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.

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.