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Messages - Jman

#1891
I use a 22" kick with an internal crossbar trigger system. I used this with my Roland setup before using KD-120 type settings flawlessly .... When I switched to the Drumit Five module with the same kick .... it has performed flawlessly .... I don't even remember changing trigger parameters.... just using the parameters for the 14" Drumit 5 kick ... I would say the KD-120 will work just fine with little tweaking necessary ...  plug it in and play it ... adjust the threshold slightly if needed and the same for the gain .... Done. cept .... no kick light ;D
#1892
DrumIt 5 Hardware / Re: ride cymbal missing "beats"
March 29, 2011, 07:32:48 PM
Quote from: nonoduweb on March 29, 2011, 05:28:52 PM
Hi
Perhaps that the module played a bell sound, which gave this impression. If you hit too hard on the cymbal you can obtain a bell sound if the gains has a high value.

I have already played on the kit with real hihat and cymbals, for a record session. No problem. (except we heard a little the impact of the mesh heads in the overhead mics)

I'd bet this is the case. If you were to trigger the bell when hitting the bow, the bell sound is not very loud since you were just barely crossing over to the velocity where the bell sounds. Also on some ride patches the bell is not a loud pronounced sound even at higher velocity....  The way to tell would be to try and attempt this by yourself when not gigging .... attempt to get the ride to behave the way it did when you gigged .... then lower the gain as nonoduweb suggested .... I bet that was the problem...

rythm's suggestion is a good possibility too.... 

with everything adjusted right with the trigger parameters you should be able to get pretty decent performance. And no missed hits like you describe.

You must get used to the way the bell responds .... IE ... with the threshold and gain adjusted with no bell sounds from the bow .... you will not get the bell sound on the bell with light bell hits. For me this is a bit of an adjustment, knowing I need to use at least a medium velocity hit to the bell, but by adjusting playing style a bit it should be OK..... not perfect, but OK. 
#1893
Quote from: Slap the drummer on March 29, 2011, 11:31:01 AM
It fits in very nicely indeed.  But then I only use a handful of kits based around the NDK snares and toms, so I suppose
it would.  It should integrate with the straightforward 2box kits though, no problem.  And there are so many different
sample groups (eg 14 levels from closed to fully open) you can almost make as many different hihats as you can be
bothered with.  There's a more limited 14inch hihat as well which is quite good if you want something that really doesn't
intrude into the mix too much.

Another idea - why not try adjusting the volume of the closed hits relative to the open sounds?  This is a 2 minute job with
Louis's DsoundTool.  You might get something more workable that way.  Just a suggestion...

Thanks again for the tips .... I will probably get NDK when I get some extra dough. How time consuming ... or ... how much work has it been for you to build .... say a HH and snare from that, or to build a few kits based on NDK? and since I am totally new to building layered sample files I suppose I will be slow, hit or miss at first .... Also, I use dBPoweramp quite a bit when I do music collabs on line ... it is a music converter tool ... it can convert Wave from 48Khz to 44.1, do you think that will work, or is it easier with a setup like you use ... I think you mentioned you can do multiple files at once.... ?
I downloaded Louis' DSoundTool and looked over one of the Hi Hats... looks very simple to edit... I'll do a little experimenting with that. thanks again, J
#1894
Quote from: Cuban on March 29, 2011, 08:38:11 AM
Indeed, this one is maybe at 3/4 volume.

Each sound, naturally, needs to be mixed, balanced, panned etc etc to suit.
Where as TD modules tend to be balanced right out of the box, so maybe 95% of people I have spoken to have never even touched their settings, even on a TD-20, which is good in a very limited way, but naturally they do then miss out on so much more.

With the 2Box, you really do have to go through the library and find the sounds you like, then mix, balance, pan etc within the module to sort the kit out to your requirement.

