Homemade Electronic Drum Kit:Coltronics Kit-e 

Wonderfully simple, cheap, and functional... and fourteen years old at this point. Great job!

I'm trained as an electronic tech working with engineers on new designs. I owned a Drumkat 3.5 for awhile. I got to hand it to you that is a very sweet job you did there. I have the electronics & soldering chops, but not the mechanical skills to do what you have done. You also did a first class job in presenting it. You should send this in as an article to Pop Mechanics, Science, Modern Drummer, electronic musician, etc. You are under-employed as a heavy equipment operator. Kudos sir!

The best diy drum pads I have seen yet! Any chance you'd share the sketchup file?

In the early 90s I experimented with making my own eDrums but after lots of trips to radio shack and the local hardware store I gave up. Couldn’t get the cross talk to stop. You have made an incredible drum set. Thanks for sharing your build tips and design.

Finally. Something cool! I just spent almost 2 hrs listening to dorks yap on their electronic kits, telling myself "Just another minute. He's gonna shut up and demo the thing!" I think I'll pick up some piezos, sheet metal and some wood and try for a plate reverb! Thanks for the idea!

Thats pretty ingenious idea on the bass pedal. I'm going to steal that.

Looks great. I think I might build one like this. Looks like a pretty straight forward design built with parts that seem easy enough to get.

you sir are one smart guy

Just stumbled across this the other day. Might well be just what th' doctor ordered! I am by NO stretch of the imagination a drummer, just a guitarist who wants to have the occasional lick of percussion on his home projects, and have something easy to store that an actual drummer could use if needed. :) Given the limitations of my microcontroller (12 analog inputs) I'll be making it with 8 units instead of 10 (which will allow external hi-hat, kick, and 2-trigger snare, one o' these days :P) Thanks a bunch for posting this way back when!

Wow that's amazing. The 25 pin cable is an old dot matrix printer cable.

You should send this video to companies! This could be sold for relatively cheap in stores! It's awesome.

Very nice solution you've come up with, I really like it. It's inspiring 👍

Amazing job!

All I have to say is "WOW"! This is downright cool and I thank you Sir for sharing your creation with the rest of us! How cool is this?!?! I've wanted an electric drum set for awhile now but just couldn't afford to do so. This could make it a reality. Again, thank you!

Put Together very Nicely, ....I have an alesis hr-16 which i am trying to trigger. it has these hard buttons , which press a rubber conductor across a printed copper grid on the circuit board (soft rubber switch ) I like the sounds of this machine. i emailed alesis tech, why alesis didnt use these sounds on a kit. no answer yet. Maybe you have an idea about it, if you have looked at the hr-16.

excellent video and narration

Using the keyboard's sustain pedal is interesting! So, if my original eletric hihat pedal is broken, i can simply replace it with sustain pedal?

wow so complicated yet so simple

Nice setup. Really like the DB25 idea. I made something similar about 20 years ago and used ceramic tiles for the plates which worked well. (never cracked or broke one)

The db connector you wired inside the drum machine , were they the wires from the piezos going into that connector only ? How did you know where to put the wires from the piezos into the db inside the drum machine. For it to be able to work with the db cord . Tell me if you understand my question ?

I made one myself and i glued him directly to the plate. Works perfect!

Awesome! Very professional outcome! awesome!

Very nice project bro. Congratulations !

Incredible and fascinating. What a fabulous design and a quality video production and narration.

Seriously thank you for making this awesome well thought out video. We all appreciate it

Lovely, clean work.

Really nice sketchpad video and design! Awesome!

incredible workmanship, well done

Innovation! I plan to make a rubber marimba.

My goodness, mate, that's an informative video. Cheers.

Very clever design. Thank you for sharing.

Hey Bro', Nice drumkit. I'm building one myself but can't seem to find a reasonably priced source of that 1/8" rubber. Where'd U get yours ? Also, where would one get the aluminum sheet/plate ? Thanx.

