Positional Sensing Megadrum 32 Addictive Drums

[angr77]

Hi.

In this case it was done by accident...I had previously used Roland external triggers RT-10S which was too hot and needed to be cooled down. So the resistor was installed when doing the tests.

But...i am currently mainly using 35 mm triggers from Quartz...they are not too hot...but without resistors...the drums get extremly sensitive...too sensitive for my style of playing drums.

The drums behave in a strange sensible way...almost like they have distroution...

So i have kept them


Angr77

[rockdude]

I'm jumping into this thread for some positional sensing help. I've got a 14" acoustic snare converted to electronic with a piezo placed in the center (crossbar design, quartz trigger cone, Drumtec mesh head, pot to reduce signal strength). I'm not using any precision rectifier but I have it wired to get a positive first half wave.

Here's the problem. I read in the Megadrum configuration that when the ^-symbol is to the left it's center hits and when it's to the right it's close to rim hits. The thing is that when I hit the center I get a lower number (5) then when I hit the edge(13) area of the snare. I then set Pos low:13 and Pos high:5 to try it out since that what megaDRUM shows me and the ^ moves from center (~5) to edge (13) when hitting the drum from center to edge. The ^ does not travel gradually from right to left, but it start to the right when hitting the center and then blips over to the left when I reach the edge of the drum. I can go from center to edge back and forth and the ^ will blip over to the right place....but I guess I'm doing this wrong either way. When trying it out in Superior Drummer I only here the edge sound.

Edit: Hmm I tried the Learn-button for "Snare CC-pos Open to shallow" in Addictive Drums 2 and managed to get two different sounds; one for the center hits and another sound for the edge. It got kind of confused when doing pressrolls but medium hits was pretty consistent.
Managed to get center and edge sounds in Superior Drummer 2 now also.
It seems as the cc is reversed though since I get the edge sound in the center and vice versa in both Superior Drummer and Addictive Drums.

Any views on how to fine tune the settings further from here or why the cc is reversed?

Pos level: 2
Pos low: 13
Pos high: 5
Min scan: 50

Here's a video of how it behaves when I play from center to edge back and forth:
http://youtu.be/Ow2xKEofKBE

[angr77]

Hi!

I was looking on my settings. (I am using Quartz and Remo Silent Stroke) + PS card.

My settings are:
Pos Level: 2
Pos Low: 12
Pos High: 34
Min scan: 60

If I look on your settings - the low level is higher than high level...Something is not right here. I should try to reverse the polarity on the piezo.

Most often in AD2 - You have to do a cc:reverse to get the sound right. CC:16.

Best Regards

ANGR77

[rockdude]

Thanks for the quick reply angr77

the low level is higher than high level

Yes, that's what's weird ... but wouldn't changing the polarity make the first half wave negative and therefore not suitable for megaDRUMs positional sensing?

I know there's a cc reverse-button in AD2 and clicking that fixes the cc-data and makes the sounds come out right. Do you have to click that button too? If so, wouldn't that mean that your cc is reversed too? (also, there's no such button in SD2 or BFD2 to my knowledge and that causes problems in those engines).

Here's my settings for the snare:

[angr77]

Hi!

I had to verify it in AD2 and AD1...but I was remember it wrong...the cc :16 for the snare should not be reversed to get the right sound results. This is what we shipped to XLN for the bundled MD settings in AD2. (MegaDRUM Advanced Presets)

I was checking your video...no it does not look right...you should be able to get ok results where the cursor moves and shows up in between on the display when hitting from edge to center on your snare.

Best Regards

Angr77

[rockdude]

Yes, the gradual movement of the ^-symbol is what I've seen in other videos when people play from center to edge. How stable is yours? Care to make a short video of the megaDRUM-display? When I play it's more like a switch that snaps to either center or edge as seen in my video, but the funny thing is that I actually get two zones so the positional sensing is there but not like it's supposed to function. Do you see anything particular crazy in my settings except for the strange pos low and pos high-settings? I wonder what's messed up. Maybe it's the wiring to the pot.

Ps. I'm from Sweden too.

[privatex]

Hi. Strokes directly above cone in center of mash head make ps go weird with readings (hotspot made another problem), but in interval from rim to the 'near of center' it is ok. For faster rolls try to reduce note off in misc column. You should get 4-5 changing zones for snare ps. You can do this after you find that main problem (for fine configuring ps), I dont know what that can be.

[angr77]

Your settings looks ok. Maybe the high level in general would indicate that your piezo sensors a too hot...maybe you should cool them down a bit with a resistor. A value about 500-600 will work better for a PS implementation,

You could try the POS Level 1 and 3 and see if this improves the situation. (Probably not) I would also try to reverse the polarity as a test. Otherwise...I am guessing a rectifier is needed to get this right. You could build them yourself...I think there is a drawing how to do this on the forum. You could also spend 25 pounds for Dmitris PS board...but I don't know how well it will integrate with the syntex design.

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1215


Angr77

PS...Hej Martin!

[ignotus]

I built a rectifier circuit and use it with an old Synthex design - works perfectly, and also removes the need for a pot to tame a hot piezo. I got free op-amp samples from Microchip - cost me about 50 cents to make.

Edit: Ok, I see, you mean how it integrates with a Synthex board regarding the connectors - I couldn't really say.

[rockdude]

I built a rectifier circuit and use it with an old Synthex design - works perfectly, and also removes the need for a pot to tame a hot piezo. I got free op-amp samples from Microchip - cost me about 50 cents to make.

Edit: Ok, I see, you mean how it integrates with a Synthex board regarding the connectors - I couldn't really say.

The positional sensing add on-board does not connect to the Synthex board without heavy rewiring. I guess I need to build a rectifier circuit, but I don't think I have the time to or knowledge to do that if there´s not a very easy to follow guide and a simple order list to exactly the components I need. The schematics in dmitris precision rectifier-thread is too hard for me...I need pictures...connect that end to this end etc

If someone is up for making a precision rectifier that I can use for my Synthex-kit I would gladly pay for it.