[PD] electro-mechanical piano (player piano) - Arduino, Solenoid Issue

[Charles Goyard]

Hi,

this is largely off-topic, but there you go :)

Epic Jefferson wrote:
> I've had progress building an Arduino-powered solenoid system for a
> controlling a piano's hammer mechanism (removing the keys) via pd.
> So far I've found the solenoid I want to use.

With solenoids you will not get velocity (or at least, not reliably).
You're better off with motors (servos come to mind, see Olivier Baudu's
message). Maybe you don't care about velocity :).

You can just use some serial-in/parallel out devices (also called
demultiplexers and shift registers) like the 74HC595. They are made to
be daisy-chained by wagons.

For the power stage you can use small relays or piggyback some ULN2803A
(5V ttl compatible, saves a resistor per channel) to get the rated amp
power.


See http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/ShiftOut as a starting point.

You can ask off-list if you wish, or hire me :)

Enjoy,
Charles