DIY Cymbals & a lot of questions

[privatex]

That sandwich idea make me think, I really like it.
It can be done with heavy bottom cymbal and light-elastic top. Edge and bell switch can be made from that elastic top and steadily bottom but for bow can be used some hard material between cymbals in all bow circle area which transfer strokes directly to the bottom and piezo. Sufficiently elastic top cymbal will make switches easy done.
In this way all zones will have circular shape, like real cymbals. My English is bad but I hope that you know what I want to say.


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[ignotus]

I think I can see what you want to do, but what material do you have in mind for the top, and more importantly, how do you plan to make it keep its shape in the bell area?

My reasoning for using two identical practice cymbals is that you can have a bell part that perfectly matches the contour of the bottom cymbal. Trying to get two cymbals from different sources to match will probably be challenging.

[privatex]

My first thought was silicone-rubber for making mold. It can be cast in shape of cymbal and there's a wide range of hardness. I found one with about 40-45 Sha which will be ideal for feel (there's no need for putting mouse pad on top). Switches area will be reinforced with thin tin, or maybe same idea as my bell switch.
I thinking out loud but from my point of view it can be done well and I will probably do this experiment.
With two identical cymbal in sandwich, as you said, only problem will be bell switch. Cutting one part of top bell can resolve that problem and it's simpler than this and it will work for sure. Casting rubber can be big challenge. I saw some videos on yt and it's not super hard to do, but...

[ignotus]

Wow, you sure know your materials... Sounds very interesting.
I plan on covering the cymbal with 1 or 2 layers of the sheet rubber that is used for lining garden ponds - it's only 0.5mm thick but is reasonably hard/flexible/cheap and very durable. It should get rid of the clackety sound of the plastic while not feeling spongy, which is what I hate about mousepads and similar material. I currently have a layer of thin EVA on my ride and it's really silent but the feel sucks.

[privatex]

Yup, I have mouse pad on ride too and I miss those light strokes and metal surface of acoustic cymbal. EVA yoga litter maybe be good for dampening a cymbal.

[Nepo]

hello,

I'm still try to find the right material for the hit zone of my cymbals.

I use following DIY cymbals:

14" 2Zone /piezo/piezo plastic ride
13" 1Z brass crash 1 & 2
12" 1Z brass china
10" 1Z brass

for the hit zone I use different materials:

-4 mm slip resistens mat - soft ,good damping
-4 mm neopren mat from an old cymbalsilencer - small harder that 1, good damping, better hit response
-5 mm cymbal damper - harder than 1&2 (trainings pad rubber) best hit response but louder

lower site:
-all damped with 2mm self glue bitum antinoisemat from Carhifi
-this works excellent, the cymbals are really dead , for brass cymbals better than plastic

heavier = quiter (in my experience)


For the Hihat I'm current use a Roland CY5 . It is small, loud at the hit feeling is poor.

I want to exchange to a DIY 12" brasscymbal, it will really works better, but for the hit zone I looking for alternative
material than I currently use.

Any more suggestions?

br

Nepo

[ignotus]

I think it just comes down to a compromise between feel/response and noise. The softer the material, the quieter it is but the feel is worse and so is the sensitivity. You just have to decide at which point one priority overrides the other. Then there's the question of what you use the cymbal for: I wouldn't think you'd need the same feel on a china cymbal as on a ride cymbal. A ride needs to provide some bounce for stickwork, while a china generally just gets whacked. Same with crashes and splashes, if they're single zone all you really need is something on the edge - I find transparent PVC tube round the edge does the job nicely. That said, I tested a piece of the rubber that's used for lining ponds (similar to the stuff inner tubes for trucks are made of) on an acoustic cymbal and the feel is quite good; it's a bit louder than a mousepad but it does get rid of the higher frequency noise you get when hitting a bare cymbal.

[privatex]

I finally finished hi hat ONCE FOR ALL, and it works like... well it have two separate zones edge/bow which work extremely accurate with full range of sensitivity. I use Roland CY8 as hat with DIY hall (1302) effect hh controller. I tried with DIY cymbals and it work pretty damn good, but with cy8 I can easier play accents on edge (good edge switch can make miracles). So there it is, simple, easy but fully playable.

[stefan1982]

I finally finished hi hat ONCE FOR ALL, and it works like... well it have two separate zones edge/bow which work extremely accurate with full range of sensitivity. I use Roland CY8 as hat with DIY hall (1302) effect hh controller. I tried with DIY cymbals and it work pretty damn good, but with cy8 I can easier play accents on edge (good edge switch can make miracles). So there it is, simple, easy but fully playable.

Could you share some pictures on how you made this?
And why did you choose for the hall sensor approach, instead of the FSR approach? (I'm making up my mind atm which one to choose)

Sidenote: I had to order some electronics at conrad a couple of days ago, and also bought some SS495 hall sensors. Still looking for the right magnet to use, and a couple of idea's on how to mount the whole thing. Though I question myself if I should use the hall sensor approach, as it seems to me the FSR approach is much easier.

[privatex]

For me hall effect hi hat controller is simplest way. To be honest all ways are simple (hall, optical, FSR it doesn't matter). You have to make few solder joints and put it at right position.
Here is a page that have all tiny details about hall controller:
http://deanmurray.net/dokuwiki/drums:megadrum
You can use what ever you have in this moment. I cant make pics today, maybe in future.
Hall effect sensor connected with megadrum and attached below CY8 and top hat mechanism (I put there neodymium magnet radial polarised and that is it). If you have FSR you can make something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-ROTzYW0A0