UF AES's 2022 Hardware Project
Laser harps, also known as light harps, are musical instruments which use light or laser beams as "strings" and were originally inspired by the harp. The first laser harps were invented in the late 70s and early 80s by musicians and inventors Geoffrey Rose and Bernard Szajner. Over time, laser harps have taken more unique shapes and used various methods to detect broken light beams. Some of these methods include using mirrors and sensors, image processing with high speed cameras, and simple sensors such as photoresistors. The overall designs vary from traditional harp look-a-likes to cubes of lasers to frameless styles.
For our project, we decided to create a framed laser harp using lasers and phototransitors. This implementation differs from many other online laser harp projacts as our design is a MIDI controller built to work with our previous synthesizer projects. Our goals were to further our understanding of power supply design, sensor implementation and control, circuit design, microprocessor programming, and CAD modeling.
Further technical details can be found in the MidiLaserLightHarp.docx file.
- Teensy 4.1 (1)
- Green Lasers (8)
- Phototransistors (8)
- Resistors (8)
- Linear Power Regulator
- Rotary Encoders (2)