Speedlight Kit questions

[masten]

Hi,

Sorry I can't find a place for the Speedlight kit so I'm putting my questions here

I'm thinking of getting a speedlight kit with the drumit 3 module, for my band

I want :

- a kit that has great built-in sounds but with potential to use vst drum sounds (I know how to convert these using the sdse software)
- a kit we can use at home for band practice, and gig with

My drummer isn't tech savvy so I'm gonna set it up. We're not bothered about all the fancy different stuff you can probably do with it, I just want to get it working asap so it's good for band practice at home (our neighbours arent bothered by noise so thats not a problem), I can set it up without too much bother, sounds great, plays great, is reasonably reliable and can be transported to gigs easily.

Before I go ahead and get one could someone confirm, for the needs I have above, that this kit is a good idea for me? I ask really as I'm a guitarist and have no idea about drums apart from the bit of research I've done that suggests that this is the best option for the money.

Also can someone recommend a good inbuilt kit in the module to start with that doesn't need lots of tweaking. We sound like The Killers/U2 that kind of thing .

Thanks

Masten

[welshsteve]

Hi there,

I sat behind one from the box and you can indeed plug it up and go.

But personally, I dialled back the sensitivity just a little on most of the pads as I found them to be triggering a little hot. But this is an easy thing to do. I would assume this is to suit a young player.

The pads are small, so a drummer going from an acoustic kit to a Speedlight (or most e-kits of this price bracket as this form factor is very common) might find it a little toy-like. So there would be a period of getting used to this. But this can also be a major benefit for small stages and lord knows, we have to endure that more often that we'd like!

The rack is limited to height too, so if your guy is tall he might not be comfortable sat behind this.

Of course, there's nothing stopping you upgrading any (or all) of the pads in time for something more akin to an acoustic kit. Whether that single pads or a full Acoustic to electric conversion.

The module is very cable though. The sounds that come with are decent but the first thing I did when I got the Di3 was empty most of the sound banks and load a bunch of VST rips I had from my drumit5 onto it.

Over all, I recommend the kit. More for the module, but the pads definitely are decent, even if on the small side.

[masten]

Hi Steve,

Ok thanks great info

Full story is me n bass player been playing with a Beatbuddy drum machine for a while and sound pretty good. We then found a drummer and went to a local practice room with an acoustic kit and had to wear plugs obviously to protect our ears. It was a miserable experience in every way and totally uncondusive to developing a band 'sound', when all you can hear is a muffled version of your lovingly crafted songs. We don't wanna use in ear monitors either at this stage so, as I have a nice space in my house for practising, my idea is to get a good electronic kit mainly so we can naturally hear and feel the songs we're creating in a comfortable environment. Be good too if we can use that kit live down the line, but if not no biggie, it's song development that counts at the mo. Like you said, if necessary, we could upgrade the kit to play live.

He plays acoustic usually, is quite experienced but does have his own electronic kit (a small cheap and old Roland one) he uses at home so is used to playing them. I've shown him demos the 2box and he's totally cool with using it but is quite a big guy, but tbh if he's a bit uncomfortable I'm sure he'll be able to adjust.

I think really before I spend £1000, which is my budget limit, I just wanna be sure this is the best option? To me it is as it's the only module I can upload kits from vsts which is a must. I'll be doing the same as you and converting some vsts

Cheers

M

[welshsteve]

If he already has pads, and he's used to them, I would invest in the module and just set it up for his Roland pads. Maybe with that saving go for the Drumit5 MK2 instead and not be restricted to the 4gb onboard SD card that is part of the Drumit3's eco system.

How's that for an idea?

[masten]

Hi Steve

Yeah his kit is a knackered old roland one with rubber pads. Unuseable tbh. He also needs to keep it at home.

I went ahead and bought the speedlight with DI3 module as we've got gigs planned and need to get on with it. Don't really need the extra memory tbh as just want one decent vst on it. I have Steven Slate free which Im sure'll be ok.

Was a bit annoyed though to find out the DI3 has a USB 1.0 port. What were they thinking? So it'll take prob half hour to transfer a vst of 0.5gig across not to mention a few hours backing up the presets. I guess I only have to do it once though and then it'll be set

Saying that I am vaguely tempted to swap it for a DI5mkii. Its £160 more. Dunno if its worth it considering my needs and the extra messing about. Probably not. What do you think?

