The Sharper Image, a source of various amusing musical oddities over the years, now has a ready-to-use USB laser harp music controller for PC (Windows XP/Vista), at the price of — wha? US$599? Yes, this is obviously Sharper Image exercising the business and marketing acumen that allowed it to — erm — file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
And, in a move we haven’t seen in years, they spell the name with a ‘z’ instead of an ‘s.’ Classy. And they’ve opted for a design that looks like the security fence in Jurassic Park.
The beamz Music Performance System @ Theremin World
Not sold yet? Read this feature and drool:
Choose a complementary rhythm track from 30 original songs in 19 music genres, including jazz, bluegrass, classical, hip-hop, reggae, heavy metal and more.
And it all “brings families and friends together through highly personalized music performances that elicit joy and excitement across all ages.” So, is $600 really so much to ask if it saves your family?
Make Your Own Laser Harp
As it happens, you can make a much cooler (okay, not saying much — a cool) laser harp on your own, as Stephen Hobley has done:
Stephen Hobley’s *awesome* laser harp [ladyada’s ranting]
Click through to comments for more details on the project and how-to info.
Updated: Stephen’s site is back up, so go have a look. The project uses the very inexpensive Boarduino Arduino clone. I’m an Arduino vet but just picked up a Boarduino, so I’ll let you know when I do something with it.
“Totally awesome” as this may be, I still feel somehow unsatisfied. And then I know why:
Someone needs to do a laser tag harp. Ah, that takes me back. Anyone?
Photo: carinemily. And they say this whole 8-bit music thing is about 80s nostalgia? I’ll show you 80s nostalgia.
He talks a bit about his project here :
http://www.ladyada.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=234…
He also has a new video up, he integrated a Wii Remote into his setup to help control a filter on his soft synth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yta0aJrbOxU
He's also got the plans for his machine up on his site:
http://www.stephenhobley.com/store/
Why use streams of light when you could use streams of water? AFAIK, nobody has ever built a Faucet Harp. Be unique!
Damn, forgot to mention that I was talking about Stephen and his laser harp.
I could see someone getting electrocuted really quick with that foosnark.
I like the water idea. I'm sure there are plenty of ways not to get electrocuted.
See here; my friends Maia and Liubo were thinking along those lines:
http://organicinterfaces.com/
@foosnark:
Do you mean something like the Hydraulophone, as posted on this very blog in 2006?
Given all the noise in the news here recently about people aiming lasers at aircraft, and corresponding outrage from police/pilots/etc. … building one of these in Australia is bound to get you classified as a terrorist.
Hmmm, though maybe that's what those evil people with their "coordinated attacks" where actually doing – some kind of bizarre, large-scale performance art where the planes were playing a huge laser harp! (driving pd or max, of course)
Thanks for the mention – I didn't realise my server was down.
I've just been down to the basement and put some more money in the meter…
🙂
the USB laser harp is obviously an aprils fool product
[…] Created Digital Music Cover Sharper Image’s US $599 Pre-made Laser Harp, and encourages you to make your own with commonly available hardware such as an Arduino Diecimila. [read] […]
Saw your earlier post about the beamz – that fascinating new music laser product.
Check out the beamz in action on this brand new You Tube video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpDZ3WotLXY
And the Web site just went live:
http://www.thebeamz.com
The product will be available in Sharper Image stores in 2 weeks.
Laser Harfe mit WiiMote zum Selbstbauen – Star Wars Musik…
Die Harfe ist als Instrument schon eine geniale Erfindung nur so unheimlich unhandlich. Eine moderne Variante ganz im Star-Wars Style mit Lasern hat nun Stephen Hobley sich hergestellt.
Das Prinzip ist im Grunde einfach, aber die Realisierung ist w…
@Michael – you underestimate the Sharper Image.
[…] okay — it seems the beamz laser harp we saw last week comes with special algorithmic software that makes music play basically regardless […]
Check out this laser harp (and other custom instruments) by the band Soul in the Machine:
http://www.soulinthemachine.com/
[…] yeah, you really can build your own laser harp, save $400-500, and have a better […]
I got a chance to play with the beamz prototype and it really allows you to do far more than you may think. Stephen Hobley's looks pretty dramatic but I can't tell how many types of sounds you can play??
btw — the beamz is available for $499.95 from their own website (www.thebeamz.com) You can download more genres/sounds to play from there as well.
My harp is a MIDI controller – so you can connect it to anything you like. The number of beams is adjustable in software too.
We hooked it up to Ableton Live recently and you can replicate a lot of what the beamz system will do.
I can seriously recommend Ableton – what a great piece of software.
[…] I think it beats having just a laser harp. […]
[…] I think it beats having just a laser harp. […]
Cool, though nothing beats a traditional harp.
[…] via createdigitalmusic […]