My Final Project - BOOM CHIX

Product Description

BOOM CHIX is a set of drum sticks to be used with either a drum kit or drum pad to practice stick control and rudimentary drum exercises at the beginner and intermediate levels. BOOM CHIX will consist of a pair of wooden drum sticks made of oak, hickory, or maple that are equipped with a standard metronome module as well as a device to offer haptic feedback or vibration at the same rate as a metronome. Standard equipment during practice sessions consists of drumsticks, ear plugs, headphones, metronome, sheet music, etc. Most drummers and their instructors are concerned with protecting their hearing as long term exposure to the noise created in a musical performance setting can result in hearing loss in the long term. As result, drummers are encouraged to wear both ear plugs and headphones which makes the metronome difficult to hear. Current metronomes usually exist as a wholly separate device so this product will allow for the elimination of an extra piece of equipment while helping to protect the drummers ears. Furthermore, the haptic feedback module, will allow the drummer to feel a vibration in the hand for each BPM rather than have them listen for a click of the metronome. By combining the metronome feature and haptic feedback features the drummer will no longer have to carry a separate metronome and doesn't have to worry about hearing the metronome as they benefit from tactile training instead. They can then spend more time listening to the music and instrumentation while making the practice of the music tempo a tactile experience. With BOOM CHIX drummers won't just hear the music...they'll feel it too!

Current Offerings for Metronomes

The current market offerings when it come to metronomes seem to fall into three categories: watches, in ear pieces, and classic block models. The classic block models are probably most used but also mean an additional piece of equipment to carry and cannot be heard well when a drummer is protecting their ears. The in-ear models are most problematic as they give you no way to protect your ears while practicing. Placing protective headsets on the head would be very uncomfortable if placed over an in-ear piece. The watch model is probably the closest to what I am trying to create however the vibration is at the wrist and I believe the vibration in the hand with haptic feedback will build on muscle memory in the hand.

2D and 3D Modeling

Initial Pencil Sketch Week 1

Initial 3d Rendering of Oak Drumsticks sketched on Fusion 360

A key part of the project will be a solid wood pair of standard drumsticks. The majority of sticks on the market are made of oak, maple or hickory, but there are also many different types of sticks brushes and mallots. I will be focusing on the standard wood drum sticks. Here I have sketched a pair with the same dimension of the ones I use the most. They are manufactured by Promark but I am hoping to manufacture a pair of my own for the final project using one of the milling machines we have in the lab. The final project will most likely only require that the top two thirds of the stick be made of wood. The vibrating mechanism should be in the stick of the lead hand and the other stick will need to be weighted so that the two sticks have the same weight. This will make it easy to change hands with the sticks without there being a challenge of right or left handed-ness.