A DIY Recreation of a Tangible Programmable Drum Machine From The ’60s #MusicMonday
The Kawai School Rhythmer is an educational rhythm machine from the 1960s. wildchurch has put together a DIY recreation of this vintage machine. Here’s more from wildchurch:
This is my take on the (very rare) Kawai School Rhythmer…an educational rhythm machine from the 1960s. Rhythms are programmed by inserting pegs into a matrix sequencer – thereby offering a highly visual indication of how a rhythm is formed. Presumably, it helped children like myself to feel the ‘magic of beats’… I’ve never actually seen or heard a fully functioning original, so aside from the aesthetics being different, I’ve used some guess work to replicate the percussion sounds, as well as the functioning of the ‘Hyōshigi’ trigger – for my build, this works as a ‘fill’ switch when a pegs are inserted in the matrix. With no pegs inserted, this triggers the Hyōshigi voice alone.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
