Roland Triggers ;-)

[mickrich]

I always trigger kick(s) and snare and have been using DDrum pro triggers.
I hate the sound of triggered toms compared to the studio's well tuned Sonor S Class toms.
I originally bought the drum set pack with an extra kick trigger.
I have gone through the snare and all 3 tom triggers (on snare) over the past few months plus 2 extra transducers. On the last album I did, one of the kicks died and so did my last spare transducer for the snare leaving me with the unenviable task of automating a gain plugin before Slate Trigger on a duplicate of the snare mic track to get the snare hits. PITA!!!
I had enough so after reading advice here, I ordered Roland triggers for kick(s) and snare.
I got a tom trigger for the snare because I don't need the second side stick sensor.
Had my first session with them today and they track far better than the DDrums. I was recording a pop punk band and had no problem tracking buzz rolls on the snare.
The recorded sound of the Rolands is much fuller compared to the "click" of the DDrums. I know you are never going to hear this sound but it does track better.
The design is much better too. You can adjust how hard against the skin the transducer is pressed allowing you to have it just touching the head whereas the DDrums were always mashed against the head with the foam completely squashed.
This is probably the main cause of all the failures I was having.
The only downside is they are TRS jack output rather than XLR so I ordered 3 20 foot TRS to Male XLR cables. I will pack these cables in the same drawer as the triggers so they don't get lost.
I can't comment on reliability yet but lots of people have said they are bullet proof.

Hope this helps anyone either thinking of changing to the Rolands or buying triggers for the first time.

 

[KHE]

thanks for your review! I`m gonna buy some trigger-modules soon, and wasn`t shure if i should take the DD`s or the Rolands. But now i think i know which one i should choose
regards, khe

 

[AHChris]

I just ordered a set of DDrum DRT triggers... will report back how good those are.

 

[mickrich]

I hadn't seen the new DRT triggers so I checked the DDrum website.
A second trigger you can switch to when one dies. That basically says it all!
Even they don't have confidence in their product.
Other than the switchable second trigger in the chassis they are basically the same as the pro triggers. If it's not too late to cancel your order and get the Rolands I strongly suggest you do it.

 

[AHChris]

I hadn't seen the new DRT triggers so I checked the DDrum website.
A second trigger you can switch to when one dies. That basically says it all!
Even they don't have confidence in their product.
Other than the switchable second trigger in the chassis they are basically the same as the pro triggers. If it's not too late to cancel your order and get the Rolands I strongly suggest you do it.

Naaah we are DDrum endorsed (mainly because of the drumkits though) so I get an awesome price... I have to try them out.

 

[fade_2_black]

When I was touring with Mayhem, Hellhammer used the Rolands and swore by them. Said he used Ddrums for a long time but they just don't compare.
I had no issues with them whatsoever, worked flawlessly.
In the studio however, I still use Ddrum pro. I have enough to trigger K, S and 5 toms, and have never had an issue with any of them. Perhaps it was how you were using the ddrum pro triggers.. You say the foam was always completely squashed? Mine aren't like that at all - I set them quite lightly (still firm enough for the piezo to have full, strong contact) and this triggering offers accurate and dynamic response. If I was to have one break on me (unless somehow a whole lot decided to go at once), I would simply replace it with another Ddrum pro, no second consideration.

 

[ahjteam]

Naaah we are DDrum endorsed (mainly because of the drumkits though) so I get an awesome price... I have to try them out.

well the ddrum triggers are only like 50€ a piece anyway...

 

[AHChris]

Yeah and I need 6 of them... We get pretty big disconts, so it´s a no brainer for me. Especially when you consider that there are people which have no problems with the DDrums like fade2black here.