Yamaha RHH-135 hi-hat settings

[jdigdug]

I have my newly built megadrum (synthex 3.1) working for most inputs, but am having trouble configuring the RHH-135 variable hi-hat controller. I'm not having any trouble with the pad itself and can get bell and edge notes by following the instructions on the FAQ for yamaha 3 zone cymbals. This product appears very similar in design to the roland vh-11 or the jobecky hh controller, for those who haven't seen one.

Regarding the controller, I'm clueless as to which pedal polarity and pedal impedance settings to use. From searching the forum, I haven't seen anyone post successful setup for this hi-hat.
Is anyone using the RHH-135 successfully already who could post their settings?

[dmitri]

I don't RHH-135 but if you'll be able to find its electrical diagram or measure sleeve/ring and sleeve/tip resistance at various pedal positions then I might be able to help.

[jdigdug]

I read 145kOhm for all pedal positions on tip2ring. On tip2sleeve the resistance varies from infinite on pedal up to 145kOhm on pedal down.

I had some success with setting the hh controller input to 'high impedance' and pedal polarity to 'tip +5V / ring input', but I had to set AltIn to 'yes' in the menu. Not sure what problem 'AltIn' is supposed to solve but it seems necessary for this controller.

At this point, I can get CC messages from the point the top pad touches the bottom plate (pedal up position) all the way to where the buffer between the top pad and the bottom plate is fully compressed (a flexible rubber ring at the bottom of the pad is what's compressing here). Very difficult to get half-open notes, no success with splash yet, and chick happens more than I expect. Perhaps my dynamic range is set poorly, perhaps using a non-linear curve will help, not sure. When I figure out how to make it more dynamic I'll post in this thread with my updated settings.

Anyone using one of these RHH-135, feel free to post your experience.

[jdigdug]

To add to my confusion, over at the DTX forums (for yamaha users) I see that the expected use is to have the HH pad separate from the bottom plate until the pedal is depressed. This means I should be seeing some change in behavior even before the top and bottom touch, perhaps through a hall-effect sensor. But I see no change in resistance appear until I begin compressing the pieces together (which a yamaha module detects to play a 'tighter' closed HH sound).

[anttipi]

As I wrote in another thread, I can get no CC messages whatsoever with this pad unless I stomp on the pedal with full force (EDIT: This also causes the first bar on Megadrum's VU meter's upper row to remain "frozen" at full on). I've borrowed a meter to help figuring this out but I don't understand what I should be looking for. EDIT v2: I tried measuring but got 0.00 V whatever the pedal position and whatever value I dial in on the meter (with red to tip, black to sleeve and every other possible combination). The cable and the meter are working alright.

What I don't get is how all Yamaha modules can detect voltage changes (and turn them to CC messages) from this pedal while Megadrum can not? I don't see how this could be controller-dependent either as it's a question of changes in voltage, not some complicated data being sent. I have read Alesis Trigger I/O can also get position signals from this hi-hat so I can't see it's impossible in Megadrum either.

Reading this thread is see at least someone is able to get CC messages but I've tried tinkering with everything in the "pedal" menu, tried high/low impedance and the tip/ring configurations. Clearly I must still be doing something wrong so any help would be most welcome.

I'm not even sure if the HHInput number refers to the hi-hat cymbal or the controller input. Heck, I don't even know about the input numbering in general: I thought AUX 1 is channel one, HH Pedal channel number two etc. But then in Megadrum it says "Kick" is Ch01 - I thought it was number 4!

[jdigdug]

I got a chance to work on my hihat setup again and have had some success. I can get chicks (splashes if I tweak up the chick delay setting), open, 1/2-open, closed tip and shank sounds. Even choke works on this pad. Using Exp1 curve, still tweaking open/close lvls and hi/low lvls.
Biggest problem is the extraneous soft chick that triggers between open and 1/2-open chokes off sound, since a chick is the termination of the hat sound. I believe that the soft chick should in fact be a low volume tip or shank note, not a pedal note.

[dmitri]

I will add an option to the next firmware version to enable/disable soft chicks.

[jdigdug]

Thanks Dmitri!

[Trommeltotti]

I will add an option to the next firmware version to enable/disable soft chicks.

Thanks for this as well.

Potential another HiHat option:

ROLAND modules do have an option calling "thinning sending CC4 controlling data" to avoid also possible Midi timing issues.

If you recording with MD a variable HiHat with CC 4 Data to a sequencer like Cubase you got many cc 4 data points at time. An option to thinning this in MD would be fine.

greats

Trommeltotti

[CyRuS]

Hi, sorry for re-upping the topic, but I bought a RHH130 and I was wondering if I could use it with the Megadrum, since with the Alesis Trigger iO the open/closed device don't work and I can only use 1 of the two triggers (bow/edge)...