Homemade KickBox for Roland KD-8

KillerQ · Last edited by KillerQ on Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:42 pm; edited 6 times in total

Hey all,

Instead of paying $65 for the 'commercial' kickbox that can be purchased online, I made my own kickbox for less than $2 in radio shack parts. (Thanks to "ke6jjj" over at the rockband forums for making the schematic, and "debo42000" for the part numbers).

Please note that this is taylor made for the Roland KD-8 trigger as the output it matched to the resistors. A switch can be added to allow adjustment for other pedals.

Here are the parts needed and the Schematic:

1) NPN-Type Switching Transistors 2n222a (Pkg of 15)
RS part#276-1617

(2) 1n914-Type Diodes (Pkg of 50)
RS part#276-1620

Here is the Schematic:

I also added a Potentiometer to adjust sensitivity. That schematic is here:

Now, I went the extra mile and used small project box and attached the 1/4" mono jacks to either side. It's more durable, and looks nice. See my kickbox here (BEFORE the Potentiometer was added):

Here's a Pic with the Potentiometer added:

Hope this helps some people,

Matt!

P.S. For info on adding switches, see the original thread HERE

Doc_SoCal · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 10:02 am Post subject:

Very cool.

Can we see pics of the inside of your finished box?
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KillerQ · Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject:

Doc,

I updated the OP for you!

Thanks for the request,

Matt!

tut seals · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 12:32 am Post subject:

Thanks for sharing!! Though, this may be a little advanced for me. I will totally give er' the old college try. The biggest problem i can picture is just getting the parts beacause my source by circuit city kinda sucks. I miss radio shack.

KillerQ · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 8:45 am Post subject:

It's not as bad as it looks. Just find any friend who is vaguely familiar with electronics and they can do it in 10 minutes.

I would suggest ordering online from RadioShack if you have to. Also, here are a few pages that describe the symbols you need to be familiar with for the resistor and diode directions:

Diode Direction: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/diode.htm
(see the soldering and connecting part of the page)

Transistor info: http://www.kpsec.freeuk.com/components/tran.htm

Transistor Direction:

Hope this helps,

Matt!

(P.S. If you have an extra electronic cymbal laying around and mounting hardware, i'll MAKE you one of these myself....haha)

tut seals · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 10:42 am Post subject:

lintball · Band Member Joined: 08 Jan 2009 Posts: 12

Very nice work KillerQ. I also made my own "kickbox" clone, but mine is much more complex. I based mine on this schematic I found on a midi site:

http://tomscarff.tripod.com/vibraphone/vibraphn.gif

It uses 4 channel chips, converts a voltage (piezo) into an on/off (game trigger). For one drum trigger you only need one of the 4, but I used a second one for an LED "TRIGGER" light.

Yours is MUCH, MUCH simpler. It does not need power? I assume the voltage from the piezo is enough for the transistor.

Anyway, nice work!!!

KillerQ · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:16 pm Post subject:

Lint...

Thanks for the compliment - your box looks great as well!

No power is needed whatsoever! Tonight I added another thing to my box.

I (read: my dad) just added a potentiometer to my box - and the problem of the trigger activating when the beater is held against the pad and lightly jiggled is completely solved!!

It seems that even when the POT is at the highest setting, there is enough default resistance to solve the problem. No adjusting really necessary - although you can turn it down and it eventually does not respond at all (just like a POT is supposed to).

The only issue I see is that sometimes I will have double hits - BUT that is a result of a double bounce of my beater . I added some sticky-backed foam around the beater , and that should solve the problem. However, If I do a quick hit, the beater does not hang around enough to bounce and register another hit....

I will look for a softer beater .

Anyone else experience this?

Later,

Matt!
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Bonet · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:19 pm Post subject:

Lintball,

In coming up with a mod to try to make the TD-3 work with HHO and HHC I ran into the following problem. Let me know if you think your kickbox version will work to correct this.

I was routing the piezo signal from the HH (with a splitter) to a SPDT switch on the HH pedal. The switch would then send the signal to an open input (crash 2) in the TD-3 which is for a dual cymbal, so it has a seperate signal for rim shots. This gave me the oportunity to send one signal from the swith to the main input (HHO) and one to the rim input (HHC).

The main input worked fine since it is expecting a piezo signal, but the rim input works like a momentary switch, so sending a piezo signal to it was useless.

So when I read this,

"converts a voltage (piezo) into an on/off (game trigger)"

I thought it might work.

Is it a momentary on/off? How hard was it to make?
So you only need one of the four?

Thanks

lintball · Band Member Joined: 08 Jan 2009 Posts: 12

KillerQ,

I also added an input pot for sensitivity. It works well, and you can trim it back to where the LED just triggers with the right kick. I do not use a KD8. I use an Alesis/Yoki/OSP kick trigger, which is exactly the same pad as the DD502 drum pads, mounted vertically. So the pot on mine would hopefully work with any variable piezo input. Prolly just like the kickbox...which I don't own either.

Also, there is a capacitor after the opamp which "charges" when the piezo is hit to keep a momentary charge to trigger the last chip. The value of this capacitor was important, and I had to try a few different cap values.

The schematic I linked to was just a starting point. I modified it a little. I have my working prototype in use now. I will try to post my final schematic here in the next couple of days. Mine is a little more difficult to breadboard, requires its own power (I use a 9V batt but could use the 5v from USB), but it might give more control in the end. Probably $10 in parts.

lintball · Band Member Joined: 08 Jan 2009 Posts: 12

Bonet, I'm not sure I understand your issue.

The kickbox circuit turns a piezo variable voltage (hitting a drum pad) into a switch that the game controller requires.

On my cheapo DD502 drum kit, the HHO/HHC is already a simple switch, and that is what the ION bass pedal actually is...the DD50x hat pedal. My brain input for the had requires a switch only, no piezo involved.

Sorry I'm not much help.

Bonet · Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 9:25 pm Post subject:

Im trying to use the GHWT drums and the TD-3 to be able to switch between blue and Yellow for HiHat open and HiHat closed, respectively. But because of the way that the TD-3 handles assigning midi notes on the HiHat it is imposible to send the right notes via the HH and HH pedal triggers.

So I'm trying to send the HH signals to the GHWT drums via splitting the HH output and an extra switch on the pedal as described above.

If i'm still not making sense, don't worry about it.

Will you post pics please? I can't read the diagrams yet. Have to educate myself first. And pics would be a lot of help.

tut seals · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:30 am Post subject:

So i tackled this project today and everything came out pretty swell. I dont have a pedal yet so i dont know how its going to react whilst being struck with a beater. What i did so far is just hook it up to my red stock ion pad, works like a charm. Only potential issue is its VERY sensitive. The slightest tap on the red pad with just the drumstick triggers the kick drum. Going to try and track down a POT tomorrow. Also not sure how it would react to double kick.

So yeah, if anyone was wondering how this mod works with a stock pad, it works a little too well. Needs a POT for sure. I'd love to add an LED as well, but havent the slightest idea on how to do it. What i'm planning on doing is replacing my snare with a Roland and adding some extra to my rack along the floor (in between the ion legs). From that extra rack im going to clamp and position my red stock pad to use as a kick drum. May take a little messing about but if this works like im hoping i wont have to shell out the $$$ for a KD-8. Worth a try anyway, it will also keep my ion a little tighter. I move it around a lot so it gets loose.

bill55 · Gear Modder Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 41

Killerq:

Can you post a pic with the pot installed as well?

Thanks
Bill

KillerQ · Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:19 pm Post subject:

Bill,

Sorry for the delay... Here is the finished box with POT:

http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=imag0026xo1.jpg

Later,

Matt!
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