Teaser Image

Laser beam dj controller

A laser dj midi controller built with arduino and ❤

(2018)

Everybody loves lasers, right? That's why I decided to build a "laser harp"-style midi controller during my time studying Sound and Music Production at h_da darmstadt. This project is the first one ever where I etched a custom PCB. Listen to a short radio report about it here (Radio FFH, german):

What does it do?

The laser beams are used control effects in traktor DJ Software in realtime (for example stutter, reverse or delay). It is obviously also possible to control any midi-enabled instrument or plugin with it.

How does it work?

It consists of an arduino, twelve laserpointers and some electronic parts to control the on/off treshold of 12 photosensors. If a laserbeam is interrupted it does not shine on the sensor and a midi note is triggered. The communication with the instrument/computer is done via midi, which means it is also possible to use a hardware synth together with the controller without a computer in between. The materials needed are actually quite cheap. (I suppose as of today the whole build can be done for around 40€)

  • This box contains all the electronic stuff (arduino etc)1
  • The electronics were initially built on a breadboard. After this, a perfboard was used, as you can see here.2
  • Being organised and having a tidy workspace makes life that much easier! 👌3
  • Lasers in the dark4
  • When testing the lasers for the first time, the beams were pointing randomly in each direction. They were mounted by drilling holes in a wooden board and sticking them in there. This was obviously not a good idea, so later on we used another type of mounting.5
  • This is the second try to fix the lasers in a way their direction can be calibrated easier.6
  • 7
  • Some fancy blue led's were added here for additional wickedness 😎8
  • For the receiver I used a wiring duct to hold the light sensors9
  • This is my first PCB so have mercy 😉10
  • 11
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