Rendezvous II Laser Harp

[SuperHypnoman]

Jean Michel Jarre - Rendez Vous album is around still to buy...

[SuperHypnoman]

The note's change pitch by pressing a switch with your foot on the floor so you can go up or down a scale, it also opens and closes the harp...

[SuperHypnoman]

Steve is playing all the notes... The Laser harp is a project that is catching on, i've build one just look on my page, it is my first midi test... If you have a good knowlege of electronics and like to use lasers its not that hard to build a laser harp, the plans i used are so straight forward... :D

[tiagandremo]

i want 1 of these bad boys!!!!

[DirtyDubstepSoldier]

how do u make the notes higher and lower?

[gorillazmaster]

awesome dude!!

[dylo101]

/watch?v=VLa1bWCc8bQ&feature=r­elated

[iw2mln]

I would really to know where you found the music background of "Rendez Vous". I'm looking for it since a lot of time without having found it

[FlametopFred]

Cool indeed. Can you make a dual-manual version of this? And is it possible to add other aspects of control - like an LFO control ? Could you use a Laser Harp coming at you on horizontal plane? Anyway.... has my imagination going.

[shobley]

@FlametopFred Check out the wiimote version - this adds a dimension of expression to the laser harp

[Xsilo993]

Hmm look music is starting (i mean the harp sound) before he started to playing... Hmm stragne... -.-

[82ZENER]

@Xsilo993 I also noticed it, mmmm....

[Midget5019]

@82ZENER he is playing over the album. there is music in the background and he is playing over some of the notes.

[PirosLivi]

this is my favorite instrument. imagine aliens coming to earth...and we playing them music with this instrument...all those boring "szolfézs" classes at musicschool would have been sooo much cooler.

[Xerxes4242]

Now, imagine if this technology was refined, and it was an actual laser harp instead of a techno machine.. HOLY SHIT, IT WOULD ACTUALLY BE GOOD INSTEAD OF THIS SHIT!

[PipoTachyonYAY]

I WANT ONE SO BAD NOW! this is the coolest instrument on the face of the planet!

...aside from the Aqua Harp...

[HousekaterClaudio]

Very impressive work! Really great!

[MRRWJ2]

i would try this at my school.

[MRRWJ2]

sounds robotic!

[coolboym]

awesome!, close your eyes, listen the sound, and open it after, you won''t belive it's not the master himself...

[Satiaraha]

wow amazing work but i have a question did you build it or did you bought it?

[htplanet]

?¿?¿?¿? heimmm?? and were is the first two notes??? he is not playing!!!!

[GaryGarrett]

awesome!

[MrZoolook]

And as a bonus... it didn't break down...

[homer9868]

Hi guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[quarkphotonect]

Awesome!

[hillbillyhumor]

That's the background music, plus he's done it in other videos and has full diagrams like JMJ.

[rfoshaug]

How powerful (milliwatts) is the laser you've used here?

And how powerful do you think it would have to be to use on stage with the proper amount of smoke?

[kingofkeyboards]

how much will one of these be once you start releasing ready made ones? ive no idea about circuitry and electronic wiring so id prefer to buy one built. also when do you plan to release them? thats if you do. thanks

[Stoney3K]

AFAIK this unit is 300mW (according to his website) DPSS green.

You're not going to need much more on a regular indoor stage with enough smoke. Jarre's harp is 0,5W-1W for his indoor concerts, and he uses an Argon-Krypton gas laser for the big outdoor gigs, which does a few Watts to about 10W (presumably a Spectra 168).

[TheOneTrueSpLiT]

Great piece of work Stephen - what synth is it connected to in order to get that great sound? - as I recall JMJ used an Elka Synthex, I have the patch in SoundFont format and use it in my own work cos it's such a great power synth sound.

[shobley]

I use the same thing - just with the Kontakt sampler attached.

[ComaRadio]

woah this is so cool

[MoogMcMahon]

I think that most people who have Laser harps have a little bit of talent or how could they afford to own/build one :) Cracking demo. Love it.

[pkillor]

EXTRAORDINARIO!!!  Un buen trabajo!!!

[pungsson]

An alternative to the Air guitar?

[najken]

Total waste of time, is this music? come on play something good instead of this _ _ _ _.

[sacredchemistry]

the best part was at the end , the rest was a waste of time .

[mackno2]

q trucho loko batis cualkiera por q no tokas de verdad

[PeowPeowPeowLasers]

One day soon (this year, maybe next) mate I'm buying those plans from you. I badly want to do this.

[ming57]

Is this sound one of the factory presets on the imposcar softsynth?

I don't think I've ever heard something with this much power. It's metallic, and yet organic...A beautiful sound.

[shobley]

No this is a sample ot an Elka Synthex - one of the presets I think.

The same sound used by Jarre for his laser harp tracks.

The sound is downloadable as a sound font - check Google.

[Jenssssssssssssssss]

Very original. Except it's not. XD

[shobley]

;-P

[kjetilr]

Amazing!

