Looking to build something similar in design to the drum pad pictured below. I want to be able to play it with drum sticks and each pad will be about 3 by 6 inches I am running into Abelton so it only needs to be a midi controller. I am wondering what the best type of sensor to use would be, after watching this video http://youtu.be/-4BPpfFGcIE I was thinking of going with the Piezo Element https://www.sparkfun.com/products/10293 but also saw Force Sensitive Resistors like this the https://www.sparkfun.com/products/9376 that seem similar to what the Akai MPC uses. Any incite on the best route to take would be greatly appreciated.
I’m not sure you’ll find a good answer here. A piezo sensor will, IMO, be more sensitive. How much of an advantage that could be … I don’t know. A piezo requires some some additional circuitry to condition it’s output to be compatible with any MCU input. I don’t think it’s easy to get a drumstick “hit force” so as to translate the hit into volume (or anything else).
The FSR is an analog output that’s easily made compatible with an MCU input, and could, in theory, be fed into an A/D to get the “hit force”. Naturally that implies enough computing power to sample the input fast enough and make something of it. If you’re not looking for that then …
And then there’s the response time. The datasheet lists 1-2 msec for a response time (mechanically limited). I’m not sure, but not unsure … I just don’t know … if that’s fast enough to capture a drumstick hit. And then there’s the question of how you mount the sensor so as to capture those hits.
My best advice … if you are really interested in the “best” … get a couple of each sensor type and try them out. Find out for yourself their respective advantages and choose the best for your application.
And if you do this, please post your findings here.
thanks for your input since i am new to all this I am going to try to just use toggle buttons more like a sample pad for now that would just be on off but still trying to figure out how t make the odd sized button if anyone has any input into that. I saw this that someone made and was thinking of doing something similar.
