Hi everyone
My name is Carmelito currently working out of Toronto,Canada as software developer in the day,and 3D printing enthusiast and tinker by night.And I also enjoying playing the drums when I find time.
Creating music is always fun, but making it with your own DIY musical instrument is even ''awesome'er !!
In addition, I would also like to take this opportunity to thank element14 for selecting the DIY Drum kit project as part of the Music Tech Design Challange. Pretty sure the next couple of month are going to be hectic and a lot of fun !!
Overview
The DIY Drum Kit would include various 3D printed part(which will act as the instrument) ,combined with the Beagle bone and Capacitive Touch Sensor(MPR121) that you play with your limbs .In addition I also plan to include a two potentiometer one for beat selection and another for the volume.
In addition as part of the drum kit there will also be an option to upload recorded sound to soundcloud.com(https://soundcloud.com ) using the soundcloud API, so that you can share the music made.
Most of the code will be written in python and will try and upload my code as I finish pieces of the project
In addition I am also planning to use a I2C or a SPI display to show volume , beating selection and upload progress to SoundCloud. Planing to use Adafruits Monochrome 1.3" 128x64 OLED graphic display as i have this handy.
*The picture that you see above is a early version of something I put together using Raspberry Pi model A+ and Adafruit Capacitive Touch HAT for Raspberry Pi - Mini Kit – MPR121, it is called "Raspberry Pi Music Finger"
Unlike the picture above the DIY drum kit in works , will have a two handed capability which will allow me to have a lot more beats, which means I am going to have to find some interesting ways control the volume and beat changes ..
Recording and Uploading music to Soundcloud.com
Check out the blog post for detailed steps to record a wav file using the ALSA arecord and then use the Soundcloud API python wrapper to upload the recorded file to soundcloud
Uploading wav files to Soundcloud.com using the BeagleBone
Here is how the setup looks, you have one button to record sound and another to upload file to soundcloud when pressed
Demo video
Setting up OctoPrint on the BeagleBone black with a webcam.
For more details on how to control,print and monitor the BeagleBone refer to the blog post at
Controlling and Monitoring your 3D printer with BeagleBone and OctoPrint
You will also find the STL files for the BeagleBone case, that you can 3D print to protect you BeagleBone at the blog post above.
Challenges to overcome
- 3D printing with two filaments (currently WIP)– here I am going to have to figure out the best way to fuse PLA with Conductive filament which is going to connect the MPR121 chip for touch sensing – currently working on the design and will have some pictures uploaded soon (using Flashfoge creator pro with esun normal PLA and Conductive black ABS http://digitmakers.ca/shop/3d-printers/3d-printer-abs-black-conductive-filament/)
- Baking in the speakers as part of the device , this could lead to defeating the original purpose of keeping the drum kit light weight.
- Simultaneously recording sound to post to Soundcloud.com and playing sound using ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture
