using triggers live

[achren_git]

apologies if this isn't the right forum for this but i'm having real problems using triggers live.

ok here's the background- our drummer is quite a consistent heavy hitter but we tend to use an alesis dm5 to get a clicky sound live which is mixed in with the mic'ed kick drum (ok not ideal due to the time delay), and it frequently misses hits. I've messed around with the sensitivity settings as much as possible but ive never been happy with it. live we have a ddrum trigger on the kick drum skin, which goes to the dm5 and then via a di to the desk. there isn't a great deal of padding in the drum as we still like some of the natural sound of the drum coming through.

Am I missing something? if anyone has ideas how to improve the set up or some links that would be much appreciated!
cheers

 

[bryan_kilco]

Is it not recognizing the "missing" hits or is your drummer actually missing those hits?

 

[achren_git]

He's not missing the hits- it comes through on the mic but not on the trigger. I should probably add that it seems to be a problem ive noticed when using drumkits other than his own

 

[bryan_kilco]

Ok, to be straight honest - I've never physically used a trigger before. If it happens mostly on other drumkits, maybe it's the tension of the head? Our drummer is going to be getting triggers soon and I can't wait to mess around with this. I've only played with Reapers Drum Reaplacer, and when I had an issue of hits being missed, it was easily solved by setting the Retrigger Interval (I think thats what it was called?) lower. Not sure how this translates to your scenario, though.

 

[MEt45]

Yeah bryan is right...
My band uses triggers with the same module and you have to be sure that your drum head has a good tension (sometimes you have to tape it) + be sure that the sensor on your trigger is fine (could possibly lead to mistriggering - had it once) and the velocity should be not to low and not too high - obvious fact...all other problems must be caused by your drummer (no offence)

 

[JonWormwood]

Get a Roland trigger.

 

[xFkx]

yeah, the ddrum is crapping out propably


if not, play with the settings, it's not a complicated device. Gain around 50-60, Decay: 25 (might be lower if you need to do super fast double kicks), Noise: 50

 

[achren_git]

thanks for the replies. the more i think about it, it must be a problem with the trigger on the skin. it does work fine when he uses his own kit. just a bit of a bother when you do festival slots with no more than a line check most of the time. if the trigger is fixed right to the skin and the head is tuned right i guess the same settings should work on the module though? basically, should i mess with the skin & trigger more and keep the module as is?

 

[achren_git]

now i think about it, we actually have a roland trigger as a spare, might be worth a try. are they really better than ddrum ones?

 

[JonWormwood]

Yes, like alot.

 

[TotalSatan]

now i think about it, we actually have a roland trigger as a spare, might be worth a try. are they really better than ddrum ones?

I've had the same problems as you with my old ddrum triggers. Bought Roland and never had any problem ever since.

 

[Trevoire520]

This probably isn't what you want to hear, but if your drummer is a consistent hard hitter, and you've got a decent kick, mic and engineer you should have no problems getting a nice clicky kick sound live. Also mic's don't ever mistrigger

 

[achren_git]

id love not to use the trigger to be honest! our experience has been however that, with a good drum kit a good pa and a good sound engineer, the trigger is redundant, however we get about one gig a year with those three present and the rest you're lucky to get one or two out of three!

thanks for all the comments though guys, plan of attack seems to be switch to the roland trigger and double check the trigger on the drumskin at every gig (i always left that to the drummer before which was probably a bad idea )

 

[achren_git]

Ok, ressurecting an old thread here but thought it might be worth posting the solution in case anyone else has had the same problem.

You guys were right about the roland trigger- used that with the gain around 50ish (messed around to avoid false triggering from the floor tom and snare), on some decent kits and some not so decent, and didnt notice any problems at all.

I'm actually thinking the ddrum trigger was f~cked tbh, could ever have the gain below 90 on it, massive difference using the roland.

edit- if anyone has tips for placement to avoid triggering off the rest of the kit, would be appreciated- we had it top right as the drummer looks at it, but as i mentioned, this one was alot more sensitive so could trigger off the snare or floor tom if i didnt get the gain spot on...)

cheers

 

[bryan_kilco]

Our drummer got dDrum Redshot triggers and I made a thread asking for help a few weeks ago and got no replies. Just can NOT get the triggers to work right at all. =/ he ended up getting the DD1 or whatever, dDrum module and you can't load your own samples, which is a SUPER bummer. But I figured, for recording it's fine.

 

[achren_git]

ah right, sorry hadn't noticed that thread, will chip in