Radio DMX Drumsticks

First Project from Start to Finish for our R&D Apprentice.

Creating Radio DMX Drumsticks for a Corps of Drums at a London School

We were recently commissioned to design and build a unique set of radio DMX–controlled drumsticks for a Corps of Drums at a school in London. The goal was to create something visually striking, technically robust, and flexible enough to be used by a group of young drummers performing together.

The Brief

The initial idea was simple but ambitious: imagine a band of around ten drummers, each holding drumsticks that light up in carefully choreographed sequences. Each drumstick needed to be individually controllable, with its own DMX address, allowing precise control over colour, brightness, and timing across the entire group.

Alongside the lighting requirements, there were some important practical considerations. The drumsticks needed to be battery powered, rechargeable via a USB‑C port, and include a single on/off button so they could be easily used and maintained in a school environment.

From Concept to Circuit

Once the brief was clear, the design process began with research into battery management. Choosing the right chip to handle charging, power regulation, and battery protection was essential to make the drumsticks safe and reliable. After settling on a suitable component, we looked at some of our previous radio‑controlled DMX designs and combined that experience with the new battery management solution.

From there, the full circuit diagram for the drumsticks was designed. The radio side of the board was loosely based on an earlier design, but the overall system was customised specifically for this project.

Software and Testing

When the first circuit boards came back from manufacturing, the focus shifted to software. Existing firmware from a previous project needed to be updated to support the new hardware, particularly the on/off functionality controlled via the battery management system.

Some early testing showed promising results straight away. Even with a very basic version of the software loaded onto a single board, the drumstick charged correctly and responded as expected. That early success gave us confidence that the hardware design was sound.

Further development included deciding how the LEDs should behave and how users would interact with the drumsticks. One key feature was the inclusion of magnetic sensors. These allow a magnet to be used to change the DMX address of a drumstick or to un‑sync it from the transmitter — a neat solution that avoids extra buttons or complex menus.

The Result

The final outcome is a set of drumsticks that can be controlled wirelessly over radio DMX, each one individually addressable and designed with performance and usability in mind. They combine lighting, radio control, and power management in a compact, robust form factor suitable for repeated use.

A First Full Product

This project was completed by our R&D apprentice and was the first project he had worked on from concept through to completed product.  While there had been previous testing and development work, this was the first time taking a product all the way through design, manufacture, and delivery.

“Sending the first board to manufacturing was nerve‑wracking, but seeing the assembled boards — and then watching them work for the first time — was both exciting and a huge relief. It’s always a great moment when an idea on paper becomes something real, functional, and ready to be used.”

We’re incredibly proud of how these radio DMX drumsticks turned out, and we’re excited to see how they’re used in performances at the school and beyond.