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Hi everyone!

i built a percussion based on piezos and switches, i'm quite happy with how things are set up, but now i'm wondering if i could use the "3rd zone" option... I know it's meant to be used with 3way cymbals, i saw a lot of topics about how to configure MD for 3way cymbals, but i'm not using cymbals at all, i was just wondering if i could benefit in any way from this option in some other way (more switches?)... I understand that 3way cymbals can send 3 different informations, but how does it work with the MD? Are they all going through 1 single stereo input or does it require 2 inputs on the MD?

For example is there a way for me to send informations from 1 piezo + 2 different switches to one input?

Thanks for your help!

Denis

You can use a single stereo input. You wire the second switch through a 10k resistor, also going to ring like the first switch. The module can tell the two switches apart thanks to the resistor. You then set up the second switch in the 3rd zone menu.

Yamaha makes 3 zone snares - XP80/100/120 - as piezo/switch/switch pads. With MegaDrum you can get 4 different sounds from it (not counting PressrollNotes and AltNotes): each of the 3 zones plus a Dampened Note using just two inputs.

Thank you guys!

I implemented it, wired a second switch to the same rim input through a 10k resistor (well in fact when i test it it's 9,8...)

I get the piezo signal, the first switch's signal, but nothing from the 2nd switch, all connections are tested and working, i must be missing something on the way, is it in my MD manager configuration?

Thanks again

At least on thing is not correct. Threshold on the edge zone must be higher then Threshold on the 3rd zone.
See "Settings for Yamaha XP120SD and similar 3 zone pads" in the "Useful posts/links for configuring MegaDrum" topic at the top of this forum.

There must be something going wrong, but i can't see what... Changing the threshold didn't change my problem...
as i read, the "Settings for Yamaha XP120SD and similar 3 zone pads" topic deals a lot with the different ways to configure an actual real cymbal, crosstalk issues, threshold, etc... But in my case, with separated piezo and switches, with no crosstalk possible at all, it should be dead simple, shouldn't it? Or do i have to try several different threshold settings?

I tried both configuring via MDM and directly with the MD's knobs, same result, i get notes for the piezo and the 1st switch and that's all...

All switches are OK, the resistor is OK, all connections tested all the way down to the board pins...

I can stick with my current configuration but it's frustrating not knowing what i'm doing wrong (especially when it's as simple as putting a 10k resistor in a circuit!)

could there be some kind of restriction on which inputs can accept this dual switch system?

Thanks!

I forgot to mention that the switch with the resistor will now be interpreted as the "edge" switch, and the one without as the "bell" or "3rd zone". So, the way I do it is I squeeze the "edge" switch and raise the threshold from 0, one by one, until the midi light starts flashing. There should be a range of 4 or 5 values where that happens - leave it at a value in the middle of those. Then, squeeze the other switch and do the same. You should end up with a value that is 3 or 4 below the first one. I think your problem was that you (understandably) thought the switch going through the resistor would be the 3rd zone, so if you gave it lower values than the other one it would never work.

Also see http://www.megadrum.info/content/settin ... one-cymbal for setting Thresholds on switch zones.

Thanks guys,

At least now following your instructions i get signals from both switches, the edge switch (the one with the resistor) works with a threshold around 23, and the bell switch works within the entire 0-127 range, i don't know if it's normal, is it?


a problem remains : even if i assigned a different notes to each switch, the notes i receive from MD are both the edge note, it's like MD is not paying attention to the Bnote, if i change the edge note both switches will send that note, but no matter what the bell note is, i can't seem to have MD play it...

If you still have a bit of patience left for this, your help is already much appreciated, thanks for taking the time to do this, guys...

Did you follow instructions from my previous post for setting up Thresholds? What Threshold values did you get for the edge and for the bell?