Musical Invention: DIY Digital Foot Drums

[@Mgg036]

Thinking out of the box, put all back in one and go. Brilliant!

[@flipjack]

best compact stomp solution I've seen yet

[@superuser-t1j]

Really cool setup, love the idea!

[@RobCampbell-sz7gv]

Great job! I’ve been using a beat buddy but have been looking for something foot driven. Very innovative work you’ve done here.

[@writaban3338]

This is awesome..!!! I was looking at many foot drum DIY but this one is really smart.. This just opened up a new dimension.. Too bad the MIDI expression thingy is not available in my country..

[@davidmuir6849]

Fantastic ,thanks for sharing . Regards Dave from Scotland

[@neils8721]

Great set up. I think you should be able to use a stereo cable from you pedal into one input rather than splitting it to two. There are settings in the software for dual pedals. You can do the with the edrumin that has one pedal input and 4 duel trigger inputs.

[@KahimoandRachel]

hello mate very nice, im interesting how did you do the all connection and wire, from a/b switch to midi to phone, cheers

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Hey there! Here’s a more detailed walkthrough of everything. Hope that helps! DIY Foot Drums - Detailed Walkthrough & Setup kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqrIY6quj82jq9E

[@jonathankelly702]

This is awesome

[@jonathanwhittingham3845]

Hi Chris. I am hoping to use my older iPad to build my own unit. However I cannot find the precise Camera kit that you are showing. Lots of similar ones but not the precise configuration of the three connections. Can you steer me towards this particular device. Many thanks. Jonathan.

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Hi Jonathan! Have you tried the links in the description? That should take you to the right place. I also did a more detailed walkthrough that should help as well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqrIY6quj82jq9E . Have a good one!

[@louiemarkdomingo]

Cool!!

[@donovanhowardmusic]

So you could use two of these for 4 sounds. Correct?

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Yes, for sure.

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Also, here's a detailed rundown, if it's helpful: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqrIY6quj82jq9E

[@justinnaramor6050]

This is pretty cool. Meant to write a comment on this vid and had not done so yet. But, I've been considering doing a kind of foot-drumming thing myself while I play piano/keyboard (I'm not a guitarist, sorry! :)). I do want my foot drums to also be electronic, so this video gave me some ideas on what I could do. Other folks have also attempted electronic foot drums and they've given me some ideas as well. I do want to mention something that's important to understand though. This part's gonna get lengthy, but I really suggest you read it all the way through because it's gonna take some explaining: Unfortunately, your statement about how that sustain pedal thing sends "an analog MIDI signal" is quite incorrect. Keyboard sustain pedals, just like drum triggers, do not send out any kind of MIDI data "on their own". All of that MIDI data comes from whatever that sustain pedal is attached to (such as a keyboard or the "MIDI Expression" device you showed here). So the sustain pedal only sends out a normal analog signal, just like any other switch or push-button would do; no MIDI involved there. Something else, then, is responsible for turning that analog signal into MIDI. If you were to use a keyboard with a sustain pedal that were to send out MIDI on its own, the keyboard would not use what looks like a normal audio jack (I.E the TRS jack) to connect to the sustain pedal, more likely it would use USB or the older 5-pin MIDI connector. TRS connectors are analog, so they cannot send out MIDI data. So if one were to use a true "MIDI sustain pedal", the device responsible for converting the analog signal from the pedal into MIDI would be built into the pedal itself instead of an external box. In the case of your video here, the device responsible for turning the analog signal from the sustain pedal into MIDI was an external box. Perhaps it seems like I'm just pointlessly nitpicking here, but this really is important to know. This same concept needs to be learned when using electronic drum pads. Like sustain pedals, electronic drum pads cannot send out MIDI data; this is why a drum module is still required when you use an electronic drum kit as a MIDI controller for your computer, because it's the drum module that's the analog-to-MIDI conversion device in that situation. It's precisely for this reason that I really fucking hate it when manufacturers use the term "MIDI sustain pedal" or "MIDI drum pad" or "MIDI drum trigger" in their advertising, and even other people in the electronic music/MIDI community are very much guilty of doing the same thing. It's wrong though... sustain pedals don't send out MIDI and neither do drum triggers, so why not just leave the word "MIDI" out of it? :/! Anyways, after that long rant, I do hope you've had success with this foot drum system you've come up with. It already sounded very nice in the video here, so that shows the kind of potential a setup like this has. Stay safe and stay healthy :)). Justin

[@Robert_Bubba_Baker]

Very interesting.

[@emreut]

Have you tried Boss FS-7? I was wondering whether that would allow you to do heal toe action.

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Haven’t tried that, but I’m pretty sure it would work!

[@mishan-theonemanband3212]

Can piezo pickup be used instead of Boss FS-6 footswitch ?

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Do you mean like a guitar pickup, or a stompbox? I can try when I get a chance. Otherwise, I bet you could ask the manufacturer: www.audiofront.net/MIDIExpression.php. Hope that helps!

[@mishan-theonemanband3212]

@@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic I mean like a stompbox. So whenever we hit the piezo like in a simple stompbox the signal will be sent to the mobile phone and we can get the desired drum sound as output. Boss FS-6 in itself is expensive in our country so Piezo pickup will be so much cheaper and customizable if it works. 😀 And thank you for responding. I couldn’t find the answer from their website so you are my last hope 😅

[@anwenmulligan]

Can you get this midi expression adapter in the UK?

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Not sure! Here's a link to their site: www.audiofront.net/MIDIExpression.php.

[@YourFavoritePete]

Could I please have the drum map and the cable list?

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Sure thing! Can you explain what you mean by a Drum Map? Thanks.

[@YourFavoritePete]

Hey man, I should have started by saying this is very cool and exactly what I've been looking for since my acoustic foot kit can be too loud and roland spd ones are so expensive. It's very cool of you to share this all for free. When I say drum map I mean whatever is at the time stamp 10:23. Thank you and thanks for sharing this!

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

@@YourFavoritePete Hey, thanks for the encouragement! I made a second video with a full shopping list and the details of how to set everything up. Here you go! kzbin.info/www/bejne/jqrIY6quj82jq9E

[@danbunge9787]

Velocity sensitivity?

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Not with this setup, but if you used a different kind of pedal hardware, it should work. You'd probably need to get an actual digital drum trigger, I'd think. But, that is supported and can be configured through the app.

[@danielortizdecaracas]

Latency??

[@ChristopherMarkWebsterMusic]

Nothing discernable!