MIDI Marimba Keyboard

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1

Hello,

I'm wanting to build a MIDI Marimba, if you don't know what a marimba is, think of it as a huge xylophone (sometimes smaller, but usually bigger than a xylophone) here is a picture of what I am talking about: Redirect Notice

Anyways, I was thinking about making the keys (the thing you're supposed to strike) out of some foam and plywood, and under that, use like a piezoelectric transducer to translate the sound into electricity, feed the information through the arduino, and make it to where it is like a MIDI keyboard and use it in a program like Mixcraft to create the sounds. I don't really mind if we can't factor in dynamics (how loud/soft something is), though it would be a nice feature. Another thing is, is I would like it to be a 3.5 octave marimba (one octave is 13 keys so 3.5x13=45-46 keys) so it is big but not like a 5 octave. I would also like it if we could program rolls and chords into this.

Now the thing is I don't even own a Arduino board, though if this plan is solid, then I will buy one. I have very little programming skills (I am currently taking c++ classes) and I am a beginner at electronics (I have made only a few electronic projects).

If this project goes through, I will post this on Youtube and instructables, and I will give credit to everyone that has helped me in the process.

Thanks,
Wes.

2

Hi!
What help do you need?

3

I have also been looking into this for a way to practice mallet percussion at home. i have been thinking of using piezo elements to sense the striking of the bar. But the arduino mega doesn't have enough analog inputs. to go around this i thought maybe to try and use transistors to change the input from the piezos from an analog signal to a digital one. that way you can use the 50 something digital pins as inputs instead of the 16 analog pins. i also thought to maybe cover the mallets in aluminum tape (like the kind used in heating and air systems) then use the same tape and cover blocks of wood with it. then you would have a digital means of communicating to the arduino. so when the mallet hits the note a circuit is completed and that makes a certain pin on the arduino high (+5v).

4

Yes, but you will not have information about the force of impact. In this case it is better to use an analog multiplexer.