having some issues with my setup

[locust]

hello megadrum community,

i would like your insight on some things with my megadrum setup that cause me a headache, maybe someone here can help me out

so the megadrum i am using was built by dimitri, it is an atmega 644, 20mhz with 32 outs, firmware is 20120415
i am using acoustic drums with mesh heads and ddrum triggers, 2 old roland pd-7 pads, 3 diy-cymbal pads
the MIDI goes from the megadrum into FL studio on a win7 laptop (a dell with an i5 and 4gb ram) with a profire 2626 interface

until now it was used only as a kick trigger, never had problems with that, but now that i want to try out to go all electronic, and i am experiencing several problems:


1. when i hit a pad hard, it will cause the megadrum to stop outputting midi, and the LCD will either turn blank (but with the light on), or freeze.
when i then turn the module off and on again, the blank screen is still there. however when i disconnect the pad, it returns back to normal.
the interesting thing is: so far it only happened with one specific pad
said pad is a practice cymbal with a piezo duct-taped on it, i have 3 of these cymbals, and i could not replicate it with the others yet. i could replicate it with the same pad on a different input though.
i used cheap old cables and connectors for them that i had lying around, so i suspected the pad to be faulty, but when i record the signal on the interface, the waveforms it produces look the same as the others.
i can also say that the signal they produce is fairly hot, about twice as loud as the rolands for example. i have the "all gains low" option on to get a usable dynamic range. i did not experience any "overspill".

2. i get some sort of random constant MIDI notes, like an input suddenly starts to constantly output note data, and e.g. high tom triggers all the time.
sometimes changing the settings fixes it, sometimes not. it happens more often in the bottom row of inputs (16-35), could be a total coincidence though.
disconnecting the pads also fixes it sometimes, and sometimes not.

3. i am using megadrum manager to program it, if i got it open in parallel with FL, FL becomes unstable after a short time, and either crashes, or the audio starts sounding weird all of a sudden.
it doesn't sound like underruns, more like a bitcrusher, maybe some sort of samplerate mismatch or whatever. if i record audio and play it back after a reboot, the recorded audio sounds normal.


i have no idea whats causing these problems wether its the pads, the cables, the software, the inputs, ... so i am sorry for the unspecific thread title,
since the different things that occur might be connected to each other i figured i'd post them all in one thread

i'd appreciate any useful information

[angr77]

hello megadrum community,

2. i get some sort of random constant MIDI notes, like an input suddenly starts to constantly output note data, and e.g. high tom triggers all the time.
sometimes changing the settings fixes it, sometimes not. it happens more often in the bottom row of inputs (16-35), could be a total coincidence though.
disconnecting the pads also fixes it sometimes, and sometimes not.

3. i am using megadrum manager to program it, if i got it open in parallel with FL, FL becomes unstable after a short time, and either crashes, or the audio starts sounding weird all of a sudden.
it doesn't sound like underruns, more like a bitcrusher, maybe some sort of samplerate mismatch or whatever. if i record audio and play it back after a reboot, the recorded audio sounds normal.

Error number 1. Sounds real strange...2 and 3 more of config problems. For two...check your threshold on the toms. Try to increase them a bit. Why not try to post a dump file of your MD in a MDS file so everybody can see your settings. Easier for tracking errors. For error 3, what kind of speed do you use on USB? 1-3? Latency on sysex? Are your MD silent from a midi viewpoint when not playing on the drums?

[locust]

here is the .mds:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1724488/new.mds

the threshold setting certainly has an influence on it, occasionally increasing it would fix the problem, but not always
heres a screenshot of what i got this morning, no pad connected
changing the threshold to the max made the outputted volume of the midi notes a tad lower, but didn't fix it

i also get occasional "yellow" notes about which i have no idea where they are coming from, i dont use midi note 42 on anything

sysex delay in megadrum manager is 30ms, usb speed is usb 2
i should mention that i also have the midi wired up to the profire, i use that for megadrum manager, not the usb
the usb midi cant be accessed by two applications simultanously, so i worked around it by just using the midi output on the megadrum, instead of using the midi yoke method described on this site, maybe thats the problem

[angr77]

For error 3.

The Megadrum USB implementation has two sending channels. (you will see both channels in MegaDrum Manager and they are equal in terms of implementation) A common solution if you want to use and configure MegaDRUM Manager at the same time as running a sound app like Addictive Drums, Superior Drums etc...is to let MDM work on MegaDrUM channel 1 and set the soundapp to recieve on channel 2.

If you run it on the same channel...errors will occur!! I would also set the speed to usb+midi to see if things improve.

I am not 100% shure how your midi setup has been done from what i can read...the midi yoke stuff is old information. (not needed in Windows 7)

For error 2. No, then it is not threshold. Levels on 10 or below could cause these kinf of problems.

//Anders

[locust]

you mean under options, where it says "megadrum chain id"?

the way i have connected the midi is first via usb cable, and second via midi cables into the m-audio profire interface, so that when i set the midi I/O of any software i have both "MegaDrum USB MIDI", and "Profire MIDI" in the list, (plus the usual stuff like "microsoft wavetable synth")
but from what you said, its probably not necessairy anyway

i get what you mean when the threshold is under 10 or something, then any background noise can trigger it
if my problem 2. is not a software issue it has to be some sort of very loud background noise that constantly triggers the note, maybe some sort of ground loop?
or some sort of power issue perhaps? could it be worth a try to get another computer and install it there to see if the problem persists?

[dmitri]

For the issue 1, could it be that the cymbal has some grounding issue? Did you try it when taken off from a stand/kit?

[angr77]

Error 3.
Hmm...still don't get it how you have connected your devices. I am a bit slow...
But I am guessing:

- Profire 2626 is using a firewire to communicate with your PC?
- MD is connected via USB?

All midi transfers above is done using the interfaces above? I hope that it don't exist any more midi cables/connections?

Software settings:
In MDM, let it talk to MegaDRUM port 1. Keep device ID to 0, don't use any midi pass through etc....
In your sound software let it receive on MegaDRUM Port 2. The software will send the audio to the Profire.

Error 2.
Just an idea....for you cymbal (was this the trigger with errors?) Please try to enable the RIM/Egde trigger by enable your Head/bow trigger to use dual Piezo and then on the RIM/Edge select the value switch. You can keep the rest of the values "as is".

Anders

[dmitri]

For all 3 issues it could also be the combination of how MegaDrum is powered and general grounding of whole setup. Did you connect it to anything over a standard MIDI cable at the same time you had the issues? Can you try to replicate the issue on a laptop running on battery only?

[locust]

i had it connected to the same laptop both via midi cables+firewire via the profire and usb, but somehow i doubt thats the problem cause i tried it without the midi cables as well now and it made no difference


so today i tried replicating the issue on battery power

i disconnected the profire, and did not open the DAW, only thing i did was power up the laptop on battery only with the megadrum manager open to monitor the output of the module

the constant midi notes were still there, still note 49, though they had less volume than yesterday
then i tried replicating issue 1, while holding the pad in my hands, and i noticed that whenever i hit the pad, it has an effect on the 49s, they either stopped for a short time, or were triggered less often (same volume though)
i tried several inputs, all behaving the same, except input 8/9 which has the 49 assigned: hitting the pad connected to that input had no effect at all
in the end, as soon as i made a loud hit, the screen on the megadrum turned blank, and it stopped outputting midi
this time, disconnecting the pad did not fix it, and the blank screen is still there now

before all that, i also connected it to another computer, 49s were there as well

[dmitri]

So, it's not powering on at all, is it? If so, PM me to arrange a repair.