Monday, November 15, 2010

Jarre's 'Laser Harp' Sound for Propellerheads Reason

Those of you familiar with the music of Jean Michel Jarre will probably have heard, and possibly seen, his Laser Harp. It's a crazy instrument played by passing the hands through laser beams. The Laser Harp has been a feature at many of his concerts over the years and while it's mostly for show, I've always loved the sound, which is generated by an Elka Synthex synthesizer.

I set about recreating the Laser Harp sound in Propellerheads Reason, using Reason's Thor synthesizer and a few supporting effects. I'm very happy with the results and thought I'd share them.

If you have Reason Version 4 or higher, you can download a copy of the Reason patch here. If you can improve upon it, then please let me know.

Have fun.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Mac OS X Java Update breakage.

I just knew I shouldn't have let Mac OS X apply the recent Java update. Just a couple of days after the update I had reason to upgrade the rjb ('Ruby Java Bridge') gem. The upgrade process exploded in my face with the following error:

checking for jni.h... no
*** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of
necessary libraries and/or headers. Check the mkmf.log file for more
details. You may need configuration options.

The problem appears to be missing Java supporting sources that the most recent Java update removed. Luckily, I found the solution over at the nicely named Kick me in the nuts blog. For your convenience here are the magic incantations:

Step 1: Go to http://connect.apple.com and download and download Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3 Developer Package. You'll need a registered Apple Developer account, but it's free.

Step 2: Install it.

Step 3: Open a Terminal.app window and type:

sudo -s
cd /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Home
ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0_22-b04-307.jdk/Contents/Home/src.jar .
ln -s /Library/Java/JavaVirtualMachines/1.6.0_22-b04-307.jdk/Contents/Home/docs.jar .

After the above, developer calm should be restored.