This is my homemade electronic drum set. I call it the Coltronics Kit-e (“Kitty”). I made this video to show how I put it all together in case you might be thinking about making your own electronic drum kit. I came up with my own design. It started with a piezoelectric transducer soldered to a couple of wires and connected to a quarter inch phone jack. By trial-and-error, it morphed into what youre seeing in this video.
Ive had it for a number of years but its held up well. Im pleased with its design. Its compact. It works well. It was relatively inexpensive to put together using materials that are fairly easy to obtain. So check out the video. I hope it gives you some ideas.
Duration : 0:5:12
Thanks so much! …
Thanks again.
Thanks so much! That made my day. That’s about the best comment I’ve ever got. Your note is definitely getting forwarded to my foreman. I’m sure that after he sees it, he’ll undoubtedly give me the unlimited time off that I’d need to devote to these kind of projects (that serve all mankind). I can hear him now, “Yeah, John, you can take off right now!”
You can get them …
You can get them from RadioShack. A couple in may hand in the video are from burnt out smoke alarms. They are what makes that obnoxious noise.
where do you get …
where do you get those piezoelectric transducer thingys?
I’m trained as an …
I’m trained as an electronic tech working with engineers on new designs. I owned a Drumkat 3.5 for awhile. I got to hand it to you that is a very sweet job you did there. I have the electronics & soldering chops, but not the mechanical skills to do what you have done. You also did a first class job in presenting it. You should send this in as an article to Pop Mechanics, Science, Modern Drummer, electronic musician, etc. You are under-employed as a heavy equipment operator. Kudos sir!
@WeakEndProductions …
@WeakEndProductions Very good idea. thanks.
A piezo pad in place of each key would work if the keys work like I think they do.
Now to acquire a cheap midi keyboard.
Thanks for the idea!
I’ve not taken …
I’ve not taken apart a velocity sensitive (midi) keyboard but I wonder if it might be possible to remove and re-purpose whatever switches might be under those keys for a MalletKat controller. Keep the rest of the circuitry (and reconnect to it) and output over MIDI. Then you wouldn’t need any drum brain. You could use software drums or drive any drum sounds addressable over MIDI. Seems like something like that would be possible. What’d ya think?
I might attempt a …
I might attempt a malletKat clone (the xylophone one)
not sure if theres a drum brain i could use for this though…
Speaker size as far …
Speaker size as far as I know does not matter. Take any 6 or 8 inch speaker, magnet up or down . Hook up as you would a piezo. If magnet is up hit the magnet, shock moves voice coil. If the magnet is down put a disc of 2 inch foam over the speaker and strike it, foam causes air to move the cone and voice coil, thus sound.Pretty simple, try it and let me know.
If you clean off ( …
If you clean off ( I use lacquer thinner) the gum rubber and, especially, the neoprene (it has a white powdery surface; I think it might be talc) the two materials will have a tendency to stick to each other over time. I suppose you could glue or use double-stick tape if you wanted. The triggers never dislodged from their positions even if the whole thing was turned upside down. Everything is pretty snug in there. The neoprene is taut under the aluminum angle edging. Thanks for watching!
Glad you liked it. …
Glad you liked it. How does it work with a regular speaker? Do you tap the edge? Will sound rattle the speaker cone enough to set off the trigger? I suppose you could make some kind of ‘sound triggered’ device if that is the case. Hmmm.
great job, but …
great job, but there is one thing that I do not understand. whether the trigger pads “float” on the surface of the sponge, or they are somehow attached?
That was what the …
That was what the doctor ordered buddy . Made my day.i have been experimenting with piezos and then found out that a regular speaker works just as well. Would love a PDF breakdown:) Great job.
The DM5 has 12 …
The DM5 has 12 trigger inputs plus a footswitch (highhat) input which toggles the open/closed samples for one of the trigger inputs. I did put two extra female jacks on my drum controller but they ‘share’ two of the 12 inputs with two of my pads.
Glad I saw this. …
Glad I saw this. This could be a great project for me. I once had a Drumkat ver 3.5 and regret selling it. One question I have a DM5. Aren’t you using more triggers than the DM5 has inputs? Thanks, Dave
man,,, you’re good, …
man,,, you’re good,,, i try to figure it out on my project,,, I get it now,,,
thanks a lot Mr. cool,,,
Perfect man! …
Perfect man! Congrates:)
That’s a pretty …
That’s a pretty amazing drum set. Thanks for the tricks!
ehee nice work
ehee nice work
Pretty close… …
Pretty close… laid off heavy equipment operator.
Are you a …
Are you a mechanical engineer, by any chance?
Thanks for checking …
Thanks for checking it out!
This is awesome man
This is awesome man