Below is an example of the mouse Musket discharge. The gain is too high and the peak is clipped. Note the polarity of the air discharge wavefront is negative. Reduction of the gain and reversal of the polarity will provide a nice high amplitude positive output for the pressure wave front from the cannon. The ambient noise prior to the shot is low level. The rising noise level prior to the shot is the pilot opening, a 1/4 inch ball valve.

Edit, a 339 Quad Comparator can make a easy to adjust trigger level detector to interface between the analog world and the digital world. A pot can be used to set the trigger voltage and it can take care of inverted analog signals by swapping the inverting and non inverting inputs. They are inexpensive and work well.
http://www.national.com/mpf/LM/LM339.html#Overview
I've used them for differential thermostats to turn on and off pumps for a solar collector. Panel warmer than the tank, pump on. Panel cooler than the tank, pump off.