Using a load cell as a trigger for electronic drums

Lynxmotion Electronics & Software
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Hi everyone!

I’m a musician, and a total noob about electronics and so on.

I want to know if using a load cell (that could fit inside shoes for ex) could work as a trigger.

I know I can trigger electronic drums modules with piezoelectric sensors.

But I want to trigger the drums sounds with “pressure” not “hitting” (like when using piezo).

Would It work?
What woul i need? (HX711 and so on)

The most importante thing, would the latency between pressuring the load Cell and hearing the sound from the drum module “playable”?

Thanks in advance for any help!

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I did a project with Piezo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ6WZlb8Pfg

if you want to trigger drum with pressure I would recommend using a ‘‘force sensor’’.

But I’m not sure if the hit of stick can trigger these kind of sensor, you really have to push on it.

Let me know how it goes since this is a interesting project.

3 Likes
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Thanks for your input @ThePhilStudio
Much appreciated :slight_smile:

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A load cell will be harder to trigger because of the low output voltage , also mounting it will suck ! , why reinvent the wheel , buy triggers

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Hi Phil! Thanks for the help!

I’m searching about FSR Sensors. It seems that some music keyboards use it. There is a vídeo of a guy who turn a toy keyboard into not only a MIDI keyboard but added velocity sensitive and aftertouch.

I’ll try!

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Nice!
Check these out, maybe it will help you.
https://www.robotshop.com/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=force+sensor&order=relevance&dir=desc