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Snare dropping out sometimes

Snare dropping out sometimes

2004-06-28 by drumsonly2002

hello all. I have a DTXTreme-2 and have a snare dropping out every 
second bar. Played a prom gig and only used 3 toms, kick and snare. 
Used acoustic hats and cymbals. 2 monitors, JBL EON and Yamaha 
keyboard amp. Had the JBL cranked. Contacted Yamaha and they think, 
1. pad, 2. cord, 3. module. Through headphones I cannot reproduce 
the problem. Turned the self reject and reject to it's lowest 
settings on the snare. Someone mentioned that the speaker could be 
causing my pizeo to "feedback" causing the note to cancel once in a 
while. When the snare doesn't trigger it's while doing a simple rock 
beat. I noticed the gain on my pad was turned all the way up so is 
it possable to overload the imput of the module? I turned the gain 
down (a little dial on the pad). Now the hardest hit on pad will 
bring it up to 95%. I hit the snare pad fairly hard live as it is 
rock (do use proper Moller Technique). Read all the postings on 
cross talk but thought I'd ask this question fresh and get your 
wisdom. could vibration of some sort cause the snare not to trigger? 
This one has got me stumped. The module is under warranty but hate 
to send it back if it's a setting or adjustment i could change to 
solve this. Could i be hitting the pad that the rim and snare are 
trying to trigger at the same time and somehow cancelling each 
other? Another thought is the compressor in the JBL is cutting in 
thus cutting out the snare note. Did have a problem with the JBL 
before but repaired under warranty. Back then my kick was cutting 
out when using an Alesis D-5. I do play the snare loud and the JBL 
is on the verge of distortion. Getting another monitor system and 
taking the JBL out of the loop. Any suggestions would be 
appreciated. When the snare drops out during rehersals or live this 
is fustrating to no end. I have no problems with the toms or kick, 
just the snare playing half notes. Thanks!

Re: Snare dropping out sometimes

2004-06-28 by giles_hearn

Let's first try to rule out the things that are NOT causing your 
problem:

> Through headphones I cannot reproduce 
> the problem. Turned the self reject and reject to it's lowest 
> settings on the snare. Someone mentioned that the speaker could be 
> causing my pizeo to "feedback" causing the note to cancel once in a 
> while. 
The sound waves from a nearby speaker (if loud enough) could cause 
enough vibration to trigger the piezo. But it would have to be really 
loud & really close to send the piezo into feedback - where its 
vibration causes a trigger which is amplified and becomes added to 
the existing sound vibration. I've heard feedback many times and I 
don't think it's selective enough to cause dropouts every second bar.

> Another thought is the compressor in the JBL is cutting in...
A compressor is designed to reduce the gain of a signal after a 
certain time (attack), and only when the signal exceeds a certain 
threshold. The overall effect would be to flatten out the dynamics of 
your playing, rather than to specifically cut out entire sounds.

I'd be surprised if rejection settings were also able to cause such 
specific droupouts - but it would help to know what rock beat you are 
playing exactly, at what tempo and which beats are getting dropped?
Is it possible to upload a recording of this phenomenon?

G

RE: [DTXpress] Snare dropping out sometimes

2004-06-28 by rdamon@mckinney-usa.com

Some basics. 
 
With Yamaha edrums you start with three types of rejection settings. 
 
The first is the rejection that the pad has to itself. If the setting is to
low, then it may trigger a second time from just one strike. If the setting
is to high then a quick second strike may not register because the Module
thinks the second strike is actually a secondary vibration, as oppose to an
actual strike and will cancel it out. You are setting the time delay between
strikes in effect.
 
The second is the rejection that the pad has to a second specific adjacent
pad. When you are setting up the pad plugged into trigger input 2 and
everytime you strike the pad plugged into trigger input 3 hard, you get the
sound for pad 2, as desired, but you also get the sound from pad 3, then the
specific rejection for that pad (2) can be setup to ignore strikes from pad
3. The downside is that if you truely what to hit both pads simultaneously
and the rejection setting is high, then if you hit pad 3 a microsecond
before pad 2, then pad 2 maybe ignored. If you set the rejection setting too
low then may get both sounds everytime you strike the pads hard. This
setting must be used with a high specific rejection setting when using a
BP80 barpad or when you mount a PCY10 bell pad on the same arm with a PCY65S
cymbal pad. Because you are dealing with two piezo's in close proximity with
each other, striking one pad will vibrate the second pad enough to trigger
it, unless the specific rejection is set fairly high.
 
The third rejection is to the other kit pads in general and to general rack
vibration - ie. the rack sitting next to a bass amp. A low rejection setting
may cause the pad to trigger if several of the adjacent pads are struck or
if you have a environment with a lot of external vibrations being generated.
A high setting will help reduce false triggering of the pad from an external
source.
 
The problem with all of this is the module is simply not smart enough to
know where the vibration is coming from that is causing the piezo to
vibrate. It cannot tell if the initial vibration it is detecting is coming
from a light strike of the pad itself, from a heavy strike from an adjacent
pad or from an 18" subwoofer that is shaking the crap out of the drum rack.
All the module knows is that the piezo is "moving". 
 
