3 zone cymbals

[skipunk]

Hi all,

I've been working on building a yamaha style 3 zone Ride. I have found many different schematics and ended up going with this setup.

Edge: Using Alloy switch with a 10k resistor connecting to the ring of my stereo jack.
Bell: Using Alloy switch connecting to the ring of my stereo jack.
Bow: using a piezo connecting to the tip of my stereo jack.

I get sound from the piezo, but i do not get any sound from the bell or edge. when i tap the edge or bell, my led lights up but the LCD does not show any activity nor produces sound. MIDI-OX does show activity.

I have set dualhead to yes (not 3 zone). I have RideE set to switch. I've played with the threshold on RideB, RideE and bthreshold with no changes.

I am using ezdrummer, with Cubase. I'm wondering if there is possibly an issue with ezdrummer not recognizing the different zones. I have not found any settings in ezdrummer that I can tweak compaired to screenshots from BFD 2.

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks,
Steve

[dmitri]

What does MIDI-OX show when you press either edge or bell switch?
What does MIDI-OX show when you strike either edge or bell switch?

[skipunk]

What does MIDI-OX show when you press either edge or bell switch?
What does MIDI-OX show when you strike either edge or bell switch?

Bell/Edge show same info on press and strike.

on contact of the switch
Time Stamp 00014B60
In 1
Port --
Status A9
Data 1 35
Data 2 7F
Chan 10
Note F 3
Event Aftertouch

When contact is broken
Time Stamp 00014B60
In 1
Port --
Status A9
Data 1 33
Data 2 7F
Chan 10
Note Eb 3
Event Aftertouch

[dmitri]

And what do you get in MIDI-OX when you strike the bow?

[skipunk]

And what do you get in MIDI-OX when you strike the bow?

TimeStamp 000163E0
IN 1
Port --
Status: 99
DATA1 33
DATA2 7F
CHAN 10
Note Eb 3
Event Note On

TimeStamp 000164EB
IN 1
Port --
Status: 99
DATA1 33
DATA2 00
CHAN 10
Note Eb 3
Event Note Off

[dmitri]

From your description it appears that when you strike either edge or bell the bow piezo doesn't generate a signal higher than Threshold on the Bow. Seems like both switches are not physically connected to the bow piezo.

[skipunk]

I'll double check all the connections.
The setup that I described:

Edge: Alloy switch with 10k resistor connected to ring
Bell: Alloy switch connected to ring
Bow: Piezo connected to Tip.

Also what should I expect to see in Midi-OX if everything on the Ride is working correctly?

Thanks for your help.

Steve

[dmitri]

I'll double check all the connections.
The setup that I described:

It is not electrical connections! The switches and the piezo must reside on the same physical entity so that when you strike either of the switches the piezo would generate a signal along with either of the switches making.

Edge: Alloy switch with 10k resistor connected to ring
Bell: Alloy switch connected to ring
Bow: Piezo connected to Tip.

Also what should I expect to see in Midi-OX if everything on the Ride is working correctly?

You should expect a Note On event (followed by a Note Off event) with the note number for the zone being hit.

[skipunk]

It is not electrical connections! The switches and the piezo must reside on the same physical entity so that when you strike either of the switches the piezo would generate a signal along with either of the switches making.

To make sure I understand. The piezo is picking up the vibration and Mega drum will then decipher what sound to produce based on if the switch closes on the edge or bell, or just the vibration on the piezo. that just sounded more confusing when i reread that.

so basically if the edge is hit, the switch closes and the pizeo picks up the vibration and produces the assigned sound for an edge hit. this would go the same for the bell. If neither of the switches are closed but the piezo is picking up vibration, then it will produce sounds based on the bow hit. the 10k resistor i assume is used to separate the edge and bell switch. I'm guess this is done by changing the voltage that it registers across the piezo. For the choke, when the edge is held, mega drum will then decipher the switch being closed and not momentary and choke out the sound.

I might be stepping out on a limb here, but I hope I'm seeing it correctly.

[dmitri]

so basically if the edge is hit, the switch closes and the pizeo picks up the vibration and produces the assigned sound for an edge hit. this would go the same for the bell. If neither of the switches are closed but the piezo is picking up vibration, then it will produce sounds based on the bow hit. the 10k resistor i assume is used to separate the edge and bell switch. I'm guess this is done by changing the voltage that it registers across the piezo. For the choke, when the edge is held, mega drum will then decipher the switch being closed and not momentary and choke out the sound.

Your description is absolutely correct.