and does anybody have ideas for an LED diffuser so it lights up a large area of the drum head instead of just a patch?

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JD
'I have a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!'

good idea

but apparantley it interferes with the drummers frame of mind whilst playing and can mess up thier rhythm

stick to light up drum sticks  

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Dis sig has been edited by DA MODSQUAD!
We own you, you better recognize, suckaaaa.

That way you don't have to deal with checking or replacing batteries in each unit. Plus you can then have a switch or something if you want to turn them on or off.    

Diffusers, I've seen some lenses or diffusers for luxeon leds... like so:  

http://www.luxeonstar.com/fraen-wide-beam-lens-without-holder-fits-k2-leds-p-346.php

Problem is you probably don't really want to use a luxeon as they're power hungry, you'd probably have to look at switch mode power supplies for them and they get hot so like to be heatsinked... oh and they're pretty expensive.

On the plus side they are really, really bright.

Maybe have a better look on maplin or some other suppliers, like Farnell and RS, I may have seen some for standard leds before or there could be something you could retrofit, like say a flashlight lens or something.

The actual circuit won't be as simple as connecting a transducer and an led together. I'm too tired to think right now, it'll depend but I'd imagine the transducer wouldn't be able to drive the led directly . So you're probably looking at the very least a transducer, led, transistor and a few resistors.

Post edited at 3:52 pm on Aug. 16, 2008 by whimsy