Between this laser harp and the actual harp, I know three others : The one JMJ used in the China concerts. The one of Houston, Lyon and London concerts that Jean Michel had bought from Philippe Guerre. The one of the Défense concert, created byr Christian Hubert with the laser of Claude Lifante.

His latest one was first used at the Honk Kong concert and during the Tolérance Concert, at the Eiffel Tower, The oxygene tour and Moscow Concerts. I think that it is the one he still uses now...

Anyway, this describes the way it works : The laser is located under the stage in which a hole has been made for the beams to go through. The laser beam is reflected by a mirror mounted on a G350 scanner of General Scanning. It is a positionning scanner choosen for its good response to square signals. A photo-cell is placed near the scanner, facing upwards. This cell receives the light sent by the hand of the artist when he places it into the beam.

The software runs under Windows. It drives an analogical input-output card and a MIDI card. One of the analogical outputs is for the position of the scanner : each voltage corresponds to a position of the beam ( each "string" of the harp ) and the positionning frequency is fast enough (>25Hz) for the spectator to see all the beams at once (though there is only one). Another analogical output is for fading the laser (fade in and fade out). The analogical inputs read the voltage of the cell and also foot-switches used for calling the different memorized scales.

(If the artist chooses, for example, a modulation effect for this parameter, he can modulate the sound by changing the angle or the height of his hand in the beam).

FAQ

What is the price of a laser harp? The latest harp that he uses costs 80 000 french francs, but without the laser and a laser is very expensive. Jarre uses a20 watts argon. Does the laser have to be very powerful? No, it does'nt. The cells can read beams of a small laser, like a 5mWhélium-néon, but there is no interest in it : the laser harp is made for the scene, not for playing at the end of a sunday meal. With a 5 watts laser, a lot of smoke is needed for the beams to be seen, so, with a weaky laser, forget it !. Does it work with someting else than a laser? for a laser harp ? Yes, of course. You can try to make another instrument, with a different light-source, but I don't think that it will be as spectacular, and we are talking about spectacles no ? How much for laser ? Here, in France : between 100000 and 160000 francs for a5 watts and between 400000 and 600000 francs for a20 watts. Does plans exist for making a laser harp? or a kit ? I don't know any. May be.

The first laser harp was invented in April 1981. The idea came out of the brain of Bernard SZAJNER who gave its realisation to Denis CARNUS Principle of the laser-harp of Denis Carnus : the Laser beam (4W Argon) is conducted by a fiber optic to a triangle upside down. This beam is separated into 12 beams by an holographic grating, each beam hitting a photo-cell (LDR03) placed on the base of the triangle. The 12 cells are linked to a microcontroller (type 8748) which transfoms these data into analog levels. These voltage levels drive notes (VCO), attacks (VCA) and memories (sequencer,arpegiator, layout). The first 8 beams are used for notes (like the strings of a harp) and the four others for the other functions.

At this time, the system was driving a french synthesizer : RSF (made by Rubin FERNANDEZ - Toulouse) with all the inputs needed by the generation of sounds and envelopes. First big utilisation : JM Jarre concert in China in October 1981

You to can now play the laser harp click on the link below and it will transport you to Jarres famous Framed laser harp as shown in the picture above. (Please note that if you have explorer version 3 or less you need to upgrade to version 4 before you can play it.)