Very cool. Wonderful piece of work!

What kind of output is needed for the piezoelectric transducer? And how do you connect them?? Sorry if this is not the correct terms, I'm new to these cables and electronics, but any help would be appreciated.. I'm really lost haha :)

so clean and nice. i wish i had such knowledge

great!thank,that will give lot of ideas!

What fantastic, thorough demo.

Dude this is sick…

Inspiring and very useful, thanks for putting this up. What a great job for a homebuild, even down to the neat label and logo.

Excellent Job. God bless.

If we short the to wires it will trigger or not?

Brilliant video! Thank you for sharing your expertise and the excellent production quality!

superb job man!!! now to rock on

Cool! Even If I doesn't have enough budget to but electronic drums because is pricey (except the low-ranged series)!! Can you show me about home-made electronic arranger keyboard. Thanks!!!

What a beautiful video. Congratulations.

i dont think i can like this enough! thanks so much for this video, i was looking a buying a drum pad soon but this has sold me on the idea of making my own! im sure you get this all the time but "i'm gonna get me some kit-e"!!!!

Glad I saw this. This could be a great project for me. I once had a Drumkat ver 3.5 and regret selling it. One question I have a DM5. Aren't you using more triggers than the DM5 has inputs? Thanks, Dave

Very nicely done!

@WeakEndProductions can you make it like a normal set or does it have to be like this?

it is very inspiring to see this video. i have a concept on replicating the Kraftwerk drum board that uses tethered sticks to trigger the drums.

Do you make and sell. I live in Mumbai, India and have made my own practice drum kit with waste chocolate tins pipes etc. as I can't afford to buy one

Do you have any problems with re triggering or two pads sounding simultaneously? I feel like with a DIY pad and the Piezos being so close to one another that this would be a difficult problem that would occur.

That's so cool. Congrats, and thanks for sharing.

Great job! Congrats!

Hello, and thanks for the video. I am attempting something similar (inspired by yours). Mine is 3x4 for 12 total pads (if you're going to do it, might as well overdo it). It would help greatly if you could give me a little more info. First, can you tell me more specifically what kind of neoprene you are using on top? The options available for this and all other rubber sheet goods are incredibly varied and I'm afraid I'll order something with more "cushion" than "bounce" or something that won't stand up to stick strikes. Also, could you explain a little about how the neoprene is being held down by the angle aluminum? Is it attached to the aluminum? I'm trying to make sure I can get the desired tautness on the top material. One more thing: what are the spacers under the pads made of? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just trying to cut down on trial and error since you've obviously got it dialed in. Thanks!

GREAT GREAT GREAT JOB YOU DID !!!! Thanx for Sharing this !!! Big Hug from Argentina

That's a pretty amazing drum set. Thanks for the tricks!

Tried Alesis Performance Pad which should have used more foam between the plates because if was triggering several plates. Still, I prefer toms with mesh heads with a foam cone in the middle, which I think is much more sensitive to velocity.

Good job! Very nice!

Thank you so much for sharing

@WeakEndProductions this is exactly what i am going to do...just solder the piezos to the assigned keys... of a 25key midi keyboard...no module...nice n cheap too... i want to have double bass kick...just got to work out how to make sturdy pedals.. great project man...looks cool....

@WeakEndProductions thanks for the help! Helps alot with my understanding of these stuff :) Another question though, where can I get all these things, especially the piezoelectric transducer? Sorry if I'm bugging you but I'm just curious. THANKS HEAPS!!!

Hi. So inspired by this that I've had a go at making my own. Having some issues with cross talk between pads. Is your top layer of neoprene in constant contact with the trigger/gum rubber beneath or is it only connecting once the area of the neoprene is struck? I've got six little pads that seem to provide good separation without the top layer of neoprene. With the neoprene it would seem that the vibration triggers other pads. Any recommendations? Appreciate any advice. Kind regards

I got an MPC-1 drum machine today that uses piezo transducers and drum pads in an almost identical way to your drum box but I was wondering if there is any kind of switch that I could connect up to the contacts of the Piezo sounders that would send the same trigger signal but simply with the press of a button. I guess the active component of a Sustain pedal would work for this but I can't find out what kind of a switch is in one of them. Do you have any idea as to what switch I should get?

