One Button Drum Machine

A competition for a custom-built electronic device with a single button as its interface inspired this project.

I quickly ran through the project ideas that I had been hoping to develop and found that the solenoid drum machine would be an interesting challenge to adapt to such a limited interface. I knew that the button would need to serve multiple purposes and chose to develop single press, double-tap, and hold as different commands and matched those input types to a menu structure as Forward, Back, and Select.

Because of my limited access to tools, the design was built of sheets of material routed out with a Dremel tool. What resulted is a 5 channel drum beat sequencer that taps out recorded beats on whatever surface it’s placed on. With an Arduino brain and 5 solenoids to do the tapping, the hand-held device
lets users record, edit, and change the tempo of their drumbeat.

I used the project as an opportunity to marry my training in percussion, experience in Arduino programming, electronics, and UI design, to create my most tangible, fun, and interactive project to date. My favorite part is the display suggesting users press “any key” to continue.

ClientPersonal ProjectYear2010