[sdiy] Real piano keyboards: any use?

[David Ingebretsen]

The first and only time I tried was in '74. I got the keys for free from a
local piano shop. I just found the whole thing to just be way too big to be
practical. I wanted to keep a piano feel for my keyboard. I ended up just
buying an organ keyboard.

That said, how can you pass up something like this? All I had was a stripped
down keyboard. With the whole instrument, you could do some fun stuff. I
like your piezo idea. You could also use some kind of proximity sensor (like
a hall effect sensor and magnet):

http://www.analog.com/en/mems-and-sensors/hall-effect-sensors/products/index
.html

on the hammers, or an accelerometer to get velocity info as well. Sparkfun
has that lily pad triaxial accelerometer, though it might get pricey. Analog
Devices has this chip which is probably cheaper but would be more work:

http://www.analog.com/en/mems-and-sensors/imems-accelerometers/adxl330/produ
cts/product.html#specs

You could use LEDs with photocells, micro switches, mercury switches (do
they still make them?), magnets and reed switches, magnets and inductors. I
think there would be some very interesting options and combinations.

David

David M. Ingebretsen M.S., M.E.
Collision Forensics & Engineering, Inc.
2469 East Fort Union Blvd. STE 114
Salt Lake City, UT 84121
www.CFandE.com

801 733-5458 Office
801 842-5451 Cell

dingebre at CFandE.com
dingebre at 3dphysics.net



-----Original Message-----
From: synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:synth-diy-bounces at dropmix.xs4all.nl] On Behalf Of David G. Dixon
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 6:57 PM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: [sdiy] Real piano keyboards: any use?

This might sound kinda crazy, but my kid's school is throwing out an old
piano (on Friday), and I was wondering whether one could make profitable use
of its innards for synth purposes.  Any ideas?  Has anyone out there ever
pressed a real piano keyboard into electronic service?  What about whacking
piezos with the hammers instead of strings for some velocity-controlled
analog mojo?

David G. Dixon
Professor
Department of Materials Engineering
University of British Columbia
309-6350 Stores Road
Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1Z4
Canada
 
Tel 1-604-822-3679
Fax 1-604-822-3619
 
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