I'd like to build a vibrating metronome...

[adam_f]

Ok so I saw this:

http://www.petersontuners.com/index.cfm?category=132

And it looks really cool, but very expensive! I do lots of looping on stage, and it would be great to not have to listen to a metronome in my ear all the time. So I thought, how about I try and build a midi metronome, which could sync to my laptop (Ableton) and output a vibrating pulse which I clip to myself somewhere, and can 'feel' the beat.

I found this schematic:

http://www.maxmidi.com/diy/metro/index.html

which uses a pic to read the midi clock signal and outputs flashing LEDS. Does anyone know how I might be able to connect up the outputs of the pic to a mini motor like this:

http://www.precisionmicrodrives.com/product_info.php?products_id=148

Could I simply some kind of transistor switching to supply the power for the motor? I mean surely it's not necessary to provide PWM control to the motor? Or will I need a dedicated motor controller?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated - I don't know much about this kind of thing!

Cheers,

Adam

[adam_f]

Ok, so I think I'm gonna have 2 motors, one for the first beat of the bar, and one for the other 3. The motors are cheap, and that way I don't need to worry about pulsing the motor at different speeds to signal a new bar. I think I'm gonna use MOSFETs to control them, and this looks like the way I'm gonna use them:

http://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/transistor/tran_7.html (circuit at the bottom of the page).

Now I'm just trying to work out which component values to use. Does 220R for R1 and 1M for R2 sound reasonable? And what specs should I be looking at when choosing diodes? And how about the MOSFETS themselves?

Any advice would be fantastic. I know it's not a stomp box, but it's music related. If it's successful I'd imagine others would want to give it a go - it's such a good idea!

[cpm]

a level detector that triggers the motor can be adapted to use any conventional metronome, by its audio output. So when it makes noise it fires the vibration.

[Nasse]

mobile phone vibration motor might be much smaller and use less current. or perhaps old electro mechanical doorbell mechanism could be adapted, or bastardize a big relay