Piano Stairs (Musical Stairs) Part 1 - Planning and feasibility

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I would like to turn my basement stairs into "piano stairs". This is a request for input more than a show and tell. Background:

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Project stairs: Stairs from underneath. ~Specs: I have purchased nothing yet. Item starter list: Raspberry Pi Ardunio (max) (I would like 12 "keys" or active stairs min) sensors - tbd The sensing is going to be the hard part (I think): FSR: I started looking into force sensing resisters to be put under the laminate flooring but from googling and reading I'm uncertain that would work well. PIR motion sensors issues/questions: From looking on youtube most of the PIR sensors either have 2 short a sensing range or too large a range. 10cm to 15cm would probably be idea. The "reset" time on PIR's factory preset? If someone tried to key a stair twice quickly it would probably not activate for 2+ seconds? IRDS: Thoughts on using IR distance sensor instead of PIR? IR has the right range settings from 4 inches (10 cm) to 80cm. IR Beam: Beam sensor would be too difficult to install due to the physical requirements of access to both sides of the stairs. I'm assuming that I can get the sensed activation from the Ardunio to the rPI to play a note or tone? Would this setup be able to trigger multiple notes at once? Lets say 4 feet(2 people) playing. Thoughts on if this project is worthwhile?

Former Member · Accepted Answer

I have used the FlexiForce sensor before and it works ok. To make it work best, I had to create a disc that transferred the force from the plate to the sensor itself. Basically, I just had to increase the pressure over the sensor instead of just placing the sensor under the plate (the stair steps in your case). I am not sure you could just slide one of these under the laminate and have it work right away. I think you could create a relatively thin disc (1/16th in) that concentrated the force from the step onto the sensor and slide that under the laminate and have it work. The obvious problem would be the thickness of the disc would cause the laminate to not sit level. I don't think PIR is the way to go as you would probably end up triggering it from several stairs as it has a wide sensing volume. I would lean toward an IR pair mounted on the easy to access side of the stairs. This setup should be able to detect when an object (like a foot) is closer than the wall on the other side of the stair. They are pretty cheap too. This link might help with the multiple tones at the same time with the Arduino. Although, it might be faster and cheaper to just hack a Mini Keyboard instead of trying to get all of that working.

colecago · Answer

Arduino and Pi would be redundant. You could use the Pi and it's IO to trigger it, or use the Arduino with a WAV or MP3 shield. I don't know why you'd want both.

Piano Stairs (Musical Stairs) Part 1 - Planning and feasibility

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