When you throw into the works the additional settings, such as sensitivity
from 0-100 or velocity curves, it just makes it worse for the module to
figure out what in the world am I suppose to do here, trigger or not
trigger.
 
Thus, each environment that you use the kit in will effect each of these
settings, there is no simple answer. You do have the ability to save user
trigger settings, I only use my kit in one environment so I only need one
trigger setup. If I moved it around I am sure I would have to have multiple
settings. 
 
So, basically you will need to do a little trial and error and come up with
some basic settings that will work in most environments that the kit will be
used in. For example one setting for using in a studio using headphones and
one for small venues.  [If you are playing in a large venue then, you should
be able to afford a tech guy that can figure it out for you... ; ).]
 
I know this doesn't give the "answer-solution" but I hope it will help you
and others to understand some of whats involved in tracking down problems
like this. Typically if you have a problem and it occurs everytime you
strike a pad, regardless of where the kit is setup, how you are monitoring
it or what kit/song you have set, then it most liking is a physical
problem. But, if you can make it "go away" under certain conditions, then it
is probably a trigger/pad setting problem.
 
 
OGD
 
 
 
 

   _____  
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: drumsonly2002 [mailto:dan@...] 
Sent: Sunday, June 27, 2004 10:29 PM
To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [DTXpress] Snare dropping out sometimes


hello all. I have a DTXTreme-2 and have a snare dropping out every 
second bar. Played a prom gig and only used 3 toms, kick and snare. 
Used acoustic hats and cymbals. 2 monitors, JBL EON and Yamaha 
keyboard amp. Had the JBL cranked. Contacted Yamaha and they think, 
1. pad, 2. cord, 3. module. Through headphones I cannot reproduce 
the problem. Turned the self reject and reject to it's lowest 
settings on the snare. Someone mentioned that the speaker could be 
causing my pizeo to "feedback" causing the note to cancel once in a 
while. When the snare doesn't trigger it's while doing a simple rock 
beat. I noticed the gain on my pad was turned all the way up so is 
it possable to overload the imput of the module?
 
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Re: Snare dropping out sometimes

2004-06-28 by drumsonly2002

On purpose, during a song, I played a linear phrase through the 
song, at a tempo at about 150bbm. Kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4. 
The snare did drop after several bars on the 2 or 4. Never 2 beats 
in a row. Is it possable the pad is being struck so hard the rim is 
triggered but somehow cancells then tells the snare  it a "reject" 
thus not triggering the snare? I bet it's one of those simple 
problems that is a bit if a stumper to figure out. I am new to this 
module and not the most technecally minded along with my bad 
spelling.

I'd be surprised if rejection settings were also able to cause such 
> specific droupouts - but it would help to know what rock beat you 
are 
Show quoted textHide quoted text
> playing exactly, at what tempo and which beats are getting dropped?
> Is it possible to upload a recording of this phenomenon?
> 
> G

RE: [DTXpress] Re: Snare dropping out sometimes

2004-06-28 by rdamon@mckinney-usa.com

First off the rim switch is a flat ribbon, unlike the main pad trigger,
which is a piezo. The rim has to be physically contacted to trigger. 
 
You indicated that "during a song", this occurred. If you just do the kick
and snare without anything else going on, ie. no songs, do you still have
the problem? Try it just using the snare and the kick through a set of
headphones and try to duplicate the problem. When you strike the snare only
(with the kick), hit the center of the pad surface, do not do a rim shot,
where you contact both the rim and pad. Then try it just striking the rim
(with the kick) and not the pad surface. Like a posted earlier, running down
problems is a trial and error, and the best way to start is at the most
basic level. Also, try slowing the bpm down from 150 to see a what point the
problem disappears.
 
Also, just out of curiousity, what kind of surface is the kit setting on?
Heavy carpet, wood, concrete??
 
OGD

   _____  
Show quoted textHide quoted text
From: drumsonly2002 [mailto:dan@...] 
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 5:45 PM
To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [DTXpress] Re: Snare dropping out sometimes


On purpose, during a song, I played a linear phrase through the 
song, at a tempo at about 150bbm. Kick on 1 and 3, snare on 2 and 4. 
The snare did drop after several bars on the 2 or 4. Never 2 beats 
in a row. Is it possable the pad is being struck so hard the rim is 
triggered but somehow cancells then tells the snare  it a "reject" 
thus not triggering the snare? I bet it's one of those simple 
problems that is a bit if a stumper to figure out. I am new to this 
module and not the most technecally minded along with my bad 
spelling.

I'd be surprised if rejection settings were also able to cause such 
> specific droupouts - but it would help to know what rock beat you 
are 
> playing exactly, at what tempo and which beats are getting dropped?
> Is it possible to upload a recording of this phenomenon?
> 
> G


 
**************************************************************************
The information transmitted herewith is sensitive information intended only
for use to the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If the reader
of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that
any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, copying or other
use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error,
please contact the sender and delete the material from your computer.


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