[Maayan Migdal] wrote in to share a really cool drum kit he constructed that has one special twist – no drums at all. Using a simple MIDI device and an Arduino, his “Air Drums” look pretty sweet.
The hack makes use of a pair of garden rakes, which serve as his drum sticks. The rakes were cut down and modified to allow the addition of accelerometers and some USB cables. The left stick contains a single accelerometer for registering hi-hat hits, while the right stick is armed with a pair of the modules, which are used to trigger snare and crash symbol strikes. He modified a pair of sandals to fit better while drumming before adding a sensor to each shoe. The left sandal contains an accelerometer to register bass drum hits, while the right shoe uses a light sensor to simulate the use of a hi-hat pedal.
We think that the results are awesome, but feel free to check out the video below to see what we mean. If Guitar Hero wasn’t dead in the water on hiatus, we think this sort of setup would make a great replacement for the flimsy drum set that comes with the game.
Nice build, I really liked how the video was put together :D (+Diagrams).
I wanna make a pair of USB sandals <_<
Just a small correction needed – it’s not Rock Band that is on hiatus, it is Guitar Hero.
Rock Band is still going strong with DLC being released every week.
Woops, we’ll update that.
Video blocked. Another source?
Cool, but I think he needs to swap shoes. Hi-hat pedal is usually the left foot and the left hand. Bass is the right foot.
Video blocked in your country. Very nice. From which country it’s not blocked, need I fire up VPN to US?
I have no problem within Canada
I LOVE THIS.
I’m usually pretty bored with the music hacks (because I’m not really into music as a creator), but this video is really, really cool.
ARGH I HATE GEMA (germany established music nazis) that block videos on youtube!
Use http://unblockyoutube.co.uk/
The idea is nice … but the sound is not maching with his motions or am i wrong?
Any Scematics?
vispi – it’s not blocked in the US. It contains some music from Rage Against the Machine (heh) that must be restricted in your locale.
@Trav – people do in fact play left-handed setups. Unlike scissors, drums can be re-arranged to be the most comfortable for the player.
I thought that only Music Record Companies blocked videos. is there another link for the video?
Interesting.
The wires are rather distracting. I have to think if a WiMote would do a better job? Since it has BT, accelerometer built in and also in the form of a stick, a thick one unfortunately.
Hi Guys, i would try to upload it to another video streaming site as well…
10x 4 the comments, by the way i wearing the Hi Hat sandal on the right since i learned to play drums on a left handed drum kit…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sf_pogZ8jE
Was thinking this the whole video. How do we know it even works? Still a novel idea though. It would be neat to someday see whole bands that don’t have any instruments, including the drummer. :-)
@Maayan Migdal
Point taken. I set my computer up at home with a left handed mouse. Got used to using it right handed everywhere else. Now when I try to move the mouse back to right handed at home, all the right handed people in the house complain.
I’ll put this in my “will try to get to eventually list of projects”
Great job!
@HackJack
I was thinking the exact same thing! (Wiimote/PS Move) I feel like air Midi drums have been done before with a WiiMote…
Neat! MIDI gives this a world of versatility!
http://toyjunkyard.blogspot.com/2010/07/body-rap.html
This is the first thing I thought of. Yeah I’m old lol.
A very well done video to complement a very well done project. I love it!
Fantastic project and video! Looking forward to your next creations!
not sure whats more impressive, the build or the video but i loved them both
I cracked up when I saw him plug in his sandals. Good work, all around. There’s a similar sort of thing you can do with wiimotes, too. I was going to try it, but I couldn’t get them jiving with the bluetooth on my netbook. No foot pedals for those, though.
See an easier way to do the same using only ONE microphone here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCBUMfYh8lQ