Raspbeat Pt. 1

June 3rd, 2016

For years now, I have dreamed of building a hardware MIDI device. I initially got the inspiration after learning that the Rock Band drum set has MIDI capabilities. So, I bought a used one at Goodwill and proceeded to rip it apart. Upon examining the insides of the pads, I was pleasantly surprised these mysterious devices were nothing more than a piezo sensor glued to a rubber circle. I'd learned about piezos at school when my teacher, Biff, came riding into class one day on a bicycle he transformed into a MIDI controller by covering it in piezos and DIN plugs. The lightbulb went off in my brain as it became clear creating a MIDI controller is relatively simple. Inspired, I took my ripped up Rock Band drum set pads, soldered an input jack to its piezo, and screwed the pad and jack to a block of wood. After assembly, I grabbed an Arduino Uno and wrote a simple sketch to transform an analog input into a MIDI message. After creating a makeshift box out of some old cardboard and some quick soldering, it was up and running. I hooked everything up and tapped the pad with a drum stick and voila, MIDI. I felt like a wizard. It was very rewarding to combine my love of music with my new love of code.

Not as cool as Biff's MIDI bike