Attempt to create a midi controller for the mechanics of the piano.

Nice progress. See https://vimeo.com/669038601 and https://github.com/davidedelvento/Mybrid

Thanks for the links and the aluminum rail tip! I'm following the threads on this new site.

I redid it so that the sensors, comparators and registers are located on the same board. And it works! It brings a lot of joy! I continue, despite the difficulties and limitations with the production of printed circuit boards for us...

https://youtu.be/tfXYoXhf02k

Great and interesting project scherbakov.al

I wonder, for fun (and to get you past your post #666 haha) a question..

Having done so much good work by now on this, just imagining if you wanted to make a smaller form factor (like 20% smaller key size), with all available parts you can find, would it be possible to do?

Ref; https://forum.modartt.com/viewtopic.php?id=9316

All by best to you.

Hehe ... really such a figure - 666)
Of course, in our time, almost everything is possible, at least a lot. But it rests on time, money, desire, expediency, demand or a complex of all this and something else .. I could not have done a smaller mechanic (as well as a normal one). It's too complicated for me yet and/or not worth the effort yet. Although there are thoughts that it is possible, some inexpensive Chinese CNC milling machine could turn all the necessary parts out of wood (plastic, concrete)))) in some time). It is possible that with sufficient accuracy and speed. In this case, the size can be made any. But! Piano building has been developing for many decades. And this state-of-the-art piano mechanism is a multi-faceted compromise for the comfort of the performer. For example, I really like big pianos with long hammers. It's really fun to play them. It's a very pleasant feeling. Therefore, I do not believe that the mechanics can be reduced in depth and height without distorting the properties in sensations that grand pianos have. But in terms of keyboard width and key width - why not - it could be much more comfortable for people with compact hands and slender fingers. And the electronic part is still possible to reduce.

You are probably joking, but for others reading this seriously, no you can't, like you can't make the key width 8mm with the CNY70.

There are mechanical clearances needed not to get the keys stick with each other. There are optical clearance you need to reduce cross-talk, otherwise the velocity measurement of one key will be tainted by the position and movement of the adjacent key/sensor. There are assembly tolerance you need to keep in mind, especially because this will be hand assembled and not high-precision industrial things... And more.

So the smaller the sensors, the easier would be for these tolerances to be met.