Interested in Laser Harp

[TheOldDuke]

Hello, all. First off, I am sorry if this is posted in the wrong place, I wasn't really sure where this might fit in. I'm not even sure if anyone here will know anything about this, but it seemed like a good place to start.

I have always been interested in acquiring and learning to play a laser harp, and have finally gotten to a place where I can conceivably afford one. Now that I am seriously looking for one, I am trying to do research to be sure that I make a good investment, but resources seem sorely lacking in this apparently niche market. Right now, I am really looking at the Kromalaser KL-3D 1000 (not sure if I can post links here, but it's very easy to find the website for this item.) From what I can tell (the website's description is slightly vague and the English isn't the best), this is an all-inclusive item, with a controller and embedded projector, as well as a pedal board. I was hoping someone here might have more information on quality, longevity, value (it is 549 Euros until the end of January 2014, which is about $750 US dollars), ease of use, etc. I would only be wanting it for small in-home use (my own enjoyment, family, etc.) Any help anyone might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

-- TheOldDuke

[polishedball]

I think you need to provide the laser and scanner still, as it recommends 300mw and 30k scanners.

http://www.kromalaser.com/kl-3d-1000

Still a great deal IMO

[TheOldDuke]

I think you need to provide the laser and scanner still, as it recommends 300mw and 30k scanners.

http://www.kromalaser.com/kl-3d-1000

Still a great deal IMO

I saw that, but I read that to mean that it can support an external projector in addition to its embedded one. On other areas of the site they mention that for large venues a more powerful projector could be needed. I read through the FAQ where one of the questions was which harp they recommended, and among other things they said that you could buy the KL-3D 1000 for home use, and then buy a separate projector and attach later if you discovered you need something more powerful. Just to be sure, though, I will definitely contact their customer support and make sure before buying anything. Thanks for the feedback!

[The_Doctor]

It looks like good value, but there may be weaknesses in design I can't guess at. Laser scanner systems are usually expensive, and a lot of corners may be cut to get the price that low.

I looked it up, and the power specifications would be a safety hazard, 500mW of blue light in a narrow beam can cause a fire, burn skin, and even an extremely short duration hit to an eye might cause permanent damage. 150mW of green is a bit safer but can still feel like an ant bite if it shines on one spot on skin for more than a second or two. There is a reason why Jean Michel Jarre wore gloves and goggles.

The design idea looks good though. Some use a diffraction grating to get a stationary fan of beams, and use a harp-like frame to put a line of photodiodes in to detect the beams being broken by a hand. These terminate safely (unless a head is inserted through the frame), and by spreading the light in many beams they can look good while being safer (and will likely be a lot cheaper), but they're not as spectacular as one that can track a hand and project a single beam. I won't try to say more than I know about scanner quality and scanfail devices, but that's probably the thing to look into in this case because while you can take care when the thing works right, what happens if it doesn't? If that beam goes agly and hits a mirror in your house, things might get hard to predict, and very dangerous. It will likely be better to rely on a small fog machine and a lot less power, it will still look as good if not better than with no fog or haze at all.

There have been people here experimenting with laser harp design, and I hope they'll post because this interests me too.

[Jem]

Take a look here...

http://www.harpelaser.com/hl-development.html

[Laserhobbit]

Interesting, not sure why I had never heard of them?

Also if you look at their website one of the advisors appears to be Bernard Szajner, which I guess gives them some form of credibility ?

[polishedball]

The 549 price is for the 3D EVO.

The case price is around 1400. They just sent me there price list. Also available as a kit.

[Genesis]

Interesting, not sure why I had never heard of them?

Also if you look at their website one of the advisors appears to be Bernard Szajner, which I guess gives them some form of credibility ?

because we are free and the others are commercial. Bernard is a friend and is the first inventor (I'm working with him on his projects).

I have a thread here about this project.
http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/...-open-and-free

Lot of people have used my work to develop commercial systems. this is why we have "locked" the platform even if it's free

Our kit was cheaper than Kroma before. but they have react because a free system can't be better than commercial one more expensive.

whe have built a system with height sensing > commercial system have it now
we have make video of the board assembling > commercial system do the same on their website.
we offer the system as a kit > commercial system do the same.
They even use the same footswitch....
At this time we are the only one with vibrating strings (it's a Francis idea and I have patend-protected it) and the groovebox mode (toggle mode)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXjY2ApdArw

so now I'm really tired to work for others and to fight (on the Wiki page for example). We are doing it for the fun and I'm working with really great musicians.

http://www.spi0n.com/laser-harpe-tes...ancis-rimbert/
Francis is a really nice person and yes! he is the Jean Michel Jarre synthboard musician

But we prefer to share the informations. the team is here actually (at the office for the weekend) . I'm working on the footswitch assembling guide (I'm doing all the documentation. and I must translate the last version of the user guide). Laurent is working on the bootloader and the other Laurent on the Java app.

As you can see all the files are available on our website. the boards, the manual, and the Java remote software. Unlike others where the links are given in private mails....

But because we are not a company I tell to international guys to buy from company like kroma. even if it's a competitor. I hope their products are better than before...like the one (kontrolite) near me and given by a customer in exchange with one unit of our system xD

you can find the developpement process on our facebook project page.
Franck

It will be intersesting to have customer feedback on a 3D evo use....