www.megadrum.info

I'm having real problems setting up my pads and cymbals with my new megadrum.

All my pads and cymbals trigger poorly with missed triggering and random velocities. Just plugging a pad into the MD results in random "low velocity" triggering without even touching the pads...I have to turn the threshold up to over 50 to get rid of that.

My pads are.

DIY snare and toms (Crossbar, UFO Cones, 35mm Piezo) - shows piezo highlevel of between 900-1000
A borrowed Roland PD125 - shows level of 800-1000
Millennium dual zone pad - 600-700

None trigger well in the MD but are perfect in my TD3. For example if I do a light roll on the MD there are full velocity "strikes" randomly triggered and the hits after that strike is not triggered. So basically it triggers like crap. I have tried every setting I can think of...but am not getting anywhere..

My cymbals

2xYamaha PCY135 and 1xPCY155 showing high level of 400-600
2xMillenium MPS400 dual zone cymbals - Very high levels of 200-350max

My hi-hat controller is a Jobeky controller. For some reason this shows random spikes on the input, for example it wont stay on zero instead even without touching the pedal the cc message number jumps randomly from 0 to 30..

As my Yamaha cymbals should be working OK can somebody post their working Yamaha cymbal settings to get me started.

I'm tending to think there is some random electrical interference causing these spikes on all the inputs..

It's better to deal with one problem at a time. I guess you want to start with Yamaha PCY135.
I understand it is a three zone cymbal. Look through this topic viewtopic.php?f=3&t=293 . Plug just this cymbal into MegaDrum and show all the settings you set on this cymbal.

I've came close to divorce over the weekend as I spent 2 days solid trying to work out the settings on my new megadrum and getting nowhere. The wife invited freinds round for a BBQ and I kept sneaking off to try some different setting on the MD....she was not happy I can tell you!!

Anyway an update from my end.

First lesson is MAKE SURE YOU HAVE EXCLUDED ALL OTHER PROBLEMS BEFORE BLAMING THE MEGADRUM!!!

In my case whenever I plugged in any pad or cymbal I got a lot of background "noise" which resulted in me having to increase the threshold on all the inputs to subdue it. It even appeared on the hi-hat controller input. I checked for interference from wireless networks, central heating controllers and telephones and nothing worked even after changing all pad cables and the laptop USB. I even used an external power supply.

Then I found out that it was my laptop that was causing this problem. Dont ask me how it was happening, but when I switched to another laptop all the inputs became silent and triggering was vastly improved.

I am still suffering from hot DIY pads, but I know im heading in the right direction because my Yamaha cymbals are triggering beautifully (even though only setup as single zone at present).

I will post my results when I get nearer my final settings.

Kevin

macca2004 wrote:I've came close to divorce over the weekend as I spent 2 days solid trying to work out the settings on my new megadrum and getting nowhere. The wife invited freinds round for a BBQ and I kept sneaking off to try some different setting on the MD....she was not happy I can tell you!!

LOL classic! My wife gets a reeaally tired look, whenever I start to build enthusiasm about anything. I wonder why...

I'm finally close to a perfect PCY-155. The internal trimpot is set a notch over the halfway point. And the Aftertouch point was identified to be at (rim) threshold 36.

- all not mentioned = default -

Head
Curve: log1
gain: 0
highlvl auto: no
highlvl: 400
Dualhead: yes
- the rest default -

Rim
Curve: log1
gain: 0
threshold: 40
highlvl auto: no
highlvl: 450
type: switch

3rd zone
Threshold: 8

Mind you, this is when only the cymbal is plugin. In a full setup some anti xtalk maybe called for.

We've kissed and made up now she realises it's in the garage with the drums or down the pub!! Anyway I conceeded last night and watched a chick flick with her so shes happy now lol...

My settings on the PCY155 are very similar to yours...but I cant acheive perfect bell sounds. The edge and bow trigger very nicely and the cymbal chokes perfect...its just when I strike the bell it only sounds about 2 in ever 5 hits, the rest being the edge sound. Which setting seperates the two sounds? All my settings are now the same as you have already given.

Kevin

It always amazes me how similar women are all over the world. My wife always gets that far away look in her eyes when I start talking about one of my projects! She doesn't complain to much though, cuz like you said macca there are a lot worse places that I could be than out in my workshop!

macca2004 wrote:We've kissed and made up now she realises it's in the garage with the drums or down the pub!! Anyway I conceeded last night and watched a chick flick with her so shes happy now lol...

My settings on the PCY155 are very similar to yours...but I cant acheive perfect bell sounds. The edge and bow trigger very nicely and the cymbal chokes perfect...its just when I strike the bell it only sounds about 2 in ever 5 hits, the rest being the edge sound. Which setting seperates the two sounds? All my settings are now the same as you have already given.

Kevin

It is BThreshold. If you get edge sound when you hit the bell, raise BThreshold. If you start to get bell sound even when you hit the edge, lower BThreshold. In any case BThreshold must be lower than Threshold. See http://www.megadrum.info/content/pads-settings

jman 31 wrote:It always amazes me how similar women are all over the world...

Could well be related to how alike men are. I'm lost for the world when I'm in problem solving-mode and so are apparently you and Macca too. I can appreciate the annoyance of having a one-random-sylibal husband/teammate with his head stuck in gadget #48.396.326 for weeks, heheh.

macca2004 wrote:...but I cant acheive perfect bell sounds.

Yup, my challenge too, thou I have better "bell-odds" than you. It's in the Edge/3rd zone threshold balance primarily but you may need to tinker Bow threshold as well so you won't get all edge 'n bell on the bow.