The Laser Harp Pages

For many years Manuel Schulz maintained The Laser Harp Pages. This site was a major influence on me, and offered some wonderful technical information on how a laser harp could be constructed.

In early in 2010 he decided to close the site. Later the same year he asked me if I would be interested in hosting the site content. I firmly believe that all the great information he collected should be preserved, so I very quickly agreed…

All of the following content was provided by Manuel Schulz

Steve Hobley April 2010

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History of the Laser Harp

Bernard Szajner is the pioneer of the laser harp, which he invented in April 1981. After letting Jarre use his concept for the China Tour, some technicians started building different versions of it. Below is a short Breakdown of the most important harp versions I know so far, as well as their utilizations. I know, there are a lot of rumours going around and the information out there is very, very different. Therefore, I have contacted and interviewed nearly everybody listed below to present you the (hopefully) most complete information about laser harps.

Year	Design	Technician(s)	Concert	Driven instrument
1981	Bernard Szajner	Bernard Szajner, Claude Lifante, Denis Carnus, Didier Badez	6th Festival of Science Fiction and Imagination	Polysequencer MDB
1981	Claude Lifante	Christian Queniart, Franck Vialle	Jarre: The China Concerts	RSF
1986	Philippe Guerre	Gilles Gingras, Yan Terrien	Jarre: Houston and Lyon	Elka Synthex
1988	Laserpoint, Ltd. in Cambridge, UK	Gilles Gingras	Jarre: London, Docklands	Elka Synthex
1990	Christian Hubert	Gilles Gingras, Claude Lifante	Jarre: Paris, La Defense	Elka Synthex
1990	Albert de Jonge	H. A. de Jonge
1994	Yan Terrien	Yan Terrien	Jarre: Hong Kong, Concert for Tolerance	Elka Synthex
1996	Sebastien Pamart	Sebastien Pamart	1999: Rave electronique
1997	Yan Terrien	Denis Benoit	Jarre: Oxygene Tour, Oxygene in Moscow	Akai Sampler
1998	Andrew Kilpatrick	Andrew Kilpatrick	Concert at the University of Western Ontario	Roland Juno-2
2000	Laurent de la Casiniere		Jarre: 12 Dreams of the Sun

     

Jarre’s latest one (creator and details unknown; seems to be DPSS based) was used in Athen at the Acropolis and I think that it is the one he still uses now…

At the end of the 90s, laser harp fans as well as laser companies started to build several laser harps featuring many different technical principles. Regarding the amateur-league, the most important efforts made Albert de Jonge, who built the first home made laser harp, Andrew Kilpatrick with his framed laser harp and Sebastien Parmart who really made it to a frameless laser harp. Therefore I mentioned them in the table above as well.

 

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Articles

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Bernard Szajner
Congratulations Manuel, your site is definitely unique and perfectly documented…

Amitiés Bernard Szajner
January 18 2008 14:40:00

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Yan Terrien
One day, in the seventies, my life has changed when I became the laser technician
of
Iannis Xenakis, and so many years of emotion started from there…. I understand
the passion
that you have for the laser. Thank you for this very interesting site.
January 18 2008 14:40:47

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Denis CARNUS
It’s OK, Manuel, all is right and great in this marvelous history of the
laser harp.
Ich gratuliere dich für dein arbeit, Donnerwetter… The big Denis CARNUS.

January 18 2008 14:41:34

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Andrew Kilpatrick
This site is a dream come true for many people like myself who are interested
in laser harps.
Good luck with the site, and to all of you who think you want to build a
harp… it will be an
excellent challenge and learning experience.
January 18 2008 14:42:43

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Pascal Wynar
Many thanks Manuel for this very complete and useful web site…Now the dream
become reality! Amitées, Pascal
January 18 2008 14:43:28

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Halvard Halvorsen
Excellent site. I have linked twice to it, latest today (20050107) when trying
to correct The Times
(where Bob Stanley today claims Jarre invented the “light organ”).
January 18 2008 14:43:57

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Fabien BIGOT
CONGRATULATIONS Manuel ! Your website is very full of informations for Laser
Harps builders.
I whish it a long life ! Thank you !
January 18 2008 15:12:57

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Simon Hamid
A very informative site. Alot of time and effort has gone in to fact finding.

Keep up the fantastic work Manuel.
January 18 2008 15:13:21

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Diego
The page is very interesting… I think the laser harp has been the best
visual instrument.
January 18 2008 15:13:47

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Poipoi
Lots of love from Poland to all laser harp fans!
January 18 2008 15:14:56

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Carl Bowden
Great website which has realy helped me to build my own 9 beam framed laser
harp. An alternative
way to create the fan of beams from one laser is to use a defraction line
grating and just block every
other beam up to 5 beams eather side of centre. I’ve used a 60mW dpss laser
which show up well in
lite smoke. I followed your build instructions and the finished result works
perfect.
January 18 2008 15:15:17