Drum Trigger to MIDI to PC Audio Out

Here are some measurements of the delays in my edrum setup:

The overall delay from the piezo trigger input to the audio out of the pc sound card.  Showing a delay of 10.8ms in this sample.  (blue is the piezo trigger input and yellow is the pc audio out) 

The delay from the piezo trigger input (blue) to the edrum serial comms MIDI transmission (yellow)

The time to send the MIDI command over serial at 115200baud.  (note it is showing there are some non-optimal gaps between the transmitted bytes so could be slightly faster, but not much.

I am actually surprised at how long the computer takes to process the MIDI and produce an output.  Will need to investigate further.

eDrum Kit

Here is a picture of my eDrum kit.  It is a converted acoustic kit.  I was lucky enough to win an ebay auction for AU$25 for the entire kit minus stool.  It was advertised as not sounding very good and having a broken snare stand so I guess there was little interest in it?  Anyway I wasn't interested in the sound as my plan was to convert it to an eDrum and the stand was easily fixed anyway.

 

The trigger to MIDI module is my own hybrid design.  It is based on a PIC16F877A micro as are many designs on the internet.  The analogue inputs are taken from Admir's project site here http://www.edrum.info/.  The software is developed from scratch by myself - just because I was interested.

It currently has 8 trigger inputs and 8 buttons that I use to start/stop songs within the DAW on the host computer.  It connects to the computer using serial interface running at 115200baud to assist in reducing latency.
 

A Prototype "Quiet" E-Cymbal Design

OK, so the first project I have to share is an experimental quiet e-cymbal design using a mesh covered frame.  I thought this would be quieter than other cymbal designs and still enable some sort of cymbal swing that is experienced from a traditional cymbal design.  The test results are promising, so if you are interested perhaps see if you can improve on the design.  Here is a photo of the finished product and a video comparing noise levels from different e-cymbal setups:

For more info go to the design page: Experimental "quiet" e-cymbal

The Beginning

An electrical engineer by profession I have always enjoyed experimenting with various things,  looking for new projects that capture my interest and increase my thirst for technical knowledge and learning.  From software development, electronics, carpentry, construction, anything requiring creative thought and hands on involvement really.

So I have decided to invest some of that energy into recording the more interesting (from my point of view) of those projects for others that may have similar interests.

Blogger seems to be one of the quickest ways to achieve this so here we go.  I have only just started looking into blogger so I'm not sure I fully understand how all the pages, posts, static pages, etc fit together - this post is part of the learning curve.