Positional sensing testing

[zaklinacz]

Yes, it will work without rectifier.
BR
Michal

[rockdude]

Yes, it will work without rectifier.
BR
Michal

Great! For those with DIY pads the only thing to do would be to change the wiring from the piezos to the jack (if it was wired the Roland way)..Many DIY pads, mine included is already wired the "right" way for this to work, so just download the firmware and bang away
Very simple and no need for a rectifier.

[dmitri]

This is a quick demo showing what you should expect to see on the LCD when testing this firmware. Notice the caret symbol moving from right to left and from left to right with hits moving from the rim to the centre and from the centre to the rim.



This test was taken with Roland-125X, MegaDrum with Atmega32 at 16MHz and a precision rectifier as shown in the first post.
Until the end of this week (when I have to return it) I have a TD-12 module to compare with and as far as I can judge the precision is the same on both TD-12 and MegaDrum.
A few things I noticed from the comparison:
1. for both TD-12 and MegaDrum the bigger the snare the better the precision. I tested it with 10" Pintech, 12" Roland and 14" Drumtec.
2. TD-12 didn't detect position on the Pintech unless I set the pad type to PD9/8/7 and even than it was very unreliable, and in reveres. (because Pintech's first haf wave is positive?)
3. When moving from a centre to a rim both TD-12 and MegaDrum really only start to detect position change very close to a rim - ~3/4th from a centre.

[rockdude]

Nice video dmitri! So the positional sensing is now as "accurate" as on a Roland module? Very cool indeed if that's the case!

I have yet to try this with my 14" DIY A to E snare and without a precision rectifier.

When moving from a centre to a rim both TD-12 and MegaDrum really only start to detect position change very close to a rim - ~3/4th from a centre.

Hmm I wonder why it doesn't detect any change of position earlier? Maybe that's why a bigger snare gives better results? There's a longer distance to detect any change of positions.

More videos to the people dmitri! Can you post one where you try playing from center to rim and output samples?

Another question, What Midi CC number will it output? CC16 seems to be common for positional sensing on Roland modules and vsti's such as Superior Drummer if i remember correct.

Keep up the great work!

[dmitri]

More videos to the people dmitri! Can you post one where you try playing from center to rim and output samples?

What samples?

Another question, What Midi CC number will it output? CC16 seems to be common for positional sensing on Roland modules and vsti's such as Superior Drummer if i remember correct.

Same as Roland - CC 0x10 (CC16)

[rockdude]

What samples?

Audio samples from a vsti for example so we could hear how the samples change from center to edge. Not a biggy, but I just thought it would be nice to hear how smooth it sounds when using the positional sensing feature when it sends midi cc and generates audio samples.

Anyway, thanks for working on this feature!
I hope you will have a good positional sensing week with the MegaDrum and TD12 side by side

[dmitri]

What samples?

Audio samples from a vsti for example so we could hear how the samples change from center to edge. Not a biggy, but I just thought it would be nice to hear how smooth it sounds when using the positional sensing feature when it sends midi cc and generates audio samples.

Sorry but I don't have VSTi's supporting positional sensing. When connected to TD-12 over MIDI, MegaDrum was producing sound variation from centre to rim just as accurate as TD-12.

Anyway, thanks for working on this feature!
I hope you will have a good positional sensing week with the MegaDrum and TD12 side by side

In fact, I'm packing it today to bo sent tomorrow.

[rockdude]

What samples?

Audio samples from a vsti for example so we could hear how the samples change from center to edge. Not a biggy, but I just thought it would be nice to hear how smooth it sounds when using the positional sensing feature when it sends midi cc and generates audio samples.

Sorry but I don't have VSTi's supporting positional sensing. When connected to TD-12 over MIDI, MegaDrum was producing sound variation from centre to rim just as accurate as TD-12.

Anyway, thanks for working on this feature!
I hope you will have a good positional sensing week with the MegaDrum and TD12 side by side

In fact, I'm packing it today to bo sent tomorrow.

Ok I see, well I should try it myself...I just have to finish my rebuilt DIY A to E snare
I hope I'll get similar performance to what you got. If it's as good as on a TD12, I guess it's soon ready to be included in an upcoming official firmware release?

Even folks who don't have vsti's with positional sensing could have use for this feature in MegaDrum. One way could be to let the CC16 output control various effects like envelopes, reverbs and so forth, manipulating the samples the closer to the rim the stick hits the drum.

[dmitri]

I hope I'll get similar performance to what you got. If it's as good as on a TD12, I guess it's soon ready to be included in an upcoming official firmware release?

I will include it soon. Even if it doesn't work in a particular situation, it can just be disabled. I still need to do a bit more tweaking/polishing/testing.

[dmitri]

Updated the firmware with an additional Positional setting and fixed a bug with piezo/switch pads which I accidentally introduced in the previous version.