easy-taiko-no-tatsujin-drum-mod/README.md

This is a guide that will allow you to effectively apply a sensitivity mod to your Taiko no Tatsujin drum.

Most guides out there require rubber sheets and cork or wood while this guide will only require common household items.

Inspiration

I just got my tatacon delivered but sensitivity sucked big time. You have to hit the dons and kas with force just to make sure your hits get registered. This apparently is known among Hori tatacon owners, despite it being the authentic controller- it still wasn't good enough for normal players.

So off I go looking for modding instructions.

All the instructions I saw required the modder to obtain items such as rubber sheets and cork or wood boards.

These were things that I'd had to procure- so I started thinking why do I need these specific items? is it to add hardness to the material? is it to raise a bump and make it easier to trigger?

Whatever it is, me and my baseless-confidence™ believed that I could imitate their results using different materials.

Luckily, I'm part of a team that does hardware R&D so we have this workbench in the office with materials and tools already setup so off I went to scan the bench for materials I could use.

I saw an electrical tape and thought that it could substitute the rubber sheet material if I just keep adding layers of it to something like paper. Also, cork? wood?.... isn't paper made of wood? Yeah. That should work.

And that was it. I decided to open up my drum and see how I'd go about doing things.

Note

The drum used in this mod guide is the original Hori Taiko no Tatsujin switch drum but as long as the mechanism is the same- other drums should be moddable the same way.

Also, the drum was in pristine condition prior to me modding it. It started getting scratches because I dragged it around while opening-closing, testing, and fine-tuning my modifications.

Please take care of your takacon, I wish I'd at least wrapped the surface of mine prior to modding but oh well.

Instructions

Requirements:

• 2 sheets of paper
• electrical tape
• Phillips screwdriver to remove 5 of the drum's outer screws
• pliers (completely optional if you're fine with hurting your hands)
• scissors (not pictured)

I also used the following but these are all totally unnecessary

• Masking tape, because I ran out of electrical tape and was too lazy to get a new one from the cabinet
• precision tweezer, you most likely won't need this
• mini grinder with a bit that can be used to poke holes into the paper, you can use scissors- I just happen to have one already set-up in the vicinity

Step 1 - Open up the drum

There are 5 screws at the back of the drum, use a Phillips scredriver to remove them.

Step 2 - Unplug the don and ka connectors

WIP