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( ( ( AirHarp ) ) ) A revolutionary new musical instrument!
"O mio babbino caro" on AirHarp
How to play the AirHarp (tutorial)
"Cowboy Chords"
What is an AirHarp?The AirHarp is a type of digital autoharp that allows musicians of diverse skill levels to play music of advanced harmonic complexity simply by pressing four pushbuttons and "strumming" invisible harp strings in the air. Developed by musician-turned-engineer Peter DeSimone, the AirHarp is pocket-portable and suitable both as an introductory instrument and an accompaniment tool for singers and songwriters. It allows direct access to fourteen chords within a given key (including the seven diatonic chords), and can automatically transpose to any key with the push of a button. This allows the AirHarp to easily play most songs, from baroque arias to modern rock songs. Despite being pocket-sized, its [optional] onboard synthesizer packs 128 distinct instrument patches, from the default "orchestral harp" sound to virtually every instrument in existence. The AirHarp can sound like anything from a xylophone to an electric guitar. As a "plug and play" USB MIDI controller, your AirHarp can also control softsynth patches on a computer, further expanding its array of sonic capabilities.To illustrate exactly what I mean by this, I create the following song in about an hour using nothing but a standard AirHarp and an awesome music production program called Apple Logic:
AirHarp GrooveAll the sounds you hear were played on the AirHarp with the exception of the drum tracks, which are canned samples. I could have used the AirHarp for the drums as well, but I'm no percussionist and I have trouble conceptualizing music in purely rhythmic terms. Thus I will leave the exploration of the AirHarp's percussion capabilities to someone else.
How does it work?The AirHarp emits a beam of ultrasound that's undetectable to the human ear. It bounces this beam off your free hand to determine the distance between your hand and the device. This is a form of ultrasonic sonar ranging. A microcontroller continuously monitors the output of this sensor, along with the status of each pushbutton. Calculations are performed to decipher the coded chord input and compute the desired note pitches based on readings from the ultrasound. A list of active notes is maintained and used to determine which notes to turn off and when. Information on which notes to activate and deactivate is coded into a serial data format called MIDI and transmitted out of the microcontroller into either a synthesizer module or to an outboard computer through a USB cable. The synthesizer module or computer then converts these "note on/off" commands into audible sound.
Where do I get one?!Kits and assembled instruments are available now from the Lyratron store! Peter currently builds and tests small batches of AirHarps by hand, but a production model is in the works!
I can't wait for the production model, but I don't have the money to buy a handcrafted instrument!You can build your own AirHarp from our FREE plans and source code! The AirHarp project is 100% open source. Check out the following links:
How to build an AirHarp (Instructables)
Lyratron Store (sells AirHarp parts & kits)
AirHarp Photo Gallery
AirHarp Firmware for Arduino
AirHarp Chord Guide
AirHarp Songbook (work in progress)
AirHarp Shield Eagle / Gerber files
AirHarp Nano Eagle / Gerber files
Light Harp Industries
LHI YouTube Channel |
