Electronic Bass Drum Trigger

I have another instructable on here about my electronic drum pad design.

I had to do something different, though, for the bass pedal.

This design is what i came up with.

I'm going to rely on pictures more and text less than in my other instructable.

Step 1 Materials + Tools

I wasn't paying very much attention to what I was doing while building this, I was mostly making it up as I went along. Here's a list of basically what you'll need. (The measurements are mostly relative, and not exact.)

1x - 3/4" wood, 4x12"
1x - 3/4" wood, 4x3.5"
1x - wood, 4x4x3"
2x - 3" metal corner brackets
2x - 1/4" foam, 3x4"
1x - sheet metal, 3x4"
1x - sheet metal, about 3x2"
1x - Peizo sensor (35mm)
1x - RCA style phono jack
2x - legs/"spurs" from acoustic bass drum
Heavy cloth and vinyl for covering.
Screws - long and short


Tools:
Drill + bits (screw drive, 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, small size for pilot holes for screws.
Saw (I just used a hand saw, but anything will work
Chisel
Screwdrivers
Heavy duty stapler and staples (at least 1/4")
Hot-Glue gun with glue

Comments

[Pisuh]

Great Job!!!

[Scurge]

Oh wow, you just gave me an awesome idea to make my son's double bass pedal useable with rockband. Just gotta adapt this to use magnetic switches instead of peizo's. Great I'ble!

[Scurge]

Wait, do you think i could do it with peizo's if i used a current limiting resistor to protect the controller from the peizo? I know the RB1 controller uses a magnetic switch to read the kick pedal, but it's just that, a switch. If i used a peizo to send the current, rather than switching it, do you think it would work? Or should I built a circuit using a transistor to "read" the peizo and act as the switch? (then I wouldn't have to modify the hammers at all) Anybody have any suggestions?

[stevie1]

You could use a microcontroller such as the arduino to read the piezo and trigger a solid state relay or transisor.
I made some piezo drum triggers (for acoustic drums) that attach to the drum heads and used the arduino to trigger relays that turn on lights. Whenever our drummer hits a certain drum, the corresponding light turns on for a predetermined length of time. Thats the plan right now but so far i only have the arduino programmed for the bass drum.
I have to say when our drummer uses his double kickers with the lights it looks pretty good in the dark!
The arduino website:
www.arduino.cc
you should be able to find almost everything on that website and/or the forum.

[benjaminmailloux]

Well if you're only using it as the magnet switch, then the entire design would seem very overbuilt. I don't know enough about electronics to be sure whether or not the peizo would work with rockband, but it sounds like a great idea! My electronic knowledge pretty much ends with soldering wires together =P