First impressions

[macleod]

Well, I just brought my kit home today. It's demo kit from the store (somewhat cheaper  ) and I believe one of the earlier batches still with aluminum rims (not sure about it though  ).
After I set up the rack I had to admit it didn't look very sturdy and reliable, it's wobbling and looks like made of cheap plastic... When I added pads and started to hit it was OK, stable enough, no wobbling except for snare stand - strange design and looks like the weakest link of the whole thing...  . So, the rack is OK, let's see how it's gonna work after some use (and abuse )
The next step was to power it up - here I had some difficulties in getting sound from the unit. I suppose that guys in the store upgraded the software but didn't try to play the kit afterwards. Luckily, I've been reading posts on this forum (thank you Dr.Wu and Remi!) so I realized it's because of the update. The problem is that I'm new to e-drums and although I consider myself smart enough to understand written texts  I couldn't make much of the manual in this case. I think there should be detailed manual available that would explain step by step every option one can find on the unit. I know it says something about 'intuitive' but it is sooo frustrating trying to figure out things by trial and error...  . Eventually I made it work but also found that unfortunately the kick is not triggering at all. I connected my practice pedal (Hansenfütz) with Pintech RS-5 trigger on it and it worked. I will go back to the store next week and have the kick pad fixed or replaced. I just hope it won't take too long  ..
So far, I'm quite happy with these orange things  , tomorrow I will practice with the band, I look forward to it and will post my impressions on the sounds.

[Baby Samus]

Hey congrats on your new kit.  The 2Box is a complex beast, I have had to sit with mine for a good few days to get the settings just right.  But when you do understand the system and get it set up right for you, you will love it!

The manual is not as good as talking to people here - we will all help with any issues and many of us know the system fairly well now, so don't be afraid to ask.

STrange though about the rack - I set up mine in my flat and it seems as sturdy as any other rack - no movement at all.  However I use my own yamaha snare stand and hi-hat pedal, and it is said that the one's that come with the kit are not as good.  But hey they come with the kit so you can use your own.

[Scottie]

Hi macleod

I have sent you a PM with regards to your issues.

Thanks
Scott

[medk]

Hi, my first time on board as active in this forum. Just got my 2box today, and I'm very happy. My first non-acustic set. I must say though, that I'm surprized that the kit does not function correctly right out of the box. As many others has written in this forum, the kit needs some tweeking before, everything is ok. Issues that I experienced today (only had about 45 minutes with the kit, after the initial assembling proces was done).

1. Snare double tiggers.
Tried tightening the head quite a bit and ajusting gain and tresh as proposed by others. Did not really help.

2. double triggering on the bassdrum. Don't know what to do about that.

3. Snare rim did not respond ... but maybe that was just a singe kit? Will check that again tomorrow.

4. Cymbals trigger a bit uneaven, I guess ... but that should get better with a little practice with the rubber, I guess.

5. Hi-hat is quite difficult to play.
First I tried to mount the hi-hat on my old and heavy Yamaha HH-stand. But this stand does not have that little thichnes at the bed of the lower hi-hat cymbal, that should keep the lower part of the 2box hi-hat in place. The result was, that the hi-hat was completely impossible to play. Therefore mounted the 2box hh-tand, which is not very impressive.

All in all, the double triggering of the snare and bassdrum, and the hi-hat is actually a bit disapointing. But the sounds of the kit are amazing, and after all, I'm sure, this is the kit for me. But it would be nice to get the issues fixed asap.

:-)
medk

[westerlu77]

One thing I miss is that there's not so many options of hihats right now, they sound to me a little plastic. I would like to have more vintage sounds over all, but I hope that the library is just in the begining. I also tried crosshot and I don't know how well it works on Roland but this thing has to be better. I think that every snare would be set like a real snare act. Ordinary snare, rimclick and rimshot or? But over all after 2-3 hours with it I am satisfied and I'm looking forward. 

[medk]

Hi Baby Samus.

You say, that you used your Yamaha HH-stand with the 2Box-HH. How do you manage to get the lower part of the 2Box-HH - you know the little round thing - to rest correctly on the stand? When I tried it on my Yamaha stand, the lower part of the HH hooked itself to the upper (moving) part of the HH resulting in incorrect triggering of pedal-work.

/medk

[NeilC]

1. Snare double tiggers.
Tried tightening the head quite a bit and ajusting gain and tresh as proposed by others. Did not really help.

2. double triggering on the bassdrum. Don't know what to do about that.

See this thread for snare double triggering: http://www.2box-forum.com/index.php/topic,199.0.html

For my double triggering kick, I taped some foam to the head of the kick, like you would put a falam pad. I know this is not ideal but even the most expensive acoustic kits you need to make home made remedies. The foam then stops the bounce back of the kick drum/beater. Along with this set the threshold down below 30 or so, this will mean only the hard 'definite' kicks will come through...

[Remi]

The kick bounces twice at the pad, not really double triggering.
When placing the foot more on top of the pedal this double kicking is over.
Or change your technique so that the beater is free of the pad after a kick
(don't push it into the pad, but release it)

[medk]

Thanks NeilC and Remi.
You're right that it's actually the beater hitting the bassdrum twice, and that this could be solved with a different technique. It's just that I've been playing acoustic drums this way for sooo many years, and it would be a tough job for me to change my technique now.

Regarding the snare, I have read the thread on this topic. I think I've tried every trick mentioned there without any big difference. I would like to keep threshold around -48 to get ghostnotes picked up, but that might be impossible?

[NeilC]

You're right that it's actually the beater hitting the bassdrum twice, and that this could be solved with a different technique. It's just that I've been playing acoustic drums this way for sooo many years, and it would be a tough job for me to change my technique now.

Same here, hence my homemade foam falam pad!

[medk]

Time for a little update:
Now I have had some more time with my new 2Box-kit. By now I feel like things are starting to work alright, and I can start to really appreciate the fantastic sound of the kit!!

I managed to get the snare to work just fine by actually loosening the head quite a bit and setting threshold at about 32. At that setting I'm gonna miss some ghostnotes, but I feel like this is the best setting for me.

Still the hihat is a bit quirky, but I think it is usable for the moment. I'm looking forward though to try it on a seperate hh-stand, as my old Yamaha-stand is missing a little plastic part to keep the lower part of the 2Box hh in place.

[medk]

Hi,

I've got two issues:

1. The hi-hat sound on pedal down (triggerzone 9) is way too loud on every kit, compared to the sound when hi-hat is played with the sticks (triggerzones 3 and . Is it possible to adjust the gain separately for the different triggerzones on the hi-hat?

2. I can not adjust the balance on any sound. According to the manual, it should be possible to adjust the balance when in kit-mode -> envelope-view. But I'm not able to adjust balance. I can only reset the sounds that are already panned out. What can I do to get to adjust the balance?

Can anyone help me out a bit?

And then I'm still having trouble with the double-triggering of the snare and uneavenly-triggering snare-rim.
Other than that, I'm now very happy with the kit!! 

[UC]

Hi Medk
I've wedged a spent cigarette papers packet (no little bits ripped out of it I'll have you know) in between the foam ring and the mesh, as close to the rim as it will comfortably go...threshold is set to -36, gain to 7, still on Pad12, and to my ears it triggers beautifully - no unwanted retriggering, and ghost notes as quiet as I can play them. Haven't loosened the mesh at all.

I think one of the things 2box are working on for the next update is having more settings to play with in terms of seperate adjustments for the hats. Stay tuned!