DIY 3-zone cymbal (revisited)

[ignotus]

The cables are soldered to the copper. You can't really see it, but the two copper parts (edge and bell areas) have strips that come together without touching where the cable is. That cable is 2 strands of ribbon cable that are soldered to the copper. The bottom cymbal has a hole just big enough to clear the solder joints to avoid pressure on them and pass the cable through. Hope it makes sense.

[ignotus]

Here's a 3-zone hi hat I made using the same method with some slight improvements:

hi_hat_2.jpg

hi_hat_1.jpg

This time I didn't use any spacing material between the cymbals that are glued together, nor did I sand them. They were 14" but I cut them down to about 12" to keep things in proportion to the rest of the kit. Turns out that after cutting them they were ever so slightly warped - just enough to leave about a 1mm gap at the bell and edge. Perfect!
I also made the segments at the bell and edge a bit smaller (cut more of them) for more sensitivity, and made the bottom cymbal of the "sandwich" slightly smaller than the top one. This allowed me to wrap the vinyl over and under the outer edge for better looks and should help prevent dust or dirt from getting in the switch area as easily.

hi_hat_3.jpg

I also did a better job with the vinyl - it's very unforgiving. If there are any lumps or imperfections underneath it, they show up twice as visibly when you lay it down. Also (if you use this), a hair dryer is a must to get it to follow the shape of the cymbal and to prevent wrinkles.

[airflamesred]

Have you looked at FSR for the bell trigger Ignotus?

[ignotus]

Have you looked at FSR for the bell trigger Ignotus?

Not really, I don't know if it would even work - you'd need each hit to get it down to close to 0 ohms for it to work. I just looked at the range, and they go from about 100KΩ (light pressure) to 200Ω (strong pressure). What I reckon would happen is that with light hits you'd get edge sounds and it would take fairly hard whacks to get bell sounds. Not very practical. Then there's the issue of how to place them in the bell, the price, etc... The design I used gives you 360º triggering, picks up light hits (therefore has a decent dynamic range), costs practically nothing and uses a very simple mechanism - as far as I'm concerned, my quest for a DIY 3-zone cymbal is thankfully over...

Next: a kick pad that feels nice and heavy like the real thing but without the size, doesn't move/vibrate like a plastic toy and doesn't annoy the neighbours. Basic ingredient: a 17 kg cinder block.

[airflamesred]

Yeah, just wondered as they are still a bit pricey (certainly for me to swap). To me it seems a good technology, but not quite there yet for our needs.
Anyhow, on the BD solution, I just rebuilt mine with triggera kriggs. Firstly I had to cut a new base plate out of 5mm steel and this has made all the difference. Admittedly the Drumtec pedals are cheap anyway but now they do the job I wanted them to do. I'm impressed with the kriggs though. I'll do some pics tomorrow.

[khlustov]

Если у вас есть 1 тарелка, то вполне достаточно решить, как ее демпфировать (заглушить) и как сделать систему глушения рукой.
Для чего понадобилось клеить из 2-х тарелок, я даже представить себе не могу.
Да и еще с такими сложными процессами, резать, подгибать и так далее.
Кроме лишней массивности (а это не для всяких стоек хорошо) - никакого плюса.

[ignotus]

I used Google translate to understand your post - it would be nice if you could use it (or similar) to post directly in English.

If you can't see why I use 2 cymbals, you didn't understand how it works. They don't only have the mute function but also have 3 zones. Each cymbal acts as half of a normally open switch. There's a better design with no glue here.

These plastic cymbals are very light. Combining 2 of them actually makes the feel more realistic and it's still lighter than an acoustic cymbal - no risk to the rack.

It's been 7 years and these cymbals are still going. Some are slightly worn and the very occasional repair has been necessary, but I love them. And the rack is fine