This is really just as it should be at this level of sound quality, we all hear differently, so we need to set 'our kits' up for our own individual sound requirements.  :)

The tools are all there in the module and it does not require studio engineer abilities as many VST packages seem to!  :(

Looking forward to the next update from 2Box as the OS V1.10 Software Update was a HUGE leap forward.  8)
That is something I have always had to do to a certain extent on my modules.... panning, mixing,  tweaking individual instruments, etc. Those things have to happen when you use a kit with multiple sound modules. So, my first mission with the new system is to go through all the factory kits and change instruments to suit my setup. I split all my tom inputs on the Drumit Five so I can have all 5 toms on the D5 plus more splashes and China, so now I am reassigning the drums/cymbals replacing the tom rims with additional drum and cymbals: 10" splash on 1, 8" splash on 2, a china on 3, and the 5th tom instead of the rim from tom 4.  As I do that I pan everything mostly similar to my natural layout, plus adjust volumes on everything, tune for tom 5, etc. I stay away from Hard Panning Full left or right as that tends to take too much of the flavor out of an instrument IMO.

I am running both modules direct outs to my mixing board using 8 outs for 2Box, 10 for TD-20X (Effects/Verb 9/10 separate pair for the TD-20X). That means I can adjust the panning and volumes on the individual module and outputs to blend .... pan and volume wise. The process for all the kits is a little time consuming, but necessary and it is a good way to become familiar with the module and sounds. I've already tweaked about 30 of the factory kits. Once I get through all the preset kits I'll start the process of choosing some factory kits and replacing the snare, or kick, or HH, ride .... etc. to build some custom kits for recording.

In preparation for the Drumit 5 module I already spent a couple weeks reassigning and tweaking the instruments and inputs/outputs of my TD-20X to fill the module 2 spot as I am not using that module with the exact same assignments I had previously. All that before receiving shipment of the Drumit Five.

Thing is, I already had a huge no. of kits already prepped for my previous setup with the 2 TD-20X modules. Certain kits I would use for certain types of songs ....  But that is OK, because I wanted a complete makeover on my sounds and that is where I'm at....  :drum3:
#1895
Quote from: Cuban on March 28, 2011, 02:53:28 PM
My main hi-hat closed sound, I really, really like.  8)
It has a very 'soft' feel to it, just like my UFIP hi-hats.

I'm using the Swiss SE 14" with +2 on tune.
2 bars to right on the balance.
13dB Gain / -36dB Threshold / Normal Curve.

So pleased to hear the 2Box is working out for you jman.
:patbat2box:

Thanks for the tip Graham ... I'll check it out .... I have also found that some of the closed HH cymbals sound better as long as the volume is kept lower in the mix...
#1896
I think even those who do not believe in the death penalty would generally agree spammers gotta go!
Personally I lean toward the death penalty ;) ;D
#1897
Quote from: Jimmy C on March 26, 2011, 10:35:30 AM
I am waiting for my brain to be shipped from Canada.  I know what you are thinking, but no - I did not have a lobotomy, I am waiting for a Drumit 5 brain ;D.  I still have my roland td20, some cymbal pads and triggers but have not been playing edrums for quite a while (especially since i sold my ddrum4s).  Been gigging with acoustics the last few years but wanted to get back into edrums, now that the Drumit 5 has been out a while (I just couldnt resist!).  So I appreciate the vid and the info since I will be experimenting with both modules side by side as well.  Now I just have to make some room somewhere for another kit... ;)

Look forward to hearing your feedback when you get to setting this up.... you definitely will love those toms ... I love hearing some of the deep 16's resonating on and on ...... cool!
#1898
Quote from: Slap the drummer on March 24, 2011, 10:07:38 AM
The 13inch hihat in the Natural Drum Kit might well be the answer to your problems.  (See my post about
the NDK for some more detail).

There's top and edge samples and about five different degrees of being 'closed' before it starts to sound
like it's really opening up - so you've got lots of options to play with.
Personally I think its a no-brainer - so long as you're ready for the hassle of making your own dsound files
and don't mind risking the price.  I've never regretted splashing out the cash.



