My CY-6 V-Cymbal is possessed!

[tonycpsu Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonycpsu]

How about this one... When I click my drum sticks together, my CY-6 V-Cymbal triggers! What the heck is going on? The sticks don't even have to be real close to the cymbal, they can be a foot or two away and it still triggers when I click the sticks together. I have to whack the sticks together pretty hard, but no harder than I'd do for a count-in. If I whack them together real hard, I can get it to trigger from about 5 feet away!!! WTF???

How the hell is the cymbal being triggered from just hitting my sticks together??? This is weird. The cymbal is set at a relatively low sensitivity setting (6) on my TD-10. None of the other drums (even my other CY-6 cymbal) seem to have this problem. It's just the one cymbal. I think some supernatural forces are at work here... Anyone have any ideas?

[tonycpsu Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonycpsu]

Well I figured out that it was "threshold" not "sensitivity" that I needed to adjust, but it's pretty weak that I have to turn the threshold up to keep it from triggering when I click my sticks! I can actually tap the cymbal and not get a sound, yet I click my sticks a foot or two away and it triggers. Very odd. I guess I'll find some happy balance in the threshold between not getting any false triggers and not having the threshold so high that it misses hits entirely. What a strange phenomenon.

[Boingo Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close Boingo]

It's one of two things...

You're using electric sticks and they are out of calibration.

Stray cosmic radiation.

No way it can be trigger settings.

[This message has been edited by Boingo (edited June 16, 2002).]

[deus62 Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close deus62]

I think the cymbal might be scared. Have you tried talking to it nicely?

BTW, how long are your sticks?

[This message has been edited by deus62 (edited June 17, 2002).]

[tonycpsu Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonycpsu]

Okay well all joking aside, this really is happening. I can even get my