Real-Time Mallet Practice Assisstant

This project is slowly starting to come together, as I’ve now acquired the necessary electronics and done some basic code. Below are some images of the final mount design, mounted onto a marimba mallet. You’ll notice that the captive nut slot has been implemented and there is a battery and a Seeed Studio NRF52840 attached.

Next, I need to strip off the JST battery header and solder the battery directly to the board.

I’ve also wrote code and tested the NRF52840, and I’ve been able to get raw accelerometer and gyroscope data. Now, I need to write more code to detect when gyro/accel data goes over a threshold, indicating a “stroke,” or hit, of the mallet.

Stay tuned!

PracSense - Real-Time Mallet Practice Assisstant.

Although I haven’t logged much time for software so far, I’ve done a lot of iterative testing in the construction of my clamp system.

I specifically aimed to improve the design by creating pocketing to remove non-necessary material and thus remove weight (by fractional amounts). Reducing weight of this apparatus is especially important for me because I want to keep an organic feel to the mallet without altering playing ability. In addition to pocketing, I made a captive nut slot to make installation easier

Parts (Seeed Studio Xiao NRF52840 Sense & 80MaH Lipo) are being ordered very soon!

Hello! With this project, I’m aiming to create a lightweight device that can be attached to the shaft of various mallets of percussion instruments (including but not limited to marimba, vibraphone, and xylophone mallets). This device will use motion sensing to get raw data during a percussion practice session, which is then exported and analyzed to create a concise summary/practice plan for users via a website or app.

As this project begins, I’m focusing on developing a clamp that will sturdily attach to a mallet (specifically a marimba mallet). I’ve also added a platform for the electronics!