Inside the hihat variable switch

[ole_hansen]

hey jman (and others)

that opto-HH-controller.
well it seems really nice. and easy to work with (if it works).

but i've posted on the md-forum (http://www.megadrum.info/forums/view...2&p=5324#p5324) about the power going to the LED to power it.
well... will this opto-controller work with, say like a roland td-3 or 6,8, 12,20?

i just didn't know if they give/gave out power on the HH-controller part...?!?
apparently the megadrum does.

[jman 31]

I don't know if they would work with other modules/IO or not. I would presume that there is voltage in all of the Hi-Hat outputs, but that is something that I don't know for sure. I can't even build one because my Alesis DM-5 is not a variable hat. I may try one for my alesis and just set it up as an on off instead of variable, just to see. You should be able to measure if there is any voltage out with a meter.

[nzdrummer]

looks good

[philfine]

From what I can see from my Trigger IO the input for the hihat is mono.
With a meter I get 3.7 volts but I guess you should not work with it since it is only suppose to have a pot connected. :S

[Poco Askew]

Does anyone have enough time on one of these pots to know how well they hold up?
Most of them are only rated for 5K to 20K cycles. In my experience, slide pots are usually the first thing to crap out on electronics that use them. In a hi hat installation, it seems you would exceed their life expectancy in pretty short order.

[John F]

Does anyone have enough time on one of these pots to know how well they hold up?
Most of them are only rated for 5K to 20K cycles. In my experience, slide pots are usually the first thing to crap out on electronics that use them. In a hi hat installation, it seems you would exceed their life expectancy in pretty short order.

I've had this question also. Anyone who uses a slider pot - what is your experience with lifetime of the pot? I've seen plenty of defective sliders in my day (35+ years of electronics experience) and I agree that they are often the first thing to crap out. Let's say we can expect 20,000 cycles. Let's also say that we play our hihat on "2" and "4" for 2 minutes out of a four minute song with a tempo of 120 bpm. Doing the math, our slider pot would be good for 167 or so songs. Not acceptable in my book! That's why I think the hihat is the weak link, both mechanically and in terms of sound, in A2E conversions - including my own!

[Gastric]

I have no idea on reliability. But mine hasn't broken yet. And at $1.30 each (or however much they cost) it wouldn't be the end of the world to replace it. Since I sit at home goofing around reliability is a non-issue for me. But for a paid gigster it certainly could be a serious concern.