Problems with Roland cymbals

[magpies]

I am using my megadrum and really happy with it.

I have just two problem it would be great if someone could advise me on:

I have a Roland 3 way ride cymbal CY15R but I can't find a way to set this up to trigger all 3 zones reliably. It is connected bow/bell into input 5 and bow/edge into input 6.

Any ideas how to set this up ?

Also I have 3 Roland CY12R cymbals as crashes in aux 1 aux 2 and aux 3 but I can't get the mutes to work.

Again if anyone could advise me on this that would be great.

[dmitri]

I don't have a Roland 3 zone cymbal nor a mock up at the moment so this is from my memory.

Roland 3 zone cymbals use 2 consecutive stereo inputs. For this example say Aux1/Aux2.

1. Plug the Bow/Bell cable into Aux1
2. Plug the Bow/Edge cable into Aux2
3. For Aux1 Head set Type to 3way Roland
4. For Aux1 Rim set Type to Switch
5. For Aux2 Rim set Type to Switch
6. From http://www.megadrum.info/content/miscellaneous-settings use 'Set All EdgeSw' option to auto-set Threshold on Aux1 Rim and Aux2 Rim. After completing this procedure you will have Threshold on Aux1 Rim and Aux2 Rim set between 1 and 50. You may still adjust these Threholds slightly so that when you press/release either the edge or the bell switch you get MIDI Aftertouch On/Off messages. You can use either MegaDrum Manager or MIDI-OX to monitor for MIDI Aftertouch messages.
7. At this step you should have zone separation for all 3 zones and you will need to configure all other parameters (don't change Gain setting otherwise you will need to start from step 6 again). Bow settings are in Aux1 Head, Edge settings - in Aux2 Rim, Bell settings - in Aux1 Rim.

When I find my Roland 3 way mock up (lost somewhere) I'll check this steps again.

These topics also will be of help I believe:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=889
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=376
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=572

[magpies]

Hi Dimitri,

I did all that but I think I may have put the wrong note numbers in, I am using Superior Drummer and the notes in that for the Ride are:

Shank F3
Edge c#3
Bell D#3

But all I got after setting up the roland cymbal as you suggested was C#3 from all zones.

Could you suggest what note numbers should be entered for each megadrum note ?

Also I dont seem to be getting a choke signal through to Superior Drummer from the Ride or any of the 3 crashes. When I use the same cymbals with a Roland TD20 the chokes work fine but I don't seem to be getting any aftertouch data coming through. Could you advise me how to resolve that.

Thanks again for your help. Alan.

[dmitri]

Hi Dimitri,

I did all that but I think I may have put the wrong note numbers in, I am using Superior Drummer and the notes in that for the Ride are:

Shank F3
Edge c#3
Bell D#3

But all I got after setting up the roland cymbal as you suggested was C#3 from all zones.

Could you suggest what note numbers should be entered for each megadrum note ?

Also I dont seem to be getting a choke signal through to Superior Drummer from the Ride or any of the 3 crashes. When I use the same cymbals with a Roland TD20 the chokes work fine but I don't seem to be getting any aftertouch data coming through. Could you advise me how to resolve that.

Did you do step 6, including - "You may still adjust these Threholds slightly so that when you press/release either the edge or the bell switch you get MIDI Aftertouch On/Off messages. You can use either MegaDrum Manager or MIDI-OX to monitor for MIDI Aftertouch messages" ?

[Alek_A]

Hello, Dmitri! I glad to report that I finally assembled MegaDrum, bought Roland pads and connected altogether.

I decided to start with the most complex - 3 way ride cymbal CY-15R-MG. I connected bow/bell to 6/7(ride) input and bow/edge to 8/9(crash) input.

I did all the steps in your reply above carefully and tried other suggestions regarding to CY-15R. The best result was: all zones work as expected, but chokes didn't always work or was a bit delayed. The situation didn't improve whatever I did, including checking all threshold levels on edge input.

Then I tried reversed variant: I connected first bow/edge to 6/7, then bow/bell to 8/9 and readjusted settings. Now everything work as expected. Chokes work faster and more reliably.
The only strange thing that I'm observing now is that I can't get shot other than bell shot after choke. Whatever I hit, first shot after choke is always bell shot. If this could be fixed I would be well satisfied with the ride setup!

For other users: note, to achieve this I had to modify clutch.

[dmitri]

When observing in MDM MIDI Log, what do you see when you press the edge switch and when you release it?

[angr77]

Hi. You could compare your settings towards mine for CY15R in the MegaDrum Library http://powerhell.wordpress.com/about/zo ... d-library/

I think I have it just perfect!

Best regards

Angr77

[Alek_A]

Dmitri, I see three aftertouch choke on messages when I press it and three aftertouch choke off messages when I release it. Note numbers corresponds to pad zone note numbers, all seems correct.

I attached screenshots for simple test. I hit bow 3 times, then held and released pad, hit bow 2 times, then again held and released, then hit edge 3 times.
But first note after choke is always bell shot.

[Alek_A]

Hi, angr77!
Thanks for advice! Actually it was my starting point. When I googled for "megadrum CY-15R" your cool video was on the first place)
Also I'm impressed with your articles and pad library!
Thanks for sharing your experience! Really!

[dmitri]

angr77, can you please to reproduce this (I don't have Roland cymbals to try with):

I hit bow 3 times, then held and released pad, hit bow 2 times, then again held and released, then hit edge 3 times.
But first note after choke is always bell shot.

If you get the same result, then it is a bug in the firmware and I'll need to find a cause and fix it.