Thursday, May 15, 2008

Rock Band Rigid Drum Head Concept

Since I have been posting, a lot of people have been asking what we have been working on. Well Here are some pictures. I am sure we will go through multiple revisions of this drum head before we are done, so consider this a very rough draft. For all you hackers out there, this is a beta release. We made this concept out of some extra materials we had lying around our lab (mostly acrylic) just to make sure our mounting points and measurements were within tolerances.

We reused the drum rubber mounts from the EL kit for now. We would like to make something that requires not using any of the original drum head parts, but we are finding it difficult to do that while still making the price reasonable. If we were to fine tune what we had right now and sell it, everyone would be looking at around $125-$150 a set including sensors. Obviously, we would like to drop that drastically.

What you are looking at is basically what our test drum heads are going to look like (with some minor changes here and there. We wont be using the crappy rubber top we have now, dont worry). We are going to be using different materials, plastics as well as composites, and different thicknesses of those materials. We will also be experimenting with different sensors as well as both neoprene and gum rubber tops.

One thing that we will be testing other than sensitivity is durability. I will most likely be sending these out to the community, to expert and novice drummers, and encouraging them to see if they can break them while playing. Thats not for awhile, so be patient. Some key changes that you may notice in this initial concept are:

- Enclosed drum sensor housing
- Thicker drum head
- Sturdier rubber mount housing
- Improved overall durability

What we will be improving on further:

- Rubber mounts that do not involve reusing original compenents.
- Flatter top (obviously. Thats an easy fix though)
- Much Lower Cost
- Better drumming responses: eg, higher sensitivity, better rolls
- Gum Rubber/Neoprene tops to improve both noise and performance


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ever consider the idea of using a laser-cut sheet metal on the back, covered in a light rubber compound. By doing that, you have a Sturdy support, but the rudder helps protect from electrical interferance and/or any other issues that metal can cause that close to circutry.

austin_to_cullowhee said...

Will your rock band kit finally earn me the respect of my family and friends?

Rocking Repair said...

We have considered using metal, but are researching costs at the moment. Aluminum sheeting is much more expensive than a composite plastic.

Rocking Repair said...

Yes our kit will finally give you the respect you deserve from your family, friends! If you are having problems getting dates, just show our kit to a member of the opposite sex and skip right past dinner and a movie to smooching action.

However, our kit will not compensate for an individual's strong body odor, lack of intelligence, or general unattractiveness. Take it from us, bathing does wonders. Personally, I would rather be stinky and play video games than deal with girl cooties.