Final Thoughts
It was a nice project and I enjoyed experimenting with the pi pico. It has proven to be a very versatile MCu of very low cost. It particularly stands out because of its 2 cores, nice form factor, the PIO state machines and large flash memory (which actually came quite handy for this project).
It was a challenging project and had to explore a few new topics, like the conductive ink for example. I am quite satisfied with the conductive ink experiments and I can see it could be very useful for a number of different projects. I was actually surprised of how well it worked and how responsive the drum was.
Thanks to the challenge now I have a nice working prototype and many thoughts on how to develop the idea further. Here are some things that I would like to see implemented:
- Add piezoelectric sensors to the project to detect when the drum is being stroked and with which intensity.
- Add different sound samples that would make it a very versatile and fun instrument (e.g. “South India”, “Reverb”, “Western Drum-Kit”, “Pakawach”, etc.)
- Having an option to listen with headphones. (so the user can play it without disturbing anyone)
- Volume knob
Also, during the project I came across other ideas on how the project could be developed. One idea is to have a custom-made PCB with analog pressure sensors, this could be placed under the faux leather.
Thanks for the challenge and vibrant community!
