MegaDrum Velocity Sensitivity

[dmitri]

Velocities in the log are 1 or 2, which is nowhere near max velocity 127. What is unpredictable about it?

[midiverb]

Hi Dmitri,
It's hard to explain so I might try and get a video. basically when I hit the pad with 4 even hits I get 4 uneven midi messages, they appear as spikes on the log. I may just need to play around with the settings/hardware more.

Anyway I am getting variations in velocity now. thanks

[airflamesred]

This looks like an interesting project Owen.

[alexmcintosh]

I'm having some velocity issues, primarily with my smaller cymbals, and thought this may be a good post to ask this on..
I'm using 27mm piezo's on the bows of my cymbals. All cymbals are real (DIY stealth A2E) & are built: KRT ->PVC->E6000 glue ->Piezo brass. I have the Piezo positioned so that it's directly below where my stick hits. All Piezo's have a maximum Megadrum high value =602 (setting the high value greater than 602, will mean I can not get the Piezo to trigger the max value)

Here's my findings:
20" Ride Cymbal- works great. Great velocity to midi note correlation

14" Hi Hat- way too sensitive, peaks out (I can get 602, a 127 midi note value) with a light medium hit. To help, I've had to place the piezo on the far bow side and also adding a layer of double sided foam tape, to get a semi-strong hit to be a 127 midi note; it's a fix, but position suffers.

16" Crashes- a little too sensitive. I've tried adding some foam tape as well, but unless I place the Piezo on the far back side of the cymbal, it just peaks out too easily.

My dream is too have the velocity sensitivity that my 20" Ride Cymbal has. Anyone have any suggestions.. That won't detract from my positional detection like my Hi Hat; which I have turned off my Bell zone as my current setup makes it difficult for Bell/Bow isolation.

Thanks..

[dmitri]

What velocity curve do you use?

[alexmcintosh]

Dmitri (thank you for the reply)
I've tried all velocity curves. Perhaps the best results are when I use a curve that's exponential, and therefore tries to keep the initial hits to correspond to a lower, midi note. But this doesn't help the problem of a medium hit achieving my HighLevel (value =602, midi note =127)
Thanks.. Alex

[ignotus]

Why don't you set the high level of those particular pads higher than 602?

[dmitri]

1. It is strange that when you set HighLevel above 602 you cannot get max (127) velocities and at the same time when you set HighLevel to exactly 602 you easily get max velocities. Are you sure about relation of HighLevel 602 and how hard/easy you get max velocities?
2. All curves in MegaDrum are editable. Choose the one which you find the closest to your need and then fine tune this curve.

[alexmcintosh]

Dmitri;
1) don't know what to say, other than this points to my DIY hardware (which was my initial thought).. Also, I'm using 3.5mm (1/8") cable, which maybe is causing an impedance problem? All my cymbals use this cabling (about 6' of it, connecting it to the megadrum), the ride cymbal has the shortest length and the Hi Hat has the longest run. Do you think this could be causing the issue?
2) I've tried adjusting the curves, yet I still have the fundamental peak out problem

Thanks.. Alex

[dmitri]

1) don't know what to say, other than this points to my DIY hardware (which was my initial thought).. Also, I'm using 3.5mm (1/8") cable, which maybe is causing an impedance problem? All my cymbals use this cabling (about 6' of it, connecting it to the megadrum), the ride cymbal has the shortest length and the Hi Hat has the longest run. Do you think this could be causing the issue?

Suppose you use the standard Linear curve (and HiLvlAuto is of course set to No).

1. When you set HighLevel to 602 you easily get max velocities with hard hits, right?
2. When you set HighLevel to 603, what max velocities do you get with hard hits?
3. When you set HighLevel to 604, what max velocities do you get with hard hits?
...
... When you set HighLevel to 610, what max velocities do you get with hard hits?