Toy rhythm box interfacing

Hi.
I need help with a, I think, newfangled (i can't find nothing out there) and very interesting project.
I am trying to interface a toy rhythm box input with an Arduino nano board. That toy rhythm box has 5 copper track and when they are touched the speakers plays a preset sound (drum, cymbal, etc) .
When I measure voltage in these pads, there are about 0,15 volts with ground in every copper pads (0.12 to 0.18, depends on the track).
I would be very grateful if some one would help me interfacing every of these tracks with the IO pins of the Arduino in order to play the preset instruments from a program and, eventually, from a MIDI controller.
I think these copper pads are connected to a capacitance sensing circuits and when someone touches these pads the capacitor is discharged, firing the event. I tried connecting directly one of these tracks to an digital PIN of the Arduino and putting that pin in INPUT mode but when I switch on the board fires once the sound and nothing more happens. I am not sure if that event happens because of the code or due the circuitry initializing effect. If it is possible i would prefer driving that events by putting HIGH and LOW the involved IO pins. I suppose that is only possible if there is some interfacing circuitry between the Arduino and the toy rhythm box board.

Here you have one toy rhythm box photo

Well that's a new one on me, never thought about it before but here is a suggestion to try.

As the keys on the toys are capacitive sensitive you need to change the capacitance they see. So the first thing I would try is to put some insulation tape over the copper strips. Then place your own copper foil over the tape to make a sort of sandwich. Then solder your foil to an Arduino output pin and try that. You might also have to connect the ground of the Arduino and the toy together as well.

Just try one key to begin with.

This topic was automatically closed 180 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.