Hello I have my electronic drums and tried it sound like you have in your battery but unfortunately I have burned many circuits Arduino, let me know please if you can explain to me like you did to create that spectacular sound each their drums, thanks

Great video! Does the hi hat function similar to a normal one? Where u can go from open to closed hi hat and vice versa?

That was a great video. I understood everything and your research will save a lot of us a *lot* time. Many thanks.

This is great. I am doing a dance pad conversion to piezos. I was really interested in how you isolated the piezo assemblies. I can do something similar to isolate the foot triggers. Thanks.

I'm trying to use 2mm thick mild steel plate as base but the piezos are not getting triggered. Anything to do with the material of the base? please help

Well done!!!! very neat job

Cool and great!

For the bass drum pedal, the different are (starting from the top): Neoprene aluminium piezo and gum amd I right? in that case, on which side did you stcik the ceramic of the piezo (top or bottom)? Thx

nice pro job! I think that's the nicest DIY set up I've seen so far. where do you get the rubber pad for a better bounce?

would it work if I spliced a 1/4 in cable and wired it to the piezoelectric transducer and connected the other end to my drum module? The piezoelectric transducer was going to be attached to a an HQ real feel practice pad.

I have a dream to make my own midi controller that looks like a Mallet-Kat. I cannot afford the real thing, but I can afford some sensors and an Arduino!

I might attempt a malletKat clone (the xylophone one) not sure if theres a drum brain i could use for this though...

Hello I was wondering where you got the aluminum plates from??? I am going to build a kit exactly the same as yours only i will have round pads on a rack and I'm just wondering how you acquired the aluminum discs?

Excellent.

Great design! Thank you for posting this. I have a question with the wire connections in the board to that db25 pin. Is there a reference or do you have a detailed explanation of linking or soldering the piezo pickup wires to that db 25 back plate, e.g. what wire to what pin. Great video presentation also.

Excellent !

@WeakEndProductions Very good idea. thanks. A piezo pad in place of each key would work if the keys work like I think they do. Now to acquire a cheap midi keyboard. Thanks for the idea!

Great video! I'm building one right now, only with 8 pads, so i can have 2 cimbals. You say you have 13 triggers, how do you connect that when you only have 12 triggerports on your drummodule

Very nice mod.

the piezo have integrated the plug? i mean, how do you get together the piezo and the plug that have to be connected to the module?

Just got to say well done on the equipment and the video - top-notch. I have an Alesis Control Pad that I'm about to try and repair.. not sure if i have the skills to put together a Coltronic Kit-E but I feel inspired to learn now.

Very, very cool. Well done, man...

Good job mate, I am making one myself just right now, and found yours inspiring. Cheers

Congratulations!!!

Yeah I'd like to build one too, it's great!

where do you get those piezoelectric transducer thingys?

Looks and sounds great, very compact . . . what are the overall Dimensions for this ??

Sir but my pizo are not working they work only when we twist them a little. Sir how can i solve this problem??

Your work is amazing, congratulations and thank you for sharing. I will try to build it on my own. Are those pads single zone? how to make it dual zone? Thank you in advance.

It's Awesome

hi, is there any chance of making this as a USB MIDI controller?

Excellent work. You are a craftsman! Have you made any more electronic music things? You should check out Make Magazine. You seem like a DIY person.

Excellent work! Inspiring!

cool dude,,, do u have any pc program as my drum brain & how can i connect it to d pc using usb ports only from db25 cable

Can i use any piezo disc to make this sensors? I want to make replacement pedals for my yamaha dd55c.

You are a genius! =D