Silky7483
08-27-2005, 01:41 AM
Thats right...I'm calling it a blargh. Because we all know blogs are boooring. I will use this thread to document the building of the entire kit, mainly because I have a friend who is also very interested in this, as I'm sure many of you out there are as well. I'm also doing it to prove that you don't need a massive workshop or extreme knowledge of tools and electronics to get it all to work. So check back when you see that I've updated and I promise there will be much pics and the best explanations I can give on what and why I've done what I did. Most of this I've learned from variosu other sources on the internets, so thank you if your work has inspired me.
We'll laugh...we'll probably cry a lot, but in the end, we'll hopefully have a rockin electronic kit. Keep in mind that this is my first electronic project, so I'll make my explanations as easy as possible, as thats exactly how I learned. Oh also...price IS critical to me, so I'll give the total spent as we progress.
I've started building my electronic kit. I'm calling it "Alesis" only because it sounds like a girl name, and that makes my girlfriend furious. Especially when I tell her that Alesis has 12 inputs...if you know what I'm sayin...
My Alesis D4 arrived today in great shape. I paid $100 for it used off of Craigslist. This will be the brains of the whole thing. I've heard generally great reviews of this module. From what I can tell, the triggers ARE velocity sensitive, but I'm getting ahead of myself...
Anyway, today I built my bass drum trigger. I knew this would be the easiest, so I did it first to get myself excited. I made a few scavenger hunts to my local hardware store. LOCAL....give them the business they deserve. I also went to RadioShack for the cords and other things I knew I'd need.
At the hardware store I bought:
> a set of stair braces. Theres braces were bolted back to back to provide an inexpensive and solid base for the rest of the contraption. $4 for the pair.
> several brace-like pieces of metal to form the body of the trigger. 69 cents each.
> many bolts to hold them all together. I couldn't have spent more than $1 on all of them.
>an 8" by 6" piece of thin aluminum. This will be used to expand the striking surface of the trigger.
From there, I bolted everything together and used a spare bass padal to estimate the height I'd need to make it for mounting the trigger.
Next I booked it to RadioShack and bought:
>1/4" to RCA cord, 6 feet. Easy to find even without the serial #. Check out my pic and you'll see what I mean.
>RCA jack. As pictured. These will be hiding in those little drawers they have in that sketchy corner of the store where that hairy guy is usually bent over looking at god knows what. When he leaves, grab these. They come a few to a pack and cost about $2.
>Piezo buzzer - 2 wire type. This is in the buzzer drawer, and the item# ends in 73. The one I used I got from eBay and is a little larger than the RS version, but that won't really make a huge difference. They run $2 each.
The only other thing I needed was an old remo practice pad. I took that big foam wedge out and cut it down the middle with an exacto knife, turning it as I cut in a circular motion. Easy to cut, but not very evenly. From there, I cut a straight line down one half from the edge to the center to let the wires through.
Drill your holes in the practice pad ($15 at guitar center...mine is a bit tattered...who cares). Then, using the metal bracing to make sure the mounting holes line up, drill four holes to mount the pad to the metal as well as a hole for the RCA jack. Check out the pics to see where I made these holes.
Time for some soldering. Take the piezo and CAREFULLY remove the plastic case. I used a very sharp exacto andmy fingernail to create a gap all around where the two halves of the shell were glued together. I used the tip of the knife to pop the little lid off, then again, CAREFULLY made several vertical cuts into the plastic and down ALMOST touching the metal on the piezo. I tore these off like tabs and was able to get the edge of the exacto under the piezo and GENTLY pried up. There may be some glue holding it in place, so score it the best you can with the knife without messing up the piezo too badly. From there, I used double sided tape to adhere the brass side of the piezo to the 8" x 6" thin sheet of metal I got from the hardware store. I had to trim it to get it to fit inside the practice pad, you might have to do the same. After that, I soldered the piezo wires to the correct spots on the RCA jack. Take a look at the pic to see how to do that. Be careful not to melt the black plastic insulation on the RCA jack when you do this, otherwise you're in trouble. Don't overdo it. It also helps to expose a little more of the wire and to twist it through the little holes they provide you with on the jack. This will hold it in place while you carefully turn metal into liquid and pour it all over your project. After all that, I stuck the RCA jack through the hole in the practice pad, then put down the half of the foam with the slit, then the metail sheet with piezo, bare side of the metal facing up, and then the second sheet of foam. Seal it all back up, and mount it to the post you made. I foudn that when I struck it, it wobbled unmercifuly, so I had to use some aluminum so brace it. You could easily use wood or any other clever material. Be creative...I sure as hell had to be building this thing. I should mention, hook the raw metal pad you made up to your module and tap it to make sure you've soldered everything right before going too far.
When I was done, I was left with the beast depicted below. It might look goofy, but it really works quite well and is velocity sensitive, although, chances are you wont notice, as its just a bass drum. Veclocity sensitive meaning that the softer you tap, the softer the noise. This does make me excited for the snare drum though. My only beef with this is that those Remo pads are designed to make a little noise, so I imagine I'll use some spay adhesive to stick an old mouse pad or some soft foam to the head to make it a little quieter.
