Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

Hi drum dudes!

For those of you into "vibes" there's a Silicon Mallet on Ebay at this very
now...

electronically yours, jesper

http://www.bolina.hsb.se/hsidor/jesper
- -- --- ---- ----- ------ ----- ---- --- -- -
Electronic Obsession Mailorder
http://obsession.svart.nu

ok so awaiting the ebay silicon mallet...does anyone have a copy of 
its manual they could scan for me? Schematics etc would also be nice.

--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "p_k_daniels" <pete.daniels@...> 
wrote:
>
> ok so awaiting the ebay silicon mallet...does anyone have a copy of 
> its manual they could scan for me? Schematics etc would also be nice.
>
OK so it arrived its not a Silicon Mallet! it something ive not heard 
of ...its a multi mallet...same thing almost...main differences are 
its got only 2 not 3 octaves, Its about half the length and all the 
electronics are built into the synth like case, no seperate box. 
Anyway its exactly what I need as an addon for the kit. Now its all 
fine except 6 of the 24 pads dont work...ive done some initial 
investigation ...all 99 patches work fine, headphones fine, amp out 
fine, midi fine. Took it apart , the top boards are 12 pads each and 
have some sort of trigger proccessing board incorporated, so swapped 
the 2 complete top sections round and the problem moves with the 
section so I have either a partially duff processor card or some 
knackered triggers. next stage is to swap the trigger processing 
boards between the sections to try and identify if its the circuit 
board or the rubber/wood trigger pads. Will keep you all posted and 
will get some photos uploaded soon. its going on the backburner for 
now as Im off to Stonehenge and then Glastonbury festival.

--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "p_k_daniels" 
<pete.daniels@...> wrote:
>
> --- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "p_k_daniels" 
<pete.daniels@> 
> wrote:
> >
> > ok so awaiting the ebay silicon mallet...does anyone have a copy 
of 
> > its manual they could scan for me? Schematics etc would also be 
nice.
> >
> OK so it arrived its not a Silicon Mallet! it something ive not 
heard 
> of ...its a multi mallet...same thing almost...main differences 
are 
> its got only 2 not 3 octaves, Its about half the length and all 
the 
> electronics are built into the synth like case, no seperate box. 
> Anyway its exactly what I need as an addon for the kit. Now its 
all 
> fine except 6 of the 24 pads dont work...ive done some initial 
> investigation ...all 99 patches work fine, headphones fine, amp 
out 
> fine, midi fine. Took it apart , the top boards are 12 pads each 
and 
> have some sort of trigger proccessing board incorporated, so 
swapped 
> the 2 complete top sections round and the problem moves with the 
> section so I have either a partially duff processor card or some 
> knackered triggers. next stage is to swap the trigger processing 
> boards between the sections to try and identify if its the circuit 
> board or the rubber/wood trigger pads. Will keep you all posted 
and 
> will get some photos uploaded soon. its going on the backburner 
for 
> now as Im off to Stonehenge and then Glastonbury festival.
>
Ok did some additional fault finding,and my problem is with the 
primitive membrane keypads and I think its a build flaw that maybe 
awaiting for all silicon mallets, so id advise if you have one open 
it up and check...
the 2 part membrane keypad is 2 pieces of semiflexible circuit board 
the top is a silicon/graphit spray that hits a matrix of printed 
tracks on the other one when the pads are struck.At one end the 
printed track folds around the plywood base and is fixed in place 
using a thin plastic strip and some sticky tape. The tape on mine 
was yellow and black striped about 2 inch wide. something in the 
glue of this tape has eaten the tracks turning them thin and black 
and in some cases eaten them away altogether. so i know what the 
problem is...still not sure how Im gonna fix it though.

