Acoustic Drum Trigger Sensor (Overkill?)

[kriista]

So I've used this setup before on just a plain piezo on the table:

http://leucos.lstilde.org/wp/2009/06/piezo-transducer-signal-conditioning/

It worked great for just controlling a solenoid (what I was using it for).

I'm now building some drum triggers into my acoustic drums to drive an Arduino which will send MIDI data.

I've seen most drum triggers use a foam cone similar to this:

http://www.electricdrumcenter.com/4-foam-cones-trigger-for-diy-electronic-drum/

I plan on incorporating some threshold control into the circuit (with a pot), but I want the triggers to be as sensitive as possible. The circuit above seems to clean/condition the signal a bunch, but that's just a raw piezo being used (as are most other arduino triggers I've seen on here).

I guess it's more about if anyone has used one of those foam cones in a trigger circuit.

[system]

I've had good luck using these pressure sensors as drum triggers. They are available from Sparkfun.

I read the pressure, determine the maximum pressure of the hit, send that to Max4Live, convert the pressure into a midi velocity and generate a midi note. All that midi nonsense could be done right on the arduino as well.

[kriista]

Aren't those kind of pricey? Not to mention size wise, on an acoustic drum head, it would have a serious muffling effect.