Rock Harder on GarageBand with a DIY Pringles Can Drum Kit

Damn right, you don't just eat 'em.

When you're done with your next Pringles can, you can turn it into a kaleidoscope, a pinhole camera, and even a solar hot dog cooker. But Instructables user TheSpodShed may have just created the most awesome way to upcycle empty Pringles cans—use them as a mini MIDI drum kit for your mobile device. This tiny drum kit will let you rock your face off without pissing off all your neighbors.

Making these mini MIDI drums is a great way to evoke your inner Phil Collins and recycle your old snack tins at the same time.

First things first... before attempting to construct his miniature MIDI drum kit, he made sure to eat all of the Pringles crisps. It's the most important step, so if you try this at home—don't mess this step up.

Once the snack-sized cans were empty, he connected piezoelectric transducer to each of four lids. These transducers are sensors that measure changes in pressure, acceleration, temperature, strain, or force by converting them into an electrical charge.

Rock Harder on GarageBand with a DIY Pringles Can Drum Kit — *Image by TheSpodShed/Instructables*

Each transducer was wired into a prototyping board with a Sparkfun Pro Micro (though, an Arduino Micro or other compatible microcontroller would work, too) powered by a 9V battery. Then the circuit was configured and programmed to turn the four Pringles can into a kick drum, snare, closed hi-hat, and open hi-hat.

This completed drum kit can then be used with older iOS devices with 30-pin ports by using a Yamaha I-MX1 MIDI interface cable, or on newer Lightning-equipped iPads and iPhones using a MIDI to USB cable and Apple's Lightning to USB camera adapter. From there, it's time to to unleash the creativity and let the beats rock on GarageBand!

If you're going to try recreating this at home, be sure to check out the full Instructable for complete directions. Once you've gone through the steps and are totally done setting up your Pringles can drums, try your hand at tapping out a rock classic like "Back in Black" by AC/DC.

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