Nothing but amazing!

[BerserkerSkye77]

Lmao, killer rock star move at 3:01 ;) Great work, man.

[Nord72]

Very impressive!

[Sodoman13]

° Je Veux La Meme Dans Mon Garage °

Made In France

[XysteRST205]

The jarre style thing is good.. I wondering how you transpose up to play the higher sections? Foot pedal?

[tepposal]

I saw Jarre live last week playing the laser harp. I suspect foot pedal also for changing the scale.

[Stoney3K]

I saw him last week in Amsterdam, and he uses a foot pedal to change the scales. He can switch between a 9-string and a 7-string setting (with the same opening angle) as well.

Funny thing is, during his playing of Second Rendez-Vous, he accidentally stepped on one of his pedals, changed the scale, and had to reset the whole thing.

[ZeekWatson]

Foot pedal changing octaves?  Laser harp is the instrumental equivalent of lip syncing.

[WoWProductionsWOW]

Except it's entertaining.

[marto1046]

amazing. I can´t believe how far a man is able of creating music with technologhy

[TheKingsDaughter1977]

Just saw this guy on Make on GPB channel and had to look it up! I knew it would be on youtube.  AWESOME

[johnmt85]

how come this is the only song i'm hearing played on a laser harp?

[shobley]

Because we have no imagination :-)

It's the only piece I know that can be played in under 10 notes...

...and it was the first one I ever heard played on a laser harp type thing.

[Giljaro]

Well.. Now i have listen to this video many times now, and i swallow my last comment =)

Sorry for saying it was fake :-/

I can now hear, it is the right stuff, so sorry for mistaken you for pure playback mate. I´ll give around of beer if you come downtown :D

[Giljaro]

FAKE! He starts Cd-Player at 0:16, and the music starts at 0:17 and he first break the beam at 0:18 and if it really was him playing, so i will ask this nice question: How did you make the same backup music as Jean Michel Jarre ? :P

You are the biggest faker on Youtube i have never seen, and i have seen alot of fakers :P

Good luck with faking your friends and family in the future..!!

[shobley]

I am playing along with the album - that's why it sounds the same, as it is the same.

The harp does work though, if that's what you meant by 'FAKE!' :-)

'All publicity is good publicity...'

[Egyptana]

o_o Where are you bring the laser harp please ? I want a laser harp.

Thanks.

[friedwart7]

Geile Sache. Seeeeehr coooool !!!!!!!!

[triangletrexx]

you should wear laser-glasses my friend. the handreflection of lasers can harm you too.

[czolgista999]

But people, just listen :

Its horribly fake because its exactly the same like Jarre's version what is impossible.

[Shadow432643]

Awesome :O

[lXlNismo11lXl]

How Many Miliwatts Are The Lases?

[kazpmk]

The new Jean-Michel Jarre!

[ambrookers]

That is the freaking coolest thing ever!

[s8nssoul]

that is tripy

be good to play even to see , if you where high as a kite

[DimusPL]

słabe...

[meehay]

laser frate ce sa mai

[PauloGCS]

In Portuguese from Brazil:

Jean-Michel Jarre usa as pontas dos dedos (de suas mãos protegidas com luvas) para produzir sons musicais neste estranho instrumento. Resultante do cruzamento da música com a tecnologia, é uma harpa a laser (laser harp) o que você vê/ouve neste vídeo.

Published on EntreMentes by Paulo Gurgel

[sub333]

That is such a cool fucking sound when you switch it on!

[senefore89]

yo kiero unaaaa!!!!!!1...I WANT ONE...HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?

[lectorvorazz]

el la hiso

[rellion289]

dude! it looks like somthing from star wars!

[Lez0uf]

apprendre la "choré" par coeur fallait y penser '-_-

[ming57]

does up and down motion on a beam control anything like modulation at all?

[oRIDDLERo]

This.  I want modulation based on vertical position with wii sensors.

[EVILLYNJANIS]

that was freaken awesome hobley, keep up the good work!!!!!!!!!!!1

[coolcon123456789]

what would be really sweet, not saying this isnt, it is!! but hooking this up to guitar hero somehow... imagine the possibilities :-O

[fbustillo]

lol

[travishamlett]

question, how come when you miss the first 3 notes and it still playes are you miming.... JMJ fan here....

[shobley]

Well spotted - Check the 'More info' above...

[gattogabriele123]

are you really stephen hobley??

so the only way to have one of this laser harp is to make it on my own?

if i want to use one of this in a disco what i have to do?

[shobley]

Yes I am :-)

The truth is that a laser harp requires at least a class IIIb laser - these are not toys and can be very dangerous if not handled correctly.

When we recently demoed the harp at Maker Faire we had to adhere to some very strict safety rules and control access to the harp with barriers.

Everyone signed a waiver too...

At the JMJ exhibit the laser harp was behind glass and you could only interact with it through a glove box.

