Metallic tong drums produce sound when their cut-to-tone sections are struck with a mallet, finger, or different implement, producing nice ambient notes. However why prohibit such drums to mere human utilization? Right here I created a robotic drummer that strikes eight tongs/notes through solenoid strikers, managed by an Arduino Opta micro PLC with MIDI enter.
As seen within the construct video beneath, the machine was designed across the dimensions of a propane tank drum. It is made out of laser-cut MDF, in a versatile “C” kind that may develop and contract as wanted. Eight versatile friction arms – sometimes employed for digicam mounting – are connected across the circumference of the C. Every arm holds a solenoid striker, giving it flexibility to be used with any variety of percussion devices.
Solenoids are triggered by an Arduino Opta with a solid-state relay (SSR) module. The SSRs output sufficient energy to increase and retract the striker solenoids with out the noise related to mechanical relays.
Reasonably than programming it for a set riff or riffs, the system options MIDI enter through an auxiliary serial and I2C adapter – designed for this challenge and now obtainable buy on Tindie. In concept, it might work with a spread of MIDI enter units, however I additionally created a customized arcade-style MIDI enter case – beforehand mentioned right here – as its main interface.
Developing this unit took a large quantity of studying, experimentation, and work, nevertheless it was a number of enjoyable and an awesome studying expertise. I used to be additionally capable of current it at my youngsters’ faculty, and on the Orlando Maker Faire final yr, as seen on the finish of the video. Code and CAD can be found if you need to look at issues additional!
