Arduino Nano - Light Harp Powerhouse!

Our friends at Gravitech have generously offered to rid us of some of our material concerns, so to show our gratitude we made this video extolling the virtues of our favorite microcontroller, the Arduino Nano!

If you're interested in building a light harp yourself, LHI can help you with free plans and source code. All you need is an Arduino Nano and a bag of inexpensive parts (most of which can be procured directly from Gravitech!) We will be offering kits in the near future as well, and eventually even finished instruments!

This light harp is a MIDI controller programmed to trigger chords. Seven chords are immediately accessible (the diatonic chords); 6 of which can be converted to their parallel major or minor by playing the seventh "light string" in unison. This allows access to the "II" and "III" modulations so often employed by The Beatles and countless other songwriters. Of course it can also transpose automatically to play in any key, and has an integrated arpeggiator as well.

Sound synthesis was achieved in Apple Logic on a standard MacBook. The light harp's audio was routed to Anna's headphones so as not to enter the microphone and become mixed with her vocals. This was a LIVE performance in every respect, and I was truly blown away by Anna's ability to quickly master the instrument while delivering a seamless performance in ~one take~! There was little room for editing after the fact (since virtually any edits would not have matched the video), but fortunately she ~nailed~ the performance, so post-production was minimal. Sometimes it pays to hire a professional!

To check out the Arduino Nano (and countless other electronic goodies), visit:

http://www.gravitech.us

By providing business for our sponsor, you'll be helping us toward our goal of bringing light harps to the masses! And for all the latest light harp developments, by all means SUBSCRIBE!!! ;?)

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Arduino Nano
• light harp
• Gravitech
• LHI
• DIY
• open-source
• MIDI controller
• Stu Roland
• Anna Coleman
• Peter DeSimone
• Greensleeves

[Nanovirus5995]

She has an absolutely Gorgeous voice! Excellent Arduino work aswel. Im doing a reversed laser version of this using MIDI in.

[lightharp]

@Nanovirus5995 thanks! i'll tell her you said that. now i'm curious - what do you mean by "reversed laser version"? is it a framed laser harp?

[Nanovirus5995]

@lightharp Hehe, any time ;)

I am trying to make a system so instead of making a MIDI signal from the arduino by using LED's and using that signal in junction with a synthesiser to make the sound, im attempting to make a system so you feed the Arduino a MIDI signal from a computer or keyboard to move a position of a servo/stepper motor. Its tricky work, but I hope I can get there. Its similar to a laser harp but the position of the motor will deter where the laser shines. Like "Animusic".

[lightharp]

@Nanovirus5995 that sounds pretty sweet. it's definitely doable! servos are super easy to work with. the Arduino has pulse width modulated outputs and an integral servo controller library. there's even an example sketch that sweeps a servo - you could easily modify it to do what you describe. let me know if you need any help. good luck! :?)

[Nanovirus5995]

@lightharp Yeah Will do. I was doing a lot research on using Servos and after doing a little testing myself I found that the servos produce wavy lines when they are moved while the laser is on. So I have decided to use a stepper motor instead. I will be trying to produce a driver circuit over the weekend so I should hopefully have something working in about a week. Might not be the full product but I will keep you up to date ;) Might start posting some videos on my progress.

[lightharp]

@Nanovirus5995 sweet! yeah, please do keep me in the loop. i'm curious to see what you come up with. -- Peter

[crashinaluscombe]

I find myself comforted by Anna's voice. When I feel friends are nowhere in sight I come back and listen to Anna. Thanx. Give her opportunities to record hits with your lightharp acompanying her.

[sanp64]

Beautiful voice.

[Nanovirus5995]

@lightharp Hello Peter, just like to let you know over the past couple weeks I have been busy with college work and preparing to go to University soon. However, I am still heading forth with this laser project (I will tell them all about it in the Bournemouth University opening day tomorrow ;) Should love it) so just to keep you in the picture, I am still working on it, but I am slightly bogged down at the moment. Love to get it done so when I do, I will inform you ;)

[Nanovirus5995]

She has an absolutely Gorgeous voice! Excellent Arduino work aswel. Im doing a reversed laser version of this using MIDI in.