DIY or buy? How to make electronic drum pads

[@arthursmalle2276]

This video made me have a eureka moment with a project I was stuck on :) I am making something and I need big square flat buttons but I couldn't find any and my first idea was to make or 3D print a shell for a small pushbutton. But the piezo's are a much better solution. Thanks for the fun video an the creative insights!

[@LeVilainCam]

try putting the piezo in contact with the rubber instead of the wood. a piezo directly on a hard surface will give a machine-gun like response, whereas a piezo on a flexible surface (like a drum skin for example) will have more dynamics . So maybe a rubber "sandwich" would work better for your pad

[@Afrorack]

I will definitely try that.. Thanks

[@Afrorack]

If you would like to support me Paypal- www.paypal.com/paypalme/afror...​ Patreon- www.patreon.com/afrorack Subscribe if you can. Thanks a lot

[@adreno2342]

Dude, beautiful editing! Thank you so much for sharing what life is like there too. (besides the good content)

[@M2Texas]

Very nice start. You are quite creative! Liked, subbed and commented. I realize this is an old video, but I'm just starting to do electronic project instruments and the algorithm suggested this video so I'm commenting so you get some love from the algorithm as well as to thank you for making the video.

[@UnauthorisedService]

great to see you out and about, and your working methods too !

[@Zefal77]

Really love the vlog feel there is to it! Awesome work

[@CrowClouds]

Bc he isn't thinking of it as a 'vlog'. He's just making a video. If you don't label everything in your head and just make something, you will also make something unique. And then other people will label it lol

[@Mangotshepang]

I have so much respect for you my G. Please keep making things and posting them on YT. Love from South Africa .... and please wear a mask :) I want more YT videos and you need to be around for them

[@murrrr8288]

You're very talented. Great to see life there as well! As a musician you really should protect your hearing when using loud tools. Ear plugs can prevent life time tinnitus in ears. Great videos!

[@mukisajohnmary]

Wow this was an interesting project. I had never thought. Thanks for the good work man

[@danielmcanulty1562]

This was great, I liked, subscribed, and signed up for the patreon. I've worked on a number of electronic instruments, so maybe like LeVileinCam I can offer some thoughts/suggestions for you to consider while you ponder improvements. The arduino code looks great, the fact that it can capture so much detail on the Alesis sensors is encouraging that the code itself is fast enough to capture satisfactorily, it is handy to have that kind of scope view. My feeling is I would set aside the worry about the quality of the piezos for a moment, and consider some other possibilities for why your sensors might be damped compared to the Alesis, and my first suspicion would be about the wood-on-wood friction on the sides of the pad. To isolate that variable, I'd remove a pad, set it on a piece of rubber and whack it, see if you still see the unpredictable peaks. If the peaks are more predictable, then that friction might be interfering, and I think it almost certainly is. The other thing is, the Alesis voltages have a nice long decay, so that makes it easier for their microcontroller to capture them, they are longer so the code on the MCU doesn't have to be as perfect. Maybe a very small value cap across the 10Mohm resistor would stretch out that voltage just a little, and make it look nicer on the arduino-scope capture. So I would say, try isolating the sensor more, and if you want to, add some capacitance to your piezo output if you want to get a longer decay. That's my gut instinct. Also, focus just on one sensor until the voltage output looks 'readable' to you. I find that if my brain+eyes can see it in the voltage, then the code is always easy to write.

[@Afrorack]

Great insights...thanks for subscribing

[@danielmcanulty1562]

@@Afrorack My pleasure entirely! Please do write if I can offer anything more. My own entrance into my own electronic music was the floppy audio project, I think I posted it on a different channel, but you can see some of my other work there, it started out as a similar diy approach from things I found lying around and progressed from there: kzbin.info/www/bejne/haOtnqmlnNWUY9E

[@danielmcanulty1562]

But youtube has changed so much, and turning a video about a creation that is exciting to the creator into a journey for the audience is so much of an improvement. It's really wonderful to see you show the way it can be done.

[@Afrorack]

@@danielmcanulty1562 checked out ur floppy project...awesome stuff ...11 years ago!!

[@danielmcanulty1562]

@@Afrorack Time certainly flies :)

[@itdtv2510]

This is what industrial music is all about.

[@azimalif266]

From the graph it seems like the one you made is less bouncy. Try making it more bouncy by adding a foam backing and separate it from the frame.

[@Polyphonic-Ringtone]

Really interesting video! I'm about to DIY my own drum machine thing so this was helpful.

[@fusion-music]

Interesting how in Africa, you just make things work. I've seen guitars made out of oil cans. Okay, it doesn't sound like a Torres, but it means you can play something. These piezoelectric sensors are sold in bulk for next to nothing. I bought a mesh practice set and simply made triggers from these without 10 megaohm Resistor/ diode and got the same response as the Alesis pads. Your video is certainly valuable. Great fun too. You can't have too many pads though - so I think yours could actually be 12 pads, following Alesis' lead in providing bar triggers at the top of the unit.

[@enockkaluuba1669]

Great staff!!

[@luanaleobas5858]

Wow thanks for that video, i want to make a drumpad like yours, its a great reference video 🙏

[@IG-88r]

A thinner outer padding or an outer paddiing with an aluminium face could give you a bit more sensitivity

[@AdamTheAd-vanc3d]

Wow this is very intresting and very useful. That dynamic control is very important for drums as you know . Well done :-)

[@adammorrello]

Dude this is SO cool, you are so smart, happy for your life! Hope you love it

[@jonathanomara8869]

Great work!

