[sdiy] Electronic drums - Kraftwerk style metal drumsticks....

[Michael Boracci]

Steve and John,
You could make your own conductive rubber. Smooth-On sells two part urethane
that can be molded. It is used for making molds and is very flexible. Get
yourself some  graphite powder, or powdered charcoal and mix it into part A
evenly and slowly. Then add part B ( catalyst ) and pour it into a shallow
wooden mold that is lightly waxed. Place a thick piece of acrylic over the
top of the mold and suck the air out of the mixture through a small hole in
the top with a vacuum. when it sets you will have a sheet of conductive
rubber. The graphite will be more dense on one side perhaps depending on how
fine it is. If you place this on a piece of sheet metal substrate it will be
the pickup.

Just my wacky idea. I have done this before using Latex and it worked very
well with consistent conduction across the surface. Made a touch pad in the
80's. It broke down after two years and became a sticky ooze. Urethane
shouldn't do that. You can embed some fiberglass into it for better
strength.

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of john mahoney
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 12:56 PM
To: steve jones; synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] Electronic drums - Kraftwerk style metal
drumsticks....


> The idea was that the metal sticks would be connected via wires to the
> drum synth, with the pads also conected, then the contact of stick and
> pad would complete a circuit, producing a trigger signal and a voltage
> (different pads at different votages?) like on a stylophone. So
> conductive rubber could be used for the tips of the sticks for better
> bounce and less impact noise.
>
> I was wanting to explore alternatives to piezo triggers...

Sure, I see what you have in mind. Seems workable to me. It will be velocity
sensitive -- harder hits will produce a stronger signal due to better
physical contact between stick and pad. So I'd guess, anyway.
--
john




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