Messages

@halftime

All my toms are split on my 2box. Of those split toms, they are usually 2-zones, rimclick / rimshot. I don't think the amount of zones loaded on a kit seems to make a difference imo - as technically I have overloaded my kits with more zones than supported anyway; 4 to 6 zones per tom input.

@ludman

There is definitely something suspect with some VST hihats causing glitching. I have noticed when keeping time with footchicks (specifically, 4 on the floor) and doing patterns around the kit, seems to be the most bothersome for 2box.

It's most obvious for me on my CORE kit hihat which literally has every articulation populated with about 30-99 velocity layers. Only in combination with the bombarding of CC midi from the controller (keeping time) definitely sends it over the top. This is with a VH-11 btw.

I shall experiment by stripping down my CORE hihat in various ways to see if I can find out what exactly seems to be the cause here. It's diminishing returns with 99 layers and 7+7 levels of openness bow and edge anyway but I always knew it was a lolhat when I exported it. Same goes for the ride actually, absurd file sizes from CORE, definitely stresses 2box when I play it. Symptoms like micro-stuttering of about 50ms every 5 seconds if I footsplash and play ride together.

[-HiHat:]

-HiHat: Not entirely sure about the Yamaha RHH135 as it uses hardware stepped resistance. Can you see the hihat icon changing as you move through the pedal range, after calibration? Try a different HTYP.

-Snare (#1): By default the snare and rim zone are tied to the selected instrument unless you unbind them by holding MORE and the pressing SNARE, then turn the left knob to select the instrument on that zone. Another thing you could check is to make sure the selected instrument actually has 2 zones i.e ++ not +_ on the 2nd page. Just to be sure, you said you selected "PadP" as the input type... it should say "PadPP" for piezo/piezo.

-Snare (#2): Make use of GAINR (if available) and (increase) MASK. You might need to cool it down, maybe. Are you able to hit a 0.0 dB with gain 0? That should indicate whether you need to consider cooling.

-CYMB 1B - 3B: Correct, these are channels on the same input - so you cannot split them. 2box is only wired for switch sensor on channel B. So if the switch is closed on channel B it still requires a piezo signal from channel A to trigger the 3rd zone. A switch triggered independently without a piezo waveform does nothing.

Epic! 

Never heard of Ugritone KVLT Drums II so that's great marketing right there lol.

Now if only 2box would update their OS as frequently as SDSE. 

Your spring is worn out.

My SD card adapter ejects at least 3mm from the casing. It's tricky to insert as well. The length of your fingernail often dictates whether you can do it without use of some tool. 

Stoked2 your PM is blocked for some reason so I'll post here:

I've had the same Z-EDs fitted to my drums for over 6 years and they show no signs of wear. Unfortunately I don't have any source because they came fitted with my Diamond drums.

If you contact dave at diamondelectronicdrums.com I bet you'll be able to buy the good versions though!

First thing I always recommend is watching this video from Drum-tec 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9BJCdWRahA

If the original black mesh is a single ply thick, then drum-tec pro mesh head would be the closest direct replacement. (It's available in white)

I have no experience of thick single ply mesh heads, but I use 2-ply on my snare and 3-ply on my toms for feel and sound profile reasons. I have not noticed any performance differences when it comes to ply but my centre mounted diamond triggers may just be very forgiving.

P.S. Drum-tec make the best whites imo, closer to D65 (6500K) than the bluish Z-ED whites. 

Buy another 32/64GB MicroSD card of A1 rating and clone your original onto it. Always take it with you to every gig to have that redundancy against memory corruption.

The pads are quite exposed on SD cards, so check for dirt and dust. Sometimes bad contact just happens though - always eject and reseat if it ever crashes (this hasn't happened to me ever after booting, but sometimes 2box throws an error after inserting a working card after it's been in my PC)

Lucky MicroSD cards are cheap and plentiful, you could even replace just the SD adapter if your contacts get too badly worn.

Only CYMB inputs 1 - 3 support choke according to the user manual so beware you will lose that functionality when using a tom input.

CYPS is not available on the tom inputs, PadPS will give you 2 zones (bow & edge) but no choke. I have tested this with my Lemon 15 China.

Oh the Mimic is the best module easily, but it's also over double the price of the 2box. It competes better with the TD-50X because you will also have no expandability there either. You must make a choice for what is most important to you.

If you want a complete product out of the box with the multilayer VST sample library built in - Mimic Pro is the answer.

2box is for people also buying SDSE and also own many VSTs. It requires hours at your computer but it's forever expandable. That Fields of Rock SDX is but one huge reason why having a 2box is so cool, the module always feels new when you fill it with new sounds and have all the velocities layers from the VST in your arsenal.

You've outlined the two camps basically.

The truth is Roland needs more of 2box's sampling power and 2box needs more of Roland's processing and design prowess.

You also understand how much better 2box is at using what I like to term "brute-force" approach to drum modules, because content is king.

The good news is that next 2box module (whatever form that takes) really only needs to expand on the settings and processing to take the crown away from basically every drum module because the foundation is so strong. Yes, the underlying velocity layers (even in SD3) really is the the key to a great sounding module. It's Roland that developed to be what they are today because of the memory constraints.

The 1.40 version hosted now seems to be a few months newer than what was originally available. It works fine, I haven't noticed any changes. Would be good to see a change log from 1.36.30 at least!

I'm using 4 of the Hosa YPP-117

Works flawlessly. No need to spend the extra money on the Drum-tec ones with the resistor in my experience.

Having configurable velocity curve per zone would be the best way to resolve this issue. If 2box ever want to make that into an update... yeah not likely.

As halftime says, using DSound Manager is the only way. You can raise the volume by up to 6 dB then save it. Just be mindful it's adding gain on the samples themselves - so the noise floor will also be raised.

It will most likely come with OS 1.36.30 out of the box.

The same OS file works for all 2box Drumit modules and just resides on the SD Card. There is no firmware to flash (so far anyway) so you literally cannot go wrong.

The only thing you need to do is calibrate then start adding more dsnds using SDSE 

That's definitely subpar performance from your module, halftime. I really don't know what else to say. 

The extra performance tweaks shouldn't even be necessary imo - but we know they can help - from years of experimentation, from users who have owned a 2box far longer than myself.

Most days I just sit behind my kit, pick a VST I imported, play along to music (wavs of about 30-50 MB each) I would definitely notice any audio anomalies stressing the module like this, but I don't get dropouts. I get more annoyed by mixing levels and white noise hiss on incorrectly boosted low velocity layers by SDSE these days - basically rough areas I could fix if I could be bothered - bringing my library to Mimic Pro quality on 50 kits is a lot of work though.