Unframed style, "image recognition" The image recognition laser harp is also an unframed design, but uses a high-speed USB camera connected to a laptop computer, instead of a photodiode to detect the reflected light from the hand breaking the beam. The digital picture is analyzed by the computer software to determine which beam is broken and send the appropriate MIDI signal back to the synthesizer, which is responsible for creating the sound. The computer also controls the laser projector via an ILDA USB laser controller. Bicolour In 2008, Maurizio Carelli, an Italian software and electronic engineer, had the idea of a red-and-green bicolour laser harp. This device features a configurable full octave with both diatonic and chromatic notes. Green beams indicate diatonic notes and red ones mark chromatic notes. Multicolour In 2005, a free multicolour laser harp project using an ILDA interface was shared on laser discussion boards and revealed the same year at a German meeting. As the project has grown, software was developed to simulate and control the hardware. Notable uses The laser harp became famous in Asia by Japanese artist Susumu Hirasawa. In Jean-Michel Jarre concerts Jean-Michel Jarre uses the laser harp in almost every concert, with the exception of Aero and the Oxygene 30th Anniversary Tour. He almost always uses it in the third part of Second Rendez-Vous, but has also used it for tracks like Third Rendez-Vous, Chronologie 3, Calypso 2, Oxygene 7 and Time Machine. The characteristic sound of the laser harp in Jean-Michel Jarre's performances comes from a factory preset on the Elka Synthex synthesizer. During Jarre's 2009 In-Doors Arena Tour, he commented on his blog that he "should make a few intentional mistakes for people to really understand that it is live". Later the same day, at a concert in Helsinki, the harp "suddenly froze in Rendez Vous 2 for unknown reasons". In art Laser harps have appeared in a number of designs. They have also been used in public art installations, such as those by Jen Lewin at the Lincoln Center in 2000 and at Burning Man in 2005 and 2012, as well as those created by Johnny Dwork at the Harmony Festival in 2011, at the Portland Art Museum in 2012, at The Tech Museum of Innovation in 2014, and at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in 2015. See also Beamz Laser safety References External links Electronic musical