The Lyratron AirHarp Ultrasonic Digital Autoharp

Currently seeking funding on Kickstarter.

Note there was also an AirHarp project by Adam Somers based on Leap Motion technology.

The Lyratron AriHarp is by Peter DeSimone. Some details (note the different physical designs - one more video below):

"The AirHarp is an electronic musical instrument invented by Peter DeSimone that responds to hand gestures, allowing the musician to "strum" invisible harp strings in the air. Rather than play scales like a normal harp, the AirHarp is designed to play chords, like an autoharp. The musician selects the desired chord by pressing a combination of buttons with the hand that's holding the instrument, while the empty hand is free to strum chords on a beam of ultrasound.

The AirHarp Lira is the latest in a series of AirHarp models designed and built by Peter DeSimone and Erik Jacobson. It's a MIDI controller instrument, so it doesn't make sound on its own. Rather, it sends messages to a computer, synthesizer or other device, which in turn creates the actual sound. Backers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with software synthesis and the use of MIDI controller instruments prior to purchasing an AirHarp Lira. However we will do our best to assist any customers who have issues setting up software synthesis. You will need a MIDI cable for use with a keyboard synthesizer, or a MIDI to USB converter cable for use with a computer. Modern Macintosh computers come with GarageBand pre-installed. Several free softsynth or "VST" host packages exist for Windows, including Cantabile Lite and SAVIHost...

The AirHarp Lira is powered by a single AA battery. To power certain onboard systems including the Maxbotix LV-EZ1 ultrasonic rangefinder, the battery's 1.5 volts is stepped up to 5 volts using a dedicated circuit. Back-bias protection is provided by a diode, and two electrolytic capacitors perform decoupling of power supply noise. An ATmega328 microcontroller clocked at 16 megahertz via a ceramic resonator decodes user input and encodes MIDI output messages. The AirHarp Lira is programmable via a standard FTDI serial interface using the Arduino IDE. Its firmware was written entirely in Arduino C. It is an Arduino-compatible microcontroller platform with rows of empty I/O pin holes on either side of the chip, specifically to encourage hacking. Early AirHarps used actual Arduinos; the AirHarp Lira uses a naked chip to save money (doing so saves about $25 per harp!)"

How to play the AirHarp Uploaded on Sep 7, 2011

"Peter explains, as briefly and thoroughly as he can, how to play your new AirHarp!"

I'll be there - ARP Explorer I (analog synthesizer from 1974)

Published on Jul 30, 2013 MrCaliforniaD·18 videos

"Here's what that wonderfull song could have sounded like if it was recorded on analog synthesizers from that era. It is kind of an early take on the king of pop concept!

This may sound like your average "General Midi" sounds but it isn't. EVERY sounds were made on this 1974 machine from ARP company.

To get polyphony from this monophonic synthesizer, I used "Notelogic", a VST that enables you to explode polyphonic midi tracks into your choice of voices (1 to 8). Each voice become an individual midi track that can be then passed through a monophonic synthesizer using a Midi to CV converter.

Thus, that particular song have 32 tracks for the instruments alone. The drums were made with EZdrummer and the vocal track is from the original song.

Fell free to ask me questions about this procedure."

AirHarp Demo

Published on Dec 3, 2012 by Adam Somers

"AirHarp is the result of a weekend hacking session with a Leap Motion dev board. Leap Motion is a highly precise and responsive motion tracking device, making it a perfect tool for expressive musical interactions. AirHarp is being developed in C++ using my audio processing toolkit, MusKit. The source code for both projects is available at http://github.com/adamsomers.

Special thanks to the Leap motion team for making these dev boards available and for the great response to the developer community.

For more information visit:
http://adamsomers.com/airharp
http://leapmotion.com"

github also bought us the bit-rot - Z-DSP effect collection for the Tiptop Audio Z-DSP.