Laser light-based control system for use with digital musical instruments and other digitally-controlled devices

A method for controlling a device based on tracked interruptions to laser light, comprising:

• projecting one or more laser beams, wherein the one or more laser beams travel through a performance space onto termination points on one or more surfaces;
• capturing video of the one or more surfaces including the termination points;
• capturing video of the one or more laser beams in the performance space;
• processing the video of the one or more surfaces to identify blockage of the one or more laser beams prior to reaching one or more of the termination points;
• processing the video of the one or more laser beams in the performance space to determine a location of the blockage of the one or more laser beams;
• and
• generating control signals to control or modify operations of the device based on both the identified blockage and the location of the blockage.

A system, comprising:

• a source of laser light;
• a surface for receiving the laser light at a set of termination points;
• a first camera focused on the surface;
• a second camera focused on a space between the source of the laser light and the surface;
• a digital musical instrument;
• and
• a controller communicatively linked to the first and second cameras and to the digital musical instrument,
• wherein the controller is configured to receive output feeds from the first and second cameras, to process the output feeds into control data based on detected interruptions of the laser light in the space, and to communicate the control data to the digital musical instrument to modify operations of the digital musical instrument.