty neat stuff.

[bradlee22]

Elegant, simple implementation. Nice!

[igorsanson]

wow.!!!!tutorial??

very very nice

[xbuster17]

maybe smaller ? like a pocket version .. with midi of course... or incorporated wave efects.anyway, cool thing

[66650043661148305595]

Let it send a MIDI input instead, that would give you neverending resources of different sounds to use.

[joshuachadtheze]

its analouge, MIDI is digital

[RaykoDrg]

You should see Jarre's Consert

[tepposal]

Nice oriental feel...

[xoixoi0]

that's definitely needs some tuning.

[derdniks7]

I hope you got an A+!!!

[Obscene3D]

Sounds more like bagpipes

[cerupcat]

Final Project for a class in school.

[windoes98se]

sory

[NexIuguolo]

hahaha

[chaotictails]

that's really cool!

[hugman99]

lol atari music

thats super awsome tho

[Alas777]

it could be improved. But it's good. It just doesn't sound like a harp (duh!, lol)

[utubeboi3451]

sharper image makes something like this. it's 600$ how much did it coast u 2 make this?

[cerupcat]

Probably around $80 - $100

[TunnelAllstars]

that's much €'s

[mrl0p3z]

Yeah, Sharper Image sells Beamz, which isn't really like this at all. It's an overpriced toy that triggers really crappy sub-midi quality presets and sounds. Beamz is crap.

[Ratholan]

Very awesome! Do you know what it cost to make?

[Gameboygenius]

What scales is this based on? Something with just intonation/overtone scales, right? Or is it randomly tuned?

[cerupcat]

It's tuned to a pentatonic scale.

[oooooooobugger]

I heard this song playing our local chinese take-away the other night!

[oooooooobugger]

also if you watch it with the sound off it looks really funy!

[Sausagedesigner]

I hope Trent Reznor uses this on their next tour.

[LegosPL0X]

The song that he plays sounds Aisan

[shobley]

The Stylophone lives!

Nice one - like the cabinet too.

[cerupcat]

Thanks! I appreciate it.

[KonFess]

Let me clarify one thing, this is a synthesizer. The sound is coming from speakers in the base. The laser light is not causing the air to vibrate and produce sound. Too many educated people mistakenly believe that laser light can transfer energy to the surroundings as sound waves. In this case the "555 chip" is the hammer and the speakers are the strings. A fine electronics project none the less.

[Hellracer1]

goddamn!!!  that's awesome!

[lazzer408]

laggy pos. Did you use a pic or something? Analog should be instant.

[cerupcat]

that's due to youtube. Sounds very slightly out of sync due to the compression when uploading. You're right, there's no latency in real use.

[lazzer408]

What did you use for the oscs?

[cerupcat]

I used 555 timers. It was my first electronics experience so I didn't use anything too involved.

[lazzer408]

Still it's cool. Next step? Midi out? :)

[cerupcat]

Yup! That's the goal! =)

[lazzer408]

Did you use a 555 for each note? You could have done it with resistors or mosfet control of each resistor in the RC network. Maybe?

[lazzer408]

Chords......... duh nvm. =) brain fart.

[bobscratchit]

cool!!

[MaGiCaCeS]

i want one!

[eseman13]

great dude. that was great.... but.... tuning??? some notes are out of tune! but great anyways

[cerupcat]

like piratecaptain said below, it's not a major scale, but rather a pentatonic scale; that may be one explanation why it would sound out of tune (since it shouldn't be THAT far out of tune). I'm glad you liked it though!

[p3ckyy]

jaja

cool!! ;)

[piratecaptain99]

that is really kewl. if anyone waz wondering thats a pentatonic scale by the way. very popular in oriental music.i could give long story behind it and stuff but itd be to long.message me if u wanna know.

[cerupcat]

thanks piratecaptain99 for clearing that up. I think some people are thinking it's supposed to be a major scale.

[benjis007]

very good and ingenious...

[PixieDreamMaker]

cool saounds like a japanness song! i like it!

[wrongwayup]

That's defenitely a nice project you did there. I actually like the cheesy tunes to be honest. I think it get's its charme from the unpolishedness (is that a word?) it has.

[stalwart911]

Good job

[anoxxia]

one of the notes is out of tune :(

[PuttingOnTheFoil]

Very cool. I just hope you weren't trying to tune for a C major scale ;).

[Ultimatequinoxe]

Then I certainly wish you all the best with that ! Im barely able to understand how the concept of Lazers and sound, I only recently came to realise how an interuption of a lazer beam can trigger something that makes sound, but i know theres much more than that as well! Grand work !Good to still people using there brains like the brilliant inventors of old that are now just a network of PC's ! I really wish you all the best in your ventures !

[Ultimatequinoxe]

Excellent ! Theres always silly petty arguments over JMJ and the "oh he doesnt really play a lazer harp its just a tape playback, you cant make sound from lazers" etc etc. But this is perfect proof to those doubters. On top of that, This is a fantastic project - If there was midi for external sound generation - you sell something like this for huge amounts ! - Id buy one ! -next gen theramin !

[cerupcat]

Wow thank you! It's funny you mention the midi for external sound generation, since that was my goal. It was my first electronics class ever, so midi at that time was beyond me (and still is too a small extent). Hopefully one day soon though I'll have one that hooks to midi especially since these analog sounds aren't the best!

[tangnatalaga]

Before CD was invented, I remember a demonstration similar to this, and the guy said, someday laser will be used to reproduce and create music. He was right, not only music, but also picture as well(dvd).

[Lukifer]

Holy Shit!

[moklygospel]

very cool!

[maagat]

it sounds more like bag pipes. but very cool.

[cerupcat]

haha yeah, the sound isn't too great. It was my first time building any electronics. It's all analog and no filters were used, so without filters it's hard to get anything better sounding out from an analog circuit.