Kick drum triggers for live use - need help

[Dylan S]

Hey guys,

My band played a show last night and one of the guys from a local radio station was talking to me after we played about maybe trying to get some triggers for the kick drums for live use, to help the mix open up a lot better.

Now I know pretty much nothing about triggering live drums. I have limited knowledge about the possibility of recording drums with crappy tones/mics/etc, and then using drumagog or APTrigga in a DAW to trigger samples like Slate samples or whatever else in a recording context, but that is basically the extent of my knowledge.

What I basically need from you guys is just a basic run down on how triggers for live use work, whether or not it would be something relatively easy to get set up, and which triggers are the 'right ones to buy' for a sort of death metal/behemoth type context/sound.

Is the trigger you buy also directly related to the sound that comes out? or is it more to do with the quality of the hardware, and then you can put your own kick samples in there or what?

Sorry for all the questions, but I guess I could get some good answers from you guys here because a lot of you know your stuff. I'm just terribly unsure of what is good and how to go about it.

Also, this may seem obvious but I'm unsure...he has a single kick drum with a double kick pedal. Would he need to buy 2 triggers? Or would the one work ok with 2 kick pedals?

Thanks guys.

 

[ahjteam]

I have seen DDrum DDTK kick triggers into Alesis DM5 drum module used alot live. One trigger per kickdrum.

 

[Metaltastic]

Yo dude, all a trigger is is a piezo sensor (sensing vibrations) and a bracket clamp fashioned around it, with an audio output - so it is a transducer (microphone, basically), but nothing more. Those generally go into a hardware sampler such as the kind that would come with a V-drum kit, apparently the Alesis DM5 is pretty much the best hardware module out there, so you'd just need one Ddrum Pro (not Red Shot, super unreliable I've read) Kick Trigger and a DM5! (and of course, a cable to connect the two )

EDIT: Anssi already posted the core information I see

 

[HDWR]

This may be overkill but you could do something like this... Put triggers on everything. Snare, toms, kicks- into an Alesis Trigger i/o into laptop running Battery (or Slate 3.5 or whatever) out to your interface. You could set it up to have multiple outs (depending upon your hardware of course) if the FOH guy wanted control over individual elements of the kit. This way you'd have excellent sounding sampled drum sounds live! I'd use live cymbals though.

I've had a couple different Drum Modules. DM Pro, D4 and DM5 and I find all the samples sorely LACKING compared to Slates tweaked samples. It would be great to have those sounds live don't you think? I'm sure lots of people are doing this already.

 

[chewyfhtts]

our drummer uses the roland kick trigger, with a td-6 module. works great, sounds great.

 

[Executioner213]

Think of a trigger like a key on a keyboard. Touching a key doesn't actually produce a sound, but it sends a signal to a brain with your pre-loaded sound of choice. My band uses trigger on the kick and it works great. You have to make sure you play with the sensitivities and veloicities on the brain to get the result you want, but it works great once it's set right.

Here's some info:
http://www.metalsucks.net/2009/10/16/jumping-darkness-parade-eyal-on-drum-triggers/
http://www.metalsucks.net/2009/10/08/on-drum-triggering-in-metal/
http://www.metalsucks.net/2008/05/07/on-metal-production/

 

[mick thompson]

how about this?

there is a metal club in dublin and all they do is trigger the house kit constantly using DDrum trigs and an Alesis module and it seems to work out pretty well for them

 

[darthjujuu]

DM5 is the standard metal kick trigger module but keep in mind how OLD the unit is (the d4 was 1990, and the dm5 is not worlds ahead it) and its sounds are ... mechanical and ...techno-ish, at best. usable for a metal kick, but that's about all. if you're doing anything other than a kick, go for the roland modules. little more expensive but if live sound is the name of the game, it's a good investment. especially for snares/toms.

 

[Sean in Silence]

My band's is going to start triggering Slate Kick 10 once I pick up a Profire2626.
Basically just run the xlr cable from the two triggers on my drummer's pedals into the interface, firewire from the interface to computer, xlr from interface to house system.
Then just trigger using Aptrigga or something in your DAW and select the Profire as the audio output.

 

[Z3R0]

I bought a DMPro for $100 about a year ago, and it did work great with the Ddrum DDTTK trigger ($60) but now i'm having some weird problems with the unit internally crosstalking into the snare (i have no cables plugged into the snare, just the kick, and when my drummer plays the snare just goes NUTS) so i have to see if i can fix that.

If not, i'm going Sean's route and getting a roadcase for my Profire2626 and using that for multiple outputs: triggered kick (SSD!), samples, and a click track for my drummer.

And the DMPro's built in sounds are less than great, but better than miking up a Pearl Export kit anyday lol. I couldn't figure out how to use the SD Card for my own samples in the DMPro though, it had some crazy old school way of doing it...

 

[nwright]

My band's drummer(s) have used triggers ever since we started out. Both guys we've had use the DM5. Our current drummer runs a DM5 live, but he also owns the big expensive V Drum kit with the TD-20 module and I think the kicks sound more fake then the DM5, with the toms and snare not too much better.

Ddrum Pro trigger into a DM5 would do well.

 

[MEGA DAVE]

I HATE the sound of the DM5's kick. So empty and annoying sounding... Honestly, if you get a module buy a Roland TD6 or higher, you'll love yourself for forking out the little bit extra... I did a tour with the DM5 and one with the TD6 and the difference was no contest in quality for the TD6

 

[Eschatologist]

I HATE the sound of the DM5's kick. So empty and annoying sounding... Honestly, if you get a module buy a Roland TD6 or higher, you'll love yourself for forking out the little bit extra... I did a tour with the DM5 and one with the TD6 and the difference was no contest in quality for the TD6

This, when my old band upgraded from the DM5 to a TD8 it was MASSIVE difference