hi guys
i recently bought 3 second hand DAUZ 6" rubber pads , like those on this picture .
(http://majyk.oyster.free.fr/pics/dauz_double.jpg)
They were ultra cheap ( 5 euro each ) and ultra old too ( maybe 15 years or more ) , but i wanted to have some for a long time so i bought them ...
The parcel arrived today ... The plastic has been glued at some points where it was cracked , and some screws were a bit rusty .
One pad has real low signal compared to the others that worked fine . So i opened it to see what was wrong ...
After re-soldering the wires well , it was the same , so i changed the 27mm piezo for a brand new one . Then it worked fine like the others .
The rubber on my pads is quite stiff , it maybe because it s old , i guess on actual models it could be softer and more bouncy .
The construction of the pad is really simple and clever . Its a metal plate inside a rubber envelope with a piezo sticked in the center. This "head" is fixed on the body of the pad with 3 springs , like a car shock absorber . I m sure it helps with crosstalk ...
I have the so-called " Sandwich Mount " , that uses 2 rubber gaskets in between them you sandwich your rod ... so everything is done to avoid bleeding from other pads . This is nice as you just have to set the threshold around -40/-36 , and don't have to use Xtalk cancellation .
(http://secure.pacificforce.net/dauz/img/p/7/6/76-thickbox_default.jpg)
For the moment , all the Roland or Yamaha simple rubber pads i tried were way too hot to use with the Drumit 5 , unless you add a resistor to lower the gain ...
( Without resistor , It s possible to use the ACC trigger mode that allows a higher gain , but IMO the pad's response is weird... )
Those Dauz pads have just the right level !!!... I use them with PAD8 mode , normal curve , -40 threshold , gain between 0 and +3 . At 0db , it s hard to reach level 127 , so that s perfect ...
The pad is hotspoting a bit when you hit it dead center (where the piezo is ), but the response is nice and accurate .
You can place 2 pads on the same mount without having a lot of troubles with crosstalk thanks to the spring insulation design + rubber sandwich mount ... 6" is small and it s easy to fit it anywhere on any kit .
It s quite easy to DIY meshpads with success using existing drum hardware , but when it comes to make reliable small triggers that you want to be able to attach strongly anywhere without crosstalk , it s another story ...
They arent cheap new actually , and not available in Europe , but for a bit more than a PD8 , i think it s worth the extra money if you need something like this .
Just my 2 cents ...
Hey that's great! Yeah these Dauz pads have been around for years. A long time ago I had a KAT midikit set up (similar to the Alternate Mode Midi Diti) and the pads were all 11" versions of the ones you've got here. I They were all single zone but there was a 10" version with a rim. This was back in the 90's. I loved them at the time but I think if I played them now I'd be a little disappointed. There was some great features with the Midikit though, namely note stacking. So you could have 4 (if I remember right) midi notes off a single pad that could crossfade/switch over a velocity curve. I used this feature to gain a realistic drum response from tap to hardest hit. Though by todays mulitsample standards, it's primitive. But back then only the Drum 3 was doing multi-sampling. The pads were rock solid. Inside though there was 5 piezos glued to a plate under the rubber surface which sorted the hot spotting.