Page 1 of 1

hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:14 pm
by tlafleur
Hello everyone! This is my first post in this forum
I have the 56 input megadrum built by Dmitri (thank you for the quick delivery)

I am having configuration issues (and hopefully not module issues). I am just getting to building my cymbals and drums. I have built a dual zone hi-hat wired like this.

http://vdrums.com/forum/album.php?album ... tureid=649

I have the head peizo on the bow and the rim piezo on the edge. I have a Roland FD-8 hi-hat controller.
I have the FD-8 plugged into jack 1 and the hi-hat cymbal plugged into jack 3. Both are plugged in with TRS cables.

On the hi-hat cymbal itself I have it set on dual piezo and the bow (set at D-1 (2)) will not trigger but the edge will (set at C#-1 (1)) . If I move the cymbal to jack 5 (ride) both bow and edge trigger fine. In the hi-hat jack I only ever get a trigger from the edge. I did wire a single peizo to the tip and sleeve to test by itself and it still will not trigger.

Any ideas? Or is there any specific information I can provide to help troubleshoot?

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:37 pm
by dmitri
1. How and what did you set HiLvlAuto and HighLevel to for Bow and Edge channels of the HiHat input and DualMidPoint for the Edge channel? For dual piezo/piezo it is important that HighLevel on both channels and DualMidPoint on the Edge channels are properly set.
2. In the HiHat Pedal settings you can assign HiHat input to any even(Bow) input number (for inputs configured as dual, MegaDrum will automatically use also the next odd (Edge) input). If you connect the cymbal to the Ride input and set HHInput to 6, does it behave differently?

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:32 pm
by tlafleur
1. How and what did you set HiLvlAuto and HighLevel to for Bow and Edge channels of the HiHat input and DualMidPoint for the Edge channel? For dual piezo/piezo it is important that HighLevel on both channels and DualMidPoint on the Edge channels are properly set.


Does not seem to matter what I put it on HiLvlAuto on Yes or no and HighLevel high or low values bow never triggers. I did not see any adjustment called "DualMidPoint"

2. In the HiHat Pedal settings you can assign HiHat input to any even(Bow) input number (for inputs configured as dual, MegaDrum will automatically use also the next odd (Edge) input). If you connect the cymbal to the Ride input and set HHInput to 6, does it behave differently?


Indeed it does I am able to trigger both bow and edge no problems

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:54 pm
by tlafleur
Looks like I am having the same issue with the snare port as well

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:27 pm
by dmitri
For dual piezo/piezo pads it is very important what you set HiLvlAuto, HighLevel and DualMidPoint to.
DualMidPoint was introduced in version 20100313:
Changes in version 20100313:

1. Added options for fine tuning Head/Rim/Crosstick separation: DualMidPoint and DualMidWidth. Both can be set between 0 and 15. The higher DualMidPoint the easier rim hits and harder head hits are and vice versa. The higher DualMidWidth the easier rim shots are and harder head/rim hits.

1. List all your settings for HiHat Bow and HiHat Edge channels when you test your cymbal on the HiHat input.
2. List all your settings for Ride Bow and Ride Edge channels when you test your cymbal on the Ride input.

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:29 pm
by tlafleur
DualMidPoint and DualMidWidth are currently set to 4 . I have tried everywhere from 0 - 15 on both.

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:53 pm
by dmitri
You should really have a look at http://www.megadrum.info/content/pads-settings and especially read about Threshold, HiLvlAuto, HighLevel and DualMidPoint

1. Are you sure that what is shown on the screenshot of MCT matches actual settings in MegaDrum when accessed through bottons/LCD?
2. HighLevel never ever must be lower than Threshold. How did you come up with these values for Threshold, HighLevel and also Gain?
3. You didn't show your settings when the cymbal is connected to the Ride input.
4. Just to exclude possible miscommunication between MCT and MegaDrum, don't set settings using MCT. Use buttons/LCD to set settings manually. Use MCT only to read settings from MegaDrum at this stage.
5. Set DualMidWidth to 0 and don't change it.

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Thu Apr 22, 2010 10:12 pm
by tlafleur
The results you see probably are not anywhere near right and you are correct looking MTC and MegaDrum LCDs do not always match. I just started messing with everything just trying to get a result from the bow, that is the screen shot you see. I will go through the pad-setting guide. Thanks for your patience and help.

Re: hi hat will not trigger on the bow

PostPosted: Fri Apr 23, 2010 4:19 pm
by tlafleur
Try and try as I might I never could get the bow to trigger even following the guideline in the documentation. While reading through the documentation I had seen how to make MegaDrum load its defaults. After I did this low and behold the bow now triggers. Thanks again!