[@welcomehomecolumbia4131]

Thats really cool id love to so something similar

[@Afrorack]

You should

[@BenWheelermusic]

Just joined your Patreon - really excellent video!

[@Afrorack]

Thanks alot

[@andersrydingdaugaard]

nice project.. what kind of pc interface is it you use where you wire the piezo to ?

[@welcomehomecolumbia4131]

Your a Genius

[@lovemadeinjapan]

Somehow I was expecting you to pick up music cards. I think the problem with the velocity might not have to do with the piezo, but with the construction of your pads. I did a similar thing, but instead of making a drum pad, I got a cheap Playstation 3 Band Hero toy, and added piezo's in there (they were in there already, but some were faulty or missing). Then I hooked up the sensors to a Korg DRM-1, some cheap vintage drum machine with trigger inputs. I do get velocity on all pads, the ones that were already in the Playstation drum controller, and from the ones from music cards I put in there myself.

[@otimcaeser9819]

Wow.... amazing I tried out such a project in 2017 it worked but not as I expected. It got me too frustrated that I dropped the project. Maybe I can learn more from you

[@Afrorack]

What didn't work as expected?

[@otimcaeser9819]

@@Afrorack The drum pads, I couldn't get real time hits all the time. At some points it would be on time then boom looses time

[@Afrorack]

@@otimcaeser9819 May have something to do with the strategy u used to determine what a hit is...Determining a hit is simple...you set a threshold beyond which if a signal rises then it is a hit...if u want to determine velocity then after the signal crosses the threshold when there's a hit, you keep track of it until it stops rising (which means you reached the peak) and then map that value to velocity...and trigger a midi note ...

[@david.obregon]

My respects. You are a genious.

[@studiospiraluniverse]

I envy your DIY skills...

[@Afrorack]

Everything is learned... with a bit of effort

[@drumengineer7287]

Hey man. Thanks for this. Could you please share the code. Program for Sounds etc

[@krewecoumbite]

You are great. Thank you

[@Afrorack]

Thank u

[@diegocastro5114]

Great video.

[@loofitcreation]

can my Sampler pad be repaired?

[@Emeny]

wow very interesting to see your city

[@kavinp6423]

Dude amazing video!!!!

[@otimcaeser9819]

What micro controller did you use, and could you please send me the code

[@Afrorack]

Used Arduino...code is still improving.. But if u insist I can

[@otimcaeser9819]

@@Afrorack I would love to check out the code after it's improved

[@Schneekardinal]

Very cool video, man!

[@baruchashirifi9488]

Great.. please can you help me build up my own drum pad

[@bossindia4356]

Very good my friend

[@pierrejeanes]

Wow genius

[@estradacommusica2413]

Very good my friend, hugs!

[@emmsxt]

Oh my... 🔥🔥🔥🔥

[@mosesowere5292]

Wow respect

[@tommypalmero5399]

Wow good explanation 👌🏻

[@speedeespeedboi9527]

how do you setup the serial plotter? mine just prints too fast

[@Afrorack]

I don't remember..it just worked...

[@Hoptronics]

There's a button in the ide. Upper right .

[@achijoshann5767]

How can I get that mid module that you connect to the pc

[@Afrorack]

@@achijoshann5767 it's called Arduino. U can Google it . It's quite common

[@achijoshann5767]

Oky bro

[@danp420]

very interesting video

[@Josh-gm3be]

What country is this?

[@timothy435able]

Yo! This is inspiring beyond words! Was planning on converting my old cheap acoustic drum kit into a hybrid kit with piezos during the lockdown, seemed like an upheaval task... watching this, I do have hope! How can I reach you?

[@caglarongan]

Great work bro!

[@iambee5876]

Click for the tut Stayed for the vlog lol 🤣

[@Afrorack]

Thanks

[@valuska3625]

perfectoo

[@krisztianadamek5696]

Hello! Great video/ work! I'm so happy I find your channel! Can you tell me what code you use on arduino? Thank you! :)

[@Afrorack]

Let me see if I can still find it

[@krisztianadamek5696]

@@Afrorack Thank You!

[@tvesnz]

I want second part! :)

[@Afrorack]

Soon!

[@alexanderg3976]

Hello. Thank you for very simple usefull instructions and inspiring ideas, that i found at your chanell. Synth African polirhytms it's really BRILLIAND and unique !!! Feel like a good potential to developing inside. You told that you don't have oscilloscope. But you just simply convert your arduino to it ;)

[@duncan-rmi]

banging. :-)

[@jesybhatra2567]

Kalia mua mane 😂

[@prasanthasuba6203]

Do you live in Uganda?

[@Afrorack]

Yep

[@prasanthasuba6203]

I live in Sri Lanka

[@Afrorack]

@@prasanthasuba6203 I've been to India...

[@prasanthasuba6203]

My name is Ashel Nimroth , I'm 13 years old

[@efesimsek550]

The cuts made me feel like something happen, like you got hit by a car or something. Greetings from Turkey!

[@Afrorack]

Haha...great to hear someone from Turkey... ever transited through Istanbul..Great place

[@efesimsek550]

@@Afrorack yessir I'm a native

[@PHILKaJo]

Prof Brian Bamanya

[@patelstudiocg5694]

This is a smartphone to contacting for video upload

[@AtwiineBenjamin]

hahahahahaha. everyone putting on a mask since.......

[@ff-qf1th]

Are you an anti-masker?