what about summin like this on ya MB:
http://www.netzerprecision.com/rotary.htm
Cost a fair few no doubt tho 
Peace…
Dan
toys!! ;D
hehehehe
Hello All!
I have been looking over your conversation, and I see that everyone is interested in utilizing infra-red.
As for the Grid Idea:
Roland MC-505/ MC-909 D-beams allow control of controller value, and note on/off messages. So making a grid like you said to have a piano roll would depend on the amount of notes that you would need to trigger. As for the input for the infra-red and its actual values. I believe that an op-amp would be the easiest method of getting the values to 5v. I am unsure what to do for the lower end of the spectrum however.
Well Good luck guys, I will look around and see If I can find any info to help out.
I am interested in seeing some infra-red boxes in the gallery.
-Sephult
*dreaming of crazy insane noises and filtering made with a device full of IR sensors*
hehehe
it would really rule to have some kind of matrix thing with, say, 3X3 IR sensors sufficiently spaced sending weird midi signal based on interaction between each IR sensors… dunno what that would give in reality but I think it would be quite fun to experiment with those…
We need to document experimentations with IR sensors on the MB I will join as soon as I finish my base midibox hehe
I know this is an old thread but.. I just needed to comment. JMJ’s lazer harp didnt work. I know from a very reputable source… my brother has worked with him on his Lyon concert (Houston/Lyon album). The main problem was crosstalk between each receiver… It was fixed to get it working for note triggering, but the velocity never worked. It looked damn good though.
And the gloves were for better reflexion of the lazer.. not to protect his hands since the lazer was not strong enough for that. The beams were wide, and therefore not as powerful.
Marc
Your array of beams idea sounds like Jean Michel-Jarre’s lazer harp, where he breaks a lazer beam with his hand to play a note. Â Of course he has to wear asbestos gloves. Â I guess infra red detectors/emitters might be safer and cheaper but I don’t think the light from LEDs is coherent enough to prevent overlap of light from adjacent LEDs to the detectors.
Steve.
I know this is an old thread but.. I just needed to comment. JMJ’s lazer harp didnt work. I know from a very reputable source… my brother has worked with him on his Lyon concert (Houston/Lyon album).
“Uuh, jea really..” sounding like Beavis comin’ Â outta Butt"-Head..""But has anyone really heard any velocity on those redeavouass -pieces?!
Bye, Moebius
<not givin’ any comments on those threads about IR sensors, just while ago>
Thats just the thing… :) There is. ..or it might be a filter effect.. what do I know. :-/ But it was originally supposed to have like the D-beam.
Btw.. I am working on a design of a MidiBox D-beam and my concept will work! (dammit!)
Marc
“Uuh, jea really..” sounding like Beavis comin’ Â outta Butt"-Head..""But has anyone really heard any velocity on those redeavouass -pieces?!
Bye, Moebius
<not givin’ any comments on those threads about IR sensors, just while ago>
Hi,
Did anyone have any success with the GP2D12 sensor? I picked up a couple and used this buffer: http://engin.swarthmore.edu/~adobos1/e58/hover/index_files/image017.jpg but with just a positive voltage and no negative voltage (opamp - pin connected to ground). I can get values from around 38-127 but am unsure how to code mios to make it see the lowest value as 0 so i can get a 0-127 range…any ideas?
Thanks!
The link you have posted expired but i think the problem is the minimum output voltage that op-amp can handle. If an op-amp’s negative supply is connected to ground, it cannot guarantee (it usually won’t) to go down to 0 volts. For instance, a ua741 can give minimum 1.2V, a LM358N will give 0.2-0.3V. So, even if you do not use negative voltages, you should supply the op amp negative supply with a really negative supply.
The Sharp analog’s can handle 30-40Hz of sudden changes, it responds continuous changes easily. The problem with them (i think) they give non-linear output wrt to distance. I was thinking today to interface it to MB, and i end up with the conclusion that an AD-Processor-DA chain should be used to calibrate and modify the output of it. I will design a simple circuit soon to handle it.
Um yeah, I am pretty sure d2k solved that problem or quit the project, after all he asked 4 years ago…
Sorry dude, as you see i’m newbie, i did not look at the date of post 
Hehe, no worries, just saying 