Singing into the sound hole of my ukulele, with a piezo taped to the body and plugged into the Sonuus G2M (see my last post), inspired me to make a piezo resonator box. I was hoping that this would allow me to use the Sonuus G2M as a MIDI controller for a variety of instruments without pickups.
I bought a heart-shaped chipboard box at a craft store for $0.69. I cut a sound hole in the top and a 5/8" hole in one of the sides so that it would sit on a microphone stand. It split a little on the side while I was cutting, so I reinforced it with packing tape. I glued a piezo to the inside back and wired it to a 1/8" mono jack on the side opposite the hole for the microphone stand.
The results so far are underwhelming, with very erratic reproduction. I'm guessing this is a result of the chipboard. Along with a cheap piezo, one can't hope for very accurate transduction of sound pressure, to vibration, to voltage to MIDI. Maybe the erratic reproduction can be used for interesting effects though.
I made few samples, simultaneously recording in Cubase the MIDI signal from the Sonuus G2M and an audio signal through a Audio Technica Pro-37 placed by the box, pointed at the instrument. For the MIDI signal, I chose similar VST instruments from Steinberg's Halion 1.
Cheap Tin Whistle
Hohner Weekender HarmonicaUkulele
