Conference napalm::commusic_v1

2560.0. "Possible Bass Drum Trigger Mod for DDD-5" by NWACES::PHILLIPS () Tue Jan 22 1991 13:12

    (I didn't think this belonged in the DDD-5 note, however if the mods
    feel differently be my guest .)
    
Can someone well versed in the technical aspects of triggering 
devices/electronics give some advise on this project as to 
whether it is 'do-able'?

I would like to use a bass drum pedal to do the triggering 
of the base drum sounds thus freeing up my hands so that 
I can do more realistic sounding fills. I can't afford a drum pad
which accomodates triggers. So the next best thing is to modify 
my DDD-5. (And the 8 pad DD-11 when I get one=go on sale....)

Well having read what other have done with piezo tranducers, I
came up with two possible methods. The first proposed method will
reduce the DDD-5 to three pads for hand playing  and 1 for foot, the other
method would make one pad switchable from hand to foot pedal.

Proposed Method # 1

Remove the sensing device (piezo) from one of the pads. Put a female jack
in the DDD-5 and connect/solder the wires that were cut to the jack.
Put the sensing device that was removed from the DDD-5 into new bass
drum trigger (for me, it a  bass drum from a kids Disney drum set and 
'good' bass drum pedal). Put a female jack in the bass drum and connect
the wires from the sensing device to it. Now the bass drum and DDD-5
can be connected with a cable.

I haven't opened up the DDD-5 as yet, so I am sure it is possible to
remove the sensing device with doing damage to it or the unit.

Can 1/4 inch jacks work?
Will the lenght of the cable come into play?
Will I need to add other electrical components to the formula
i,e resistors,diodes (I can solder but I know basically nothing about
electronics.)

Proposed method #2 
Similar to method 1, but instead of removing the sensing device from
the unit, connect it to a two way switch also connect the female jack
which has to added to the unit to the two way switch. Now comes the 
tricky part, use/build a sensing device  that is equivalent to one 
in the DDD-5 in the bass drum trigger and connect it to a female jack.
Like method 1, the bass drum trigger andd DDD-5 are connected with
a cable.  

This method you to keep the four pads operational switching one in and
out as needed for the bass drum trigger. 

As I have said before I have no electronics background so I may be
way off base here. I welcome any suggestions/recommendations  
on the project.

Thanks,

Errol 
    

    I can't answer your question, but from the context of your note, you
    mean DD-5, not DDD-5.  A DDD-5 is a relatively nice drum machine made
    by Korg, not inexpensive drum pads.
    
    Greg

    Sorry about that I do mean DD-5. Well, it was a nice day dream
    anyway. 
    Hm....what I can sell to get me a drum pad which accepts triggers.
    
    Errol

    Actually, what you are talking about is techincally possible.  Without
    opening up the sucker and checking out how the sensors are actually
    wired up I'm not about to suggest exactly how to do it, though.
    
    As far as running the sensor remotely over a cable, it's largely a
    problem of how much signal the piezo sensor puts out and how much the
    cable will attenuate the signal.  Piezos tend to be high impedance
    devices which will limit how long a cable you can use, but it might be
    possible to buffer the signal with an op amp to get more drive.
    
    
    						Brian