DM5 + Trigger Question

Keith!

Broken Parts Club
Feb 3, 2006
367
0
16
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Auckland, New Zealand
When you guys use a kick trigger live with something like the DM5 drum module, what do you generally set the velocity curve at? Do you want all the hits at a velocity of 127 or would you go for a lower setting to get more dynamics?
Keeping in mind that the drummers are young and play metal.

I'm new to using triggers. :)

Cheers.
 
127 for metal. At least that's what we used on a recent band that brought in a DM5. My girlfriend plays drums, and has a Hart Prodigy e-kit with an Alesis DM5, so I was familiar with it, I just set it to 127 for these guys, came out great for their stuff (death metal with lotsa blast beats).

~006
 
If you're talking a midi interface, then set to full or 127. If you're talking about the interface on the DM5 (front panel buttons) then set it to 7. Our old drummer thought that it was "cooler" to have it set at 4, because he was so metal that he was doing ghost notes on his kick. Unfortunately, I think only a ghost was hearing his ghost notes. Moral, if it's live, a kick, and triggered, the highest compression setting is usually the best.

Note: for the toms, the death metal drummers I've talked to have those set to 6 or 7 as well, but they aren't doing anything other than blazing rolls.