I had read that thread of yours a month or so ago.... it sounds like a good option to me... went back to the NDK site and listened again to some of the audio demos.... some nice stuff. Really like that 13" hat ... How well does the 13" translate via the Drumit Five?  and the other samples for that matter, are you getting a pretty good result now that you have had some time to work with building your kits?
#1899
Quote from: Slap the drummer on March 24, 2011, 10:07:38 AM
Hey jman - I've got to say I agree.  I like my hihats sounding crisp and light (and then pushed up pretty
high in the mix).  There's way too much "stick" in the 2box samples (closed) to my ears - like they had
the mikes on the tip of the drumstick!  I've found this to be the case with most sampled hihats, not just
the 2box ones.

The 13inch hihat in the Natural Drum Kit might well be the answer to your problems.  (See my post about
the NDK for some more detail).

There's top and edge samples and about five different degrees of being 'closed' before it starts to sound
like it's really opening up - so you've got lots of options to play with.
Personally I think its a no-brainer - so long as you're ready for the hassle of making your own dsound files
and don't mind risking the price.  I've never regretted splashing out the cash.

I should say tho that a drummer friend who gigs a lot tried my kit recently and one of the first things he
said was "What is this sh!t?" - talking about the hats.  Then he dialled in one of the really clunky 2boxers
and said, that's better  :)



Thanks a lot appreciate your insights .... I do want to get into importing some samples eventually and using one of the sample packs and DSoundTool to get some really good sounding hats in there... was hoping to find one or 2 within the module a little more usable in the meantime butwill look into NDK ..... thanks again,

Funny the comment about the other drummer's taste in HH sounds .... I guess beauty really is in the eye .... (I mean .... ear) of the beholder. ;D J
#1900
Quote from: fishmonkey on March 24, 2011, 04:44:51 AM
it's a file that tells Mac OS X not to allow Spotlight (the fancy searching system on Macs) to index the volume.


OK, good to know, thanks. I don't own a Mac, do all Drumit 5 modules have this file?
#1901
I bought my Drumit 5 used ... I have made a backup a couple times of the files in the module. There is one file .metadata_never_index  .... there is 0 KB .... seems like it might be a file pertaining to hooking up to a Mac .... but I am not sure ... I assume this is not an essential file ... anyone know? Do all the modules have that file?
#1902
Did a video demo.... straight from the mixer to the Zi8 camera... I am now using dsnds I have built from NDK and SD 2.0 :
https://files.secureserver.net/0scYExgcBGefyu
#1903
Anyone have favorites out of the Hi Hat sounds that sound good on the closed HH? Not sure if it is just me, but I find a lot of the HH's sound real nice open, especially completely open, but closed HH sounds sound like crap... not crisp and sizzly, but more like a crappy set of garage band hats, metalic stick noise .... I dialed through a bunch of the kits this eve .... I thought the HH in the Balanced Kit .. #74 sounded pretty nice closed, .... but most seemed Harsh to me ... Not music to my ears....
#1904
OK .... so I took the easy route on this one. I robbed the jack/PCB from my Drumit Five Hi Hat and used it for my own Hi Hat conversion. Result is I have my 2 zone HH working with my Drumit 5 kit now. I installed a magnet on the bottom of my DW HH stand ... cool stand for this as the chain attaches via a screw/bolt ... so I replaced the standard screw with one an inch longer, inserted a spring magnet and lock nut. Put the D5 jack/PCB in a box, attached that to the stand base, used a stereo splitter to connect the module with the controller and my 2 zone HH cymbal .... The result is as I had hoped ... I have the same function on my own hat now as I had with the 2Box hat. Here are the pics:
https://files.secureserver.net/0fAGlc1C4tWdXv
#1905
Thought I'd throw up a link ... the former unofficial DDrum forum shut down quite a while back ... sometime after Ed from Drumbalaya sold his eDrum store and gave up the forums ... not sure people knew that Sam (otacon 28) a big DDrum fan ... set up a newer unofficial DDrum forum a while back:
http://unofficially-ddrum.proboards.com/index.cgi

I also put a link up to this forum over there ... it is "all in the family" ... so to speak.... ;D