DIY Cymbals & a lot of questions

[stefan1982]

Right now I'm in process of making heavy duty two zone ride cymbal with piezo/piezo system. I have problems with previous designs because they all fall apart in some moment so I decided to make it right this time. I had to make good zone isolation. Every switch based cymbal that I have made was brittle and broke after month/two...
Don try to make piezo/piezo system on one cymbal without zone isolation. It will work for light strokes but it will never cover whole velocity interval which is essential for ride cymbal. It's almost impossible to make it right on one surface with two piezos.
Just my 2c from previous experience.

How would you suggest doing proper zone isolation, without using switches?

[privatex]

I have made update on my previus post. Here it is.
All you need for success in piezo/piezo design is bell isolation and easiest way to do this is to find another bell (from some old cymbal or those promo cymbals that came with cheap drum sets made out of tin). Put some foam tape between new bell and base cymbal and that's it. It will work like a charm.

[Stephen Spurlock]

I know I am reviving this forum but I have some questions about Cymbals and multi-zone options. I have read a lot of options on this forum and didn't know where best to ask my questions. I hope others can find help in my questioning.

I am attempting to get as many sounds out of one cymbal as possible. I like the Yamaha design but some people have said over time the switches give out. I am fine using two jacks on my MegaDrum.

My design is to sandwich two cymbals together and separate the zone with foam. I separated the bell and bow and glued them to another cymbal of the same size. My plan is to do 1 dual zone cymbal with choke glued together with 1 bell that is a single zone cymbal. I put piezos on the bottom of the bell and bow and put foam around each piezo. (I did use multiple peizos in parallel). I am using a Piezo/Piezo/Switch design with zone separation with two jacks. To keep it simple I connected the Bow piezo and switch to one jack (piezo to shield & tip with the one side of the switch to the ring) and the Bell piezo and switch to one jack. (piezo to shield & tip with the one side of the switch to the ring)

I connected the Bow with edge switch to "18 Aux1H/19 Aux1R" on MegaDrum and the Bell with edge switch to "20 Aux 2H/21 Aux 2R."

The MIDI notes I can use with this cymbal are::

Crash:: 49
Ride:: 89
Bell:: 90
Mute:: 54


I assigned the ride sample (89) to the "Head/Bow" note on Aux 1. I assigned the crash sample (49) to the "Rim/Edge" note on Aux 1. I selected "Dual or 3way Yamaha" for type on Aux 1 and selected the type for Aux 2 to be "Switch." I disabled the 3rd zone but I did assign the mute sample (54) to the "DampenedNote" in the 3rd zone.

I assigned the bell sample (90) to the "Head/Bow" note on Aux 2 and selected the type to single piezo. I choose 0 for the note on the "Rim/Edge" of Aux 2 to disable it but selected the type as switch. (my logic was if I did a choke I want it to silence the bell also...I don't know if this is necessary)

Basically, I have setup two single piezo designed and glued them together, literally! I am just curious the best way to program MegaDrum.

Aftertouch seems to be working. I need to adjust some parameters in MegaDrum Manger FX and also in Superior Drummer 2, but I happy for the moment. I have tried many different options of DIY cymbals and many different options in MegaDrum Manger FX, and this seems to work the best.

My question is:: Is this the best way for my design of a cymbal?

When I strike the bow (with the switch open) I get a reading from the piezo on the bow. I selected this to the ride sample. (89)

When I strike the cymbal hard on the edge the switch is closed, and I get a reading from the bow piezo. Is that correct? I selected this to be the crash sample. (49)

The bell is simple, I connected the piezo to the Aux 2 jack and it triggers the bell sample. (90)

The choke, or mute, or DampenedNote was tricky. I didn't know if that note should be triggered, or if was an aftertouch message sent when the switch was closed. Right now, if I close the switch with my hand and hit the cymbal on the bow MegaDrum triggers the mute note. (54).

I don't see a choke on message just choke off. I don't know why, but it sounds ok.

Should I ignore the mute note and just use after touch? (i.e. set the "DampenedNote" to 0)

Does anyone have any suggestions for my cymbal setup?

Below is a schematic for my cymbal and two screen shots from MegaDrum Manager FX for the Aux 1 & Aux 2.

Thanks.

Cymbal WIP 2.jpg

Screen Shot 2017-09-06 at 6.22.21 PM (2).jpg

Screen Shot 2017-09-06 at 6.22.28 PM (2).jpg