Hihat - dynamic chick - firmware testing

[gabriel1712]

I'm very satisfied with the performance of my MD and I have all but my Hihat controller nailed down to good or great and with plenty of ideas for improving the settings even further. But the hihat controller chick puzzles me completly.


This is my controller




No matter how hard or soft I do chicks it's always returns max velocity (125-127). This is a medium to soft chick transcript




It seems Chick (note 37) can only do max, while splashs (note 38) have fine dynamics.




How on earth do I get dynamic chicks?

I know quite a few of you have the same controller - purleeease post your setting...

[dmitri]

Dynamics of the chick are hard coded at present - the faster you you press the pedal the higher velocity of the chick. It is strange that up until now nobody complained about chick handling. Does anyone else have an issue with it? I may introduce a 'chick' dynamic adjustment setting.

[userfriendly]

I may introduce a 'chick' dynamic adjustment setting.

That'd be cool, yeah. Controlling chick velocity with the speed of the foot motion seems somewhat counterintuitive to me, but then again, I have yet to build and use the MegaDrum. But yeah, tying chick velocity to how hard you kick the pedal instead of how fast does seem to make more sense to me.

[dmitri]

I may introduce a 'chick' dynamic adjustment setting.

That'd be cool, yeah. Controlling chick velocity with the speed of the foot motion seems somewhat counterintuitive to me, but then again, I have yet to build and use the MegaDrum. But yeah, tying chick velocity to how hard you kick the pedal instead of how fast does seem to make more sense to me.

The problem is that right now I have no idea how to measure 'how hard' the pedal is pressed with variable type pedals.

[gabriel1712]

Dynamics of the chick are hard coded at present - the faster you you press the pedal the higher velocity of the chick. It is strange that up until now nobody complained about chick handling. Does anyone else have an issue with it? I may introduce a 'chick' dynamic adjustment setting.

Ah, then there's two points to discuss.

a) Can you think of anything, I can test, to find the reason why my dynamic range is just 125-127?

b) Yes, the speed of the foot may not be the best measure. I often use fast, but low volumn chicks to give the ride pattern a certain drive. In that case it could prolly be simulated by comparing the distance the foot travel (very little) to the speed (fast) = light chick. And equally in a slow heavy groove, I would say the power of the chick is 'gravity-driven', slow and thick rather than speedy. So long distances and slow = thick chick. I got no clue if it's programmable or not so please excuse me if it's impossible. How do other modules go about it? And where's Jman when there a new 'silly' pressurespeedometricdoppler-gadget to be invented

[gabriel1712]

I don't know if it's any help but this is my old module HHctrl doing fast and light chick.


This is the old module doing thick and slow


I noticed it has no footcontroller entry in the MIDI-OX readout compared to the MD previously posted.

[dmitri]

And can you get chicks with velocities 1 and 127 on this modules? And how easy to get them?

[gabriel1712]

And can you get chicks with velocities 1 and 127 on this modules? And how easy to get them?

9 is the lowest I can do. I can do 127's continuously, but it's not a pretty sight, because I need to take the foot clean off the pedal (prolly to get the proper speed). Anything over 100 can only be achieved by doing that, which in my book is poor technique, eg. letting go of the steering wheel.

a) Can you think of anything, I can test, to find the reason why my dynamic range is just 125-127?

Got a clue on this one?

[r0bbie]

Dynamics of the chick are hard coded at present - the faster you you press the pedal the higher velocity of the chick. It is strange that up until now nobody complained about chick handling. Does anyone else have an issue with it? I may introduce a 'chick' dynamic adjustment setting.

My experience is that chick only happens from 3/4 or further open to closed, and always with one velocity, pressing the pedal from half open to closed produces no sound at all.
Tweaking pedal highlevel has improved chick playability a little.

I am using a 25K rotary pot on top of my hihat stand, the physical range is about 60 % , so I guess resistance will be 15K for fully open and 0 ohm for completely closed.

I agree, it would be great if chick velocity was being determined by closing speed and closing distance.
I’ve been to busy yet with getting my other pads to function properly, but I would have brought this to your attention in a later stage.

Best regards,
Rob.

[gabriel1712]

My experience is that chick only happens from 3/4 or further open to closed, and always with one velocity, pressing the pedal from half open to closed produces no sound at all.

Yup, my experience too. Or rather soft chicks won't register. Is your one velocity also ~127?