How good are the presets on the DI3 for the kind of sound we need btw? We play indie rock, sound bit like The Killers, U2 etc etc

Thanks again for your help, much appreciated

Masten

[welshsteve]

The presets are decent! I mean they're all multi velocity sounds well recorded in great studios, they're VST standard no question. Check out the drumtec videos demo'ing them, that will give you a real world look at it being played with no post editing or processing.
SSD5 free kits are excellent too. I sampled them and put on to the Di3 and they performed really well. I didn't do cymbals though, hihats especially is a lot involved with all the open to closed bow/edge transitions. The stock hihat sounds were fine for me.

[edcito]

You don't need to waste 2 hours to do a backup of the kits, you can download them anytime from 2box-drums.com under "Speedlight Kit Content 1.33".
Copying a 500MB SSD5 Kit would set you back 30 to 40 Min yeah...

[masten]

Hi

Steve: OK good to know they're VST quality, will go just go with those for a bit n then try adding Steven Slate down the line prob. One more question. How do you connect up the 2 cymbals? I know they go in the B connection but there'S CYMB1B, CYMB 2B, and CYMB 3B.  Which one is for the ride and which one for the crash. Doesn't say in the manual.

Edcito: Ok, also good to know - saved me some time thanks!

Thanks

[ANGR77]

Cymb 2 is mainly the ride. Cymb 1 and 3 for crash.

Best regards

Anders / www.Zourman.com

[welshsteve]

Hi

Steve: OK good to know they're VST quality, will go just go with those for a bit n then try adding Steven Slate down the line prob. One more question. How do you connect up the 2 cymbals? I know they go in the B connection but there'S CYMB1B, CYMB 2B, and CYMB 3B.  Which one is for the ride and which one for the crash. Doesn't say in the manual.

Edcito: Ok, also good to know - saved me some time thanks!

Thanks

The cym B input is for Roland style ride cymbals, so, down the line, if you wanted to upgrade the crash (or add one) and picked up say a Roland CY15R, you'd use Cym A for bow/edge and CymB for the bell.

This goes for other pads too, Lemon cymbals being a good example.

if you had another ride from the speedlight kit, (or a Yamaha PCY cymbal pad) you'd only need the one input (CymA) and would set it to the Yamaha trigger type.

Many of 2box stock crashed have the bell samples too, which is lacking in most modules.

[masten]

Ok thanks for the info, appreciated

Ive had the drummer in and it sounds good just using the 'live kit" preset

He wants to use the middle tom to trigger the ride (with the rim as the bell if poss) I was glad to hear this as the worst thing was the constant acoustic thwacking sound of the ride which was louder than the amplified sound and ruined the sound of the band completely

Ive tried just plugging the tom into the ride which seems to work (but no bell on the rim) but is there a way to do it in software?

Thanks

[welshsteve]

Keep the trigger type as tom, as the pad is physical and doesn't change.

As for getting rim to play bell and the centre of the pad to be the bow, yes it can be done.

*Disclaimer* I don't have a module in front of me to enable to tell you the exact steps.

But try one of these.

1. Hit mid tom, assign a ride sound to the it, then in one of the sound menu pages you'll see +++ above. Press once, and you'll get -++ twice --+ 3 Times +-- etc.

What this does is cycles through zone configurations. So +++ is all zones playable, -++ is edge and bow only, --+ is bell only...

That kind of thing, I am probably a little out with the excact details, but you get the idea I hope.

If this don't work, try:

2. select the mid tom by hitting it, assign a ride then press "more" and "trig" this should get you the rim sound/settings.

assign the same ride to the rim, but now go through the steps of +++, -++, --+ until the rim is the bell of the ride.

Try one of these options to see if this gets what you're after.

Steve

[masten]

Hi Steve. Yeah thanks for that I figured it out with the help of your instructions. To get bell on rim and bow on head though you have to rewire the trs cables n switch them around, according to 2box support. So just got the bow on the head as not all that bothered about having a bell anyway.

Thanks again for all your help

[welshsteve]

Ah, no problem. I wished I had a module in front of me, I am sure it can be configured to have bell on rim and bow on head quite easily... with some fiddling. I am depping for a mate on his drumit5 mk2 on the 24th, I'll sit behind it and make a detailed description of how to do this... assuming I can of course. But will update!

But, I would consider looking out for a Sh cymbal pad for this purpose, it won't be expensive. Even the new Lemon 15" ride is really cheap.