Alesis DM Pro and 2 zone ride

[buckythakid]

I am converting acoustic cymbals for my ekit. So far my splash cymbal works fine. My ride works great until I try to trigger the bell.

The DM Pro, for those of you who are not familiar, has a stereo ride input. I have a stereo 1/4 jack on the cymbal that I believe I wired correctly for the ride.

I can only hear the bell when I actually hit the piezo sensor itself. Now, I am wondering if it's a matter of tweaking the settings on the module, like cross talk or something. Do I have to wire the bell differently (I know that certain modules require reversing polarity)?

There is a lot of material on this forum on the DM5, yet I haven't been able to find help with my module.

Thanks in advance!

[Guest]

I am converting acoustic cymbals for my ekit. So far my splash cymbal works fine. My ride works great until I try to trigger the bell.

The DM Pro, for those of you who are not familiar, has a stereo ride input. I have a stereo 1/4 jack on the cymbal that I believe I wired correctly for the ride.

I can only hear the bell when I actually hit the piezo sensor itself. Now, I am wondering if it's a matter of tweaking the settings on the module, like cross talk or something. Do I have to wire the bell differently (I know that certain modules require reversing polarity)?

There is a lot of material on this forum on the DM5, yet I haven't been able to find help with my module.

Thanks in advance!

I'll take a stab at this one. Let me first state that I have not had my DMPro for many years (sold it about 5 years ago). With that said, do not use reverse polarity. Alesis has never (from my knowledge) used reverse polarity, that is a Roland spec for Roland modules. I would first tweak your settings. If that does not work, double check all your solder joints. If you can, try to set your cymbal up as a single zone with just the bell zone. Then another single zone as your bow zone. If those function by themselves, I would say it is a settings issue. Hopefully this gives you something to start with. Maybe somebody with more info on the DMPro will chime in.

Something I just thought of, On the DM5 there is a function call "Group". This is used when you want one sound to cut off another sound. I think the DMPro has a similar function. This might be the problem. You will have to check the manual. Here's a link to the manual if you don't have it: http://www.barryrudolph.com/recall/m...mpromanual.pdf

[buckythakid]

thanks a lot. ill give it a shot

[buckythakid]

I've been tinkering with the ride for a while. I tried a new piezo and adjusting the settings, particularly crosstalk. I think that there's just too much vibration using the acoustic cymbal. It always triggers the sensor not on the bell. Any thoughts?

[meaton6335]

I built a 2-zone ride for use with my Alesis DMPRO. Its the trigger gain settings and piezo sensitivity that are the problem.

If your bow piezo is very sensitive, turn its trigger gain way down so that the piezo only triggers when you hit very near the piezo. Next turn up the gain sensitivity of the bell piezo until you can get it to trigger by itself. Then adjust the settngs until you can get them both to work.

If you still cannot get the bell piezo to trigger without false-triggering the bow piezo, try some kind of isolation material like weatherstripping tape or cloth tape around the edge of the bell. I built a bell isolation chamber out of a mason jar lid with weatherstripping tape on its edge. The ride cymbal sits on the chamber which is mounted onto the cymbal boom. The weatherstripping tape and the mason jar lid serve cut down the vibrations from the stick hit on the bell. So far its worked well.

[buckythakid]

Great! I will give that a try. I am going to try to damped the entire under side of my acoustic cymbal with PCV as per Gastric's recent post.

Do you only adjust Gain or do you fiddle with Cross Talk and Threshold settings as well?