Tap Drums

[04dsmith86 0]

Ever since I was in grade school I always tapped my pencils and pens. My senior year in high school I finally bought a drum kit. Even now though...I still tap my desk, my steering wheel, even my thighs when I'm standing. So I was in the car the other day and I thought it would be awesome if I could make my steering wheel play different sounds depending on where I hit it. Ok, so maybe it might be a little distracting. But it wouldn't be that hard to make little mini tap drums. You know those electronic kits with the pressure sensing pads? Like that but smaller and sold individually. So now you could go out and buy snare, kick drum, and high-hat tap drums and stick them on your desk. They could be like 2 inches in diameter and different colors for different drums and cymbals. You could have a simple 3-piece set up or a crazy kit with more toms, cymbals, and snares than you could shake a stick at (haha..shake a stick at). I'm telling you....this is genius. Maybe even have ones that you can sample your own sounds. Now if only I was a millionaire and could pursue this further. Anyone have a few hundred grand I could borrow? Imagine how much you could anger your teacher with these things. And they thought yo-yos were bad!

[foolakadugie 0]

I actually stumbled over a website about a week ago explaining the process of making your own synth drum like that, but I don't remember the address.

[04dsmith86 0]

I've done a few searches for anything similar and really cannot find too much. I saw a video on YouTube a while back where someone made a synthesized snare drum. Unfortunately it was hooked up to a computer and didn't have the portability I was looking for. Someday maybe I'll try and construct one.

[leafbunk 0]

It seems very much like a novelty thing, but I guess...that might've been just your point. But...then if you have a keyboard (musical, not computer), it does practically the same things by pushing the keys if it has the capability and settings for that. And I'm sure there are music programs out there that allow you to do it with a computer keyboard as well. I'm surprised though that you would want to go toward such an electronic route, especially since it's something you do all the time, on anything, with any tools available. It seems like the fun of that sort of habit would be lost if you had to say to yourself, "Hmm. I'm going to get out my portable drum set now," rather than just busting out with a kickin' rhythm on your desk with your pencils and all sorts of crap that makes different sounds. It seems that bringing that sort of a spontaneous habit into a more controlled environment (by limiting it through electronic capabilities), it would totally take away the individuality of being a funky, random, rhythm-maker. *shrug* You know though, since the whole Guitar Hero video game thing has been a huge success, you could build a drumset equivalent. Wouldn't that be cool?? I mean...yeah I suppose it'd feel slightly dorky to not be playing a real drumset. I do feel quite silly sometimes holding a plastic guitar, playing along with the moving buttons on the screen, but hey - that doesn't mean the game isn't incredibly fun! So, I can only guess that someone would have a bit of success as well with a drumset equivalent to Guitar Hero.

[t3jem1405241533 0]

This sounds like a good idea. I just thought I would let you know that you don't really need too much money, you probably only need to do some research and figure out how to make just one proto type or a schematic. Then you would just need someone to look at the research you've done and convince them that it would be worth investing in it. When you go to solicit some help I would suggest having the target consumers, pricing, schematics, and possibly cost to build in mind. The more research you put into your product the more likely the person will believe weather or not it is worth investing in it. Well hope this idea works, if I see them on the market I may buy a set.