[gattogabriele123]

Are you sure? I recently saw a video in which kerri chandler was using a laser harp in a disco..on the stephen hobley's website he speaks about 600-700 dollars for buying (or building on your own) a laser harp

[shobley]

You can build one for that price, but I don't know of any company that will sell one to you.

[gattogabriele123]

where i can buy this laser harp?

how much does it costs?

thanks!

PS nice video!

[shobley]

These are not generally for sale. There's too much liability with the laser.

[sub333]

Heh, love the way that thing powers up.

V cool.

[darthjack2000]

Great Job ;-)

more more more, please

[samoht1977]

Good work. Is there any way to control some filters with the position where the laser is "cutted" with the hand? That would be great!

[shobley]

Yes - in another video I'm using a WiiMote camera to track my hand in the beam.

[drbenway]

it's playback I think

[whielden]

Absolutely the Bizz.

[Tischhupe]

Waaaaay cooool!

[redroad11]

Whats the Lasers Power? I think i might make one.

[shobley]

450mw in this video - but 100-250 is fine...

[redroad11]

Whats the Lasers Power? I think i might make one.

[szymon981]

how much does harp like that cost?

[shobley]

When I said I was *playing* along, I meant playing, not miming...

[ChrisPL123]

amazing :)

[Aurone]

Since this is becoming more easyer to make, I wonder if other instruments, like Drums or Guitares could turn out to be like this, touch a lazer and it does it's sound?

[ramsuz]

But the laser harp is not that complicated, is it? It works a syntheizer, only that the keyboard is replaced by laserbeams, or am I wrong?

[tommyblunt]

its 1980's action movies all over again!!!!

[rfoshaug]

What synth are you using for the Laser Harp sound? Have you programmed this sound yourself? And if so, what is the "secret" to this sound? I've tried various filter sweeps with varying amounts of resonance/overdrive on my synths but have never really come close to an authentic laser harp sound (which was originally played by an Elka Synthex I believe).

Btw, Excellent video and a very impressive laser harp!!! I wish I had the skills and resources to create something like that. ;-)

[shobley]

I have the Elka-synthex sound as a sample library. I can post it on my site if you like.

I'm using Kontakt sampler to trigger the sounds.

[rfoshaug]

Thanks!

I'm not familiar with Kontakt - would these samples be a format that I could load into my Korg M3 (Wav, Korg format or Akai format) or possible to convert to such a format? For example wav would be very easy to load and set up as a multisample in the Korg.

It would be great to have such a sound to play with. But if it's in the wrong format so I can't load it, that's okay. :-)

[rfoshaug]

I actually made a very simple (1 string) laser harp myself today after being inspired by your videos.

I used a green laser pointer, a cheap web camera and a simple Visual Basic program that i wrote that checked if the green spot disappeared and triggered the next note in the sequence...

A little bit slow response, but it worked!! If i had, say, 10 or 12 laser pointers and some way to bring all their light into the web camera, I could have made a simple and relatively cheap laser harp. :-)

[shobley]

Try experimenting with the sensor on the front of a WiiMote. 100Hz hatdware blob tracking. Remove IR filter first.

[Stoney3K]

The stray IR from the green laser isn't strong enough to be picked up by the Wiimote's camera?

[shobley]

I was hoping that it would be, but this is a well IR filterd laser, so no it did not work. A cheaper one might be better in that respect.

It's quite easy to remove the filter from the Wiimote though.

[azkuene]

Great work!!

Where can I find the sample library?

Thanks

[shobley]

There's a SF2 floating around on the web called "laser harp"

[MisterArray]

Theres no secret to the sound, really. It's a sync sweep on an oscillator. I.e. sync two oscillators and sweep the pitch of the synced oscillator using an envelope generator. Oscillator sync causes an oscillator's cycle to restart along with the oscillator it is synced to, so modulating its pitch creates some nice and interesting timbres.

[TTibble]

Hmm, i wonder what mirrors and prisms would possibly do if it would effect anything, and you gotta play some Prodigy

[Mekonta]

You're a Doctor Who fan! I noticed the TARDIS doors sample at the beginning where you started the Harp up. Great work. Long live Jarre!

[Stoney3K]

Coincidentally, Jarre actually uses the sample as well in a few of his concerts (he has a few different power up/down sounds). I believe this one is from the doors of the Davison TARDIS. ;)

[shobley]

Quite right, I was going to make a sound, then I found the sound effect on a Radiophonic Workshop album I had and used that instead.

[sweanon]

Love how it is turned off.

[kudarenko]

great! офигенно!

[mynameisstupid27]

the begging sorta reminded me of phantom of the opera

[Tartanslass]

this is fantastic. who would have thought to create something so simplistic and yet its brilliant.

[sivad2]

You need to look into using things other than your hands to create the sound. Start to figure out other techniques to use this. very interesting creation. I look forward to seeing where it can be taken.

[skudmunky]

This needs to be performed with, on stage, with smoke and strobes. Coolest instrument ever! You are amazing.

[NinoAuricchio]

fabulous! You need to do Oxygene 7, big time!!

[ColinNeal]

this is great - congrats :)