Thats all for now. I'll be tackling the snare next, which so far has been a little trickier.
We'll laugh...we'll probably cry a lot, but in the end, we'll hopefully have a rockin electronic kit. Keep in mind that this is my first electronic project, so I'll make my explanations as easy as possible, as thats exactly how I learned. Oh also...price IS critical to me, so I'll give the total spent as we progress.
I've started building my electronic kit. I'm calling it "Alesis" only because it sounds like a girl name, and that makes my girlfriend furious. Especially when I tell her that Alesis has 12 inputs...if you know what I'm sayin...
My Alesis D4 arrived today in great shape. I paid $100 for it used off of Craigslist. This will be the brains of the whole thing. I've heard generally great reviews of this module. From what I can tell, the triggers ARE velocity sensitive, but I'm getting ahead of myself...
Anyway, today I built my bass drum trigger. I knew this would be the easiest, so I did it first to get myself excited. I made a few scavenger hunts to my local hardware store. LOCAL....give them the business they deserve. I also went to RadioShack for the cords and other things I knew I'd need.
At the hardware store I bought:
> a set of stair braces. Theres braces were bolted back to back to provide an inexpensive and solid base for the rest of the contraption. $4 for the pair.
> several brace-like pieces of metal to form the body of the trigger. 69 cents each.
> many bolts to hold them all together. I couldn't have spent more than $1 on all of them.
>an 8" by 6" piece of thin aluminum. This will be used to expand the striking surface of the trigger.
From there, I bolted everything together and used a spare bass padal to estimate the height I'd need to make it for mounting the trigger.
Next I booked it to RadioShack and bought:
>1/4" to RCA cord, 6 feet. Easy to find even without the serial #. Check out my pic and you'll see what I mean.
>RCA jack. As pictured. These will be hiding in those little drawers they have in that sketchy corner of the store where that hairy guy is usually bent over looking at god knows what. When he leaves, grab these. They come a few to a pack and cost about $2.
>Piezo buzzer - 2 wire type. This is in the buzzer drawer, and the item# ends in 73. The one I used I got from eBay and is a little larger than the RS version, but that won't really make a huge difference. They run $2 each.
The only other thing I needed was an old remo practice pad. I took that big foam wedge out and cut it down the middle with an exacto knife, turning it as I cut in a circular motion. Easy to cut, but not very evenly. From there, I cut a straight line down one half from the edge to the center to let the wires through.
Drill your holes in the practice pad ($15 at guitar center...mine is a bit tattered...who cares). Then, using the metal bracing to make sure the mounting holes line up, drill four holes to mount the pad to the metal as well as a hole for the RCA jack. Check out the pics to see where I made these holes.
Time for some soldering. Take the piezo and CAREFULLY remove the plastic case. I used a very sharp exacto andmy fingernail to create a gap all around where the two halves of the shell were glued together. I used the tip of the knife to pop the little lid off, then again, CAREFULLY made several vertical cuts into the plastic and down ALMOST touching the metal on the piezo. I tore these off like tabs and was able to get the edge of the exacto under the piezo and GENTLY pried up. There may be some glue holding it in place, so score it the best you can with the knife without messing up the piezo too badly. From there, I used double sided tape to adhere the brass side of the piezo to the 8" x 6" thin sheet of metal I got from the hardware store. I had to trim it to get it to fit inside the practice pad, you might have to do the same. After that, I soldered the piezo wires to the correct spots on the RCA jack. Take a look at the pic to see how to do that. Be careful not to melt the black plastic insulation on the RCA jack when you do this, otherwise you're in trouble. Don't overdo it. It also helps to expose a little more of the wire and to twist it through the little holes they provide you with on the jack. This will hold it in place while you carefully turn metal into liquid and pour it all over your project. After all that, I stuck the RCA jack through the hole in the practice pad, then put down the half of the foam with the slit, then the metail sheet with piezo, bare side of the metal facing up, and then the second sheet of foam. Seal it all back up, and mount it to the post you made. I foudn that when I struck it, it wobbled unmercifuly, so I had to use some aluminum so brace it. You could easily use wood or any other clever material. Be creative...I sure as hell had to be building this thing. I should mention, hook the raw metal pad you made up to your module and tap it to make sure you've soldered everything right before going too far.
When I was done, I was left with the beast depicted below. It might look goofy, but it really works quite well and is velocity sensitive, although, chances are you wont notice, as its just a bass drum. Veclocity sensitive meaning that the softer you tap, the softer the noise. This does make me excited for the snare drum though. My only beef with this is that those Remo pads are designed to make a little noise, so I imagine I'll use some spay adhesive to stick an old mouse pad or some soft foam to the head to make it a little quieter.
Thats all for now. I'll be tackling the snare next, which so far has been a little trickier.