www.megadrum.info

I just received my full kit from Dmtri and after some struggle with my PC to get it to work with MDM, it seems to work fine. I have no triggers connected yet, I'm working on that.

Besides for my drumkit I also want to use MD for a midi mallet controller to simulate a Glockenspiel. The keys will be 20 mm wide so I selected a 15 mm piezo element https://www.conrad.nl/nl/piezo-signaalgever-690635.html, I need 40 pcs. The specs show 1500 Ohm resistance and I'm in doubt if that matters for MD, since other piezo elements show also lower resistance values.

I searched for an answer on this forum but that failed. What is your opinion, will MD handle this (any) piezo element?

Welcome,
I see no reason why they wouldn't work. The construction of the bars wil be of more significance in how well it triggers.

Thank you!

And your answer about piezo type is good news, I will order this type. Yes, I will have to do some testing with the key construction.

My suggestion would be to order 2 of each size (15, 20, 35mm) and experiment before ordering 40 of them. The good thing about piezos is that they are cheap.

No matter how small the order, shipment costs are rather high. I found an overview of piezo elements with varying diameter and frequency.

http://www.produktinfo.conrad.com/datenblaetter/700000-724999/710385-an-01-en-PIEZOELEMENT_EPZ_20MS64W.pdf

In general the resistance for bigger piezo's (27-35 mm are mostly used for triggers) is 200-400E. The one I selected has 1500E, quite a difference. I guess I better pick one with resistance < 500E in order to avoid bad triggering.

Rovalo wrote:In general the resistance for bigger piezo's (27-35 mm are mostly used for triggers) is 200-400E. The one I selected has 1500E, quite a difference. I guess I better pick one with resistance < 500E in order to avoid bad triggering.

To honest Rob I haven;t looked into the stats on them (thanks for the link btw, interesting stuff) but as far as triggering is concerned I've used 20mm and 35mm and theres not a big difference.

Ignotus might chime in on this point but I think it's easier to tame a higher signal and the relevance of the resistance values.

I don't think the resistance will be an issue. When you use resistors or voltage dividers to cool piezos down they are usually in the order of several kOhm, so I don't think a 1k difference will matter much. I've used 15 mm piezos before and they were fine.

Thanks for your replies, I decided for the 20 mm version with lower resistance, should be fine. Already received them, now Im first figuring out how I want the MD inputs configured in break-out boxes for various purposes to use the MD.

Are you planning on incorporating MD in with the bars structure?

No, I just posted a new thread with some questions. In that thread I explain what I plan to do with MD. Can you advice?