

Sampler split sensor
Yet Another (DIY) Hybrid Piano
- Size
- 249 × 115.4 mm
- Copper layers
- 4
- Thickness
- 1.6 mm
- Parts
- 96
- Nets
- 189
- Pads
- 539
- Tracks, vias
- 1,817, 157
- Routed
- Yes
- KiCad
- KiCad 8.0 (file 20240108)
- Created
- 7 Jun 2024
- Updated
- 20 Jan 2025
Overview
Sampler split sensor is an open-source printed circuit board by szbergeron, from the szbergeron/yahp repository on GitHub. It is a 4-layer board of 249 × 115.4 mm with 96 parts on 189 nets, routed with 1,817 tracks and 157 vias.
It is built around the TEENSY 4.1. Its parts include 19 ICs and 5 connectors. It belongs with the sensors and measurement boards and the NXP (LPC, Kinetis, i.MX RT) boards of this library.
Main components
1README
README.mdWARN: Not ready for use yet
The boards are semi-final, but I need to finish part selection and push a new variant that allows varying sensor position. Code is in Proof-of-Concept state, and has a lot of stuff hard-coded that should be pulled out into configs.
#Because getting an AvantGrand would just be way too easy
Inspired by Greg Zweigle's DIY Hybrid Piano and the Cybrid Project.
I don't come from a hardware/EE background, so a lot of that stuff was done by feel rather than through meticulous science. Instead, I tried to all of the "magic" through software. The sensors are probably not "ideal", but they are cheap and dumb simple. I didn't use trimmers or anything like that to calibrate, opting instead to gather raw measurements and then apply software correction. I also opted to use onboard ADCs instead of external ones or any kind of extra voltage reference. This absolutely introduces some inaccuracy in the lower bits of the raw measurements, but again--software magic :)
The flip side of using such a simple design from an EE perspective is that fabrication is dumb simple, even if technically more expensive when looking at the BOM. Each key uses a single sensor, and there is an MCU for every 16 keys, plus some basic power filtering all on a PCB. I'm spectacularly bad at soldering, so this has as little of it as I could get away with. This project is aimed at being an easy "kit" to get components for and assemble. Follow along if you'd like!
Parts
96| Qty | Value | Footprint | References |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 | SolderJumper_2_Open | Jumper:SolderJumper-2_P1.3mm_Open_TrianglePad1.0x1.5mm | JP10, JP11, JP12, JP13, JP14, JP15, JP16, JP17, JP18, JP19, JP20, JP21, JP22, JP24, JP25, JP26 +44 |
| 18 | DRV5055A1xLPGxQ1 | Package_TO_SOT_THT:TO-92_Inline_Wide | U2, U3, U4, U5, U6, U7, U10, U11, U12, U13, U14, U15, U16, U17, U18, U19 +2 |
| 5 | ~ | mine:SOIC127P600X175-16N | DG45_4, DG452_0, DG452_1, DG452_2, DG452_3 |
| 4 | Conn_01x32_Pin | mine:Conn_1x32_SMD | J2, J3, J4, J5 |
| 4 | Jumper_3_Open | Jumper:SolderJumper-3_P2.0mm_Open_TrianglePad1.0x1.5mm | JP1, JP2, JP3, JP4 |
| 1 | 5v IN from control rail | Jumper:SolderJumper-2_P1.3mm_Open_TrianglePad1.0x1.5mm | JP23 |
| 1 | SN74HCT21N | mine:DIP794W45P254L1969H508Q14 | BOARDSEL_ENABLE1 |
| 1 | SN74HCT266N | mine:DIP794W45P254L1969H508Q14 | BOARDSEL_CMP1 |
| 1 | TSW-120-20-S-D-LL | mine:SAMTEC_TSW-120-20-S-D-LL | J1 |
| 1 | Teensy4.1 | teensy:Teensy41 | U1 |
Questions
How big is the Sampler split sensor PCB?
It measures 249 × 115.4 mm and has 4 copper layers, 1.6 mm thick.
What parts does the Sampler split sensor use?
96 parts, built around the TEENSY 4.1. The full list of its parts is on this page, with links to each part's symbol and footprint where PCBKit's library has them.
Where can I download the Sampler split sensor KiCad files?
From the szbergeron/yahp repository on GitHub, at the commit this page was made from: the board is sampler_split_sensor/sampler_split_sensor.kicad_pcb and its schematic boards_v3/boards_v3.kicad_sch. PCBKit opens the board in the browser, with nothing to install.
Can I use the Sampler split sensor design in my own project?
Its repository states no licence, so its author keeps all rights: ask szbergeron before reusing the design.
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