If you have already opened it this far, the repair is easy. The black traces is corrosion and the malfunction is open circuits, check and locate with voltmeter. But you can mend the lines with liquid tin or silver paint. The paint is available in radio shacks or similiar.
If you need some posts for soldering your wires to, shoot some copper- plated staples into the wood, solder your wires to the staples and "connect" the tracks of the flex circuit board also with the paint. The current is not high, so a thin layer of paint is ok.
Good luck

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: p_k_daniels 
  To: Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 12:25 PM
  Subject: [Simmons Drums] Re: silicon mallet


  --- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "p_k_daniels" 
  <pete.daniels@...> wrote:
  >
  > --- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "p_k_daniels" 
  <pete.daniels@> 
  > wrote:
  > >
  > > ok so awaiting the ebay silicon mallet...does anyone have a copy 
  of 
  > > its manual they could scan for me? Schematics etc would also be 
  nice.
  > >
  > OK so it arrived its not a Silicon Mallet! it something ive not 
  heard 
  > of ...its a multi mallet...same thing almost...main differences 
  are 
  > its got only 2 not 3 octaves, Its about half the length and all 
  the 
  > electronics are built into the synth like case, no seperate box. 
  > Anyway its exactly what I need as an addon for the kit. Now its 
  all 
  > fine except 6 of the 24 pads dont work...ive done some initial 
  > investigation ...all 99 patches work fine, headphones fine, amp 
  out 
  > fine, midi fine. Took it apart , the top boards are 12 pads each 
  and 
  > have some sort of trigger proccessing board incorporated, so 
  swapped 
  > the 2 complete top sections round and the problem moves with the 
  > section so I have either a partially duff processor card or some 
  > knackered triggers. next stage is to swap the trigger processing 
  > boards between the sections to try and identify if its the circuit 
  > board or the rubber/wood trigger pads. Will keep you all posted 
  and 
  > will get some photos uploaded soon. its going on the backburner 
  for 
  > now as Im off to Stonehenge and then Glastonbury festival.
  >
  Ok did some additional fault finding,and my problem is with the 
  primitive membrane keypads and I think its a build flaw that maybe 
  awaiting for all silicon mallets, so id advise if you have one open 
  it up and check...
  the 2 part membrane keypad is 2 pieces of semiflexible circuit board 
  the top is a silicon/graphit spray that hits a matrix of printed 
  tracks on the other one when the pads are struck.At one end the 
  printed track folds around the plywood base and is fixed in place 
  using a thin plastic strip and some sticky tape. The tape on mine 
  was yellow and black striped about 2 inch wide. something in the 
  glue of this tape has eaten the tracks turning them thin and black 
  and in some cases eaten them away altogether. so i know what the 
  problem is...still not sure how Im gonna fix it though.



   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "Michael Buchner" 
<buchnerelectronics@...> wrote:
>
> If you have already opened it this far, the repair is easy. The 
black traces is corrosion and the malfunction is open circuits, check 
and locate with voltmeter. But you can mend the lines with liquid tin 
or silver paint. The paint is available in radio shacks or similiar.
> If you need some posts for soldering your wires to, shoot some 
copper- plated staples into the wood, solder your wires to the staples 
and "connect" the tracks of the flex circuit board also with the 
paint. The current is not high, so a thin layer of paint is ok.
> Good luck
 Thanks to this good advice and about 2 hours with the conductive 
paint Multimallet no366  is fully functional once again. not the 
easiest stuff in the world to use that paint but well worth the £5.
Thanks Michael, advice much appreciated.

--- In Simmons_Drums@yahoogroups.com, "Michael Buchner" 
<buchnerelectronics@...> wrote:
>
> If you have already opened it this far, the repair is easy. The 
black traces is corrosion and the malfunction is open circuits, check 
and locate with voltmeter. But you can mend the lines with liquid tin 
or silver paint. The paint is available in radio shacks or similiar.
> If you need some posts for soldering your wires to, shoot some 
copper- plated staples into the wood, solder your wires to the staples 
and "connect" the tracks of the flex circuit board also with the 
paint. The current is not high, so a thin layer of paint is ok.
> Good luck
 Thanks to this good advice and about 2 hours with the conductive 
paint Multimallet no366  is fully functional once again. not the 
easiest stuff in the world to use that paint but well worth the £5.
Thanks Michael, advice much appreciated.

OK so heres another question regarding this...It has a number of 
sockets on the back for damping sustain etc does anyone know what type 
of pedal(s) works with this...is it variable pot or momentary open 
close or latching open close or a mixture of these?...now I have it 
I'm quite getting into it, its fun playing harmoney with drumsticks , 
oh and my partner/kids are getting quite addicted (the xbox hasnt been 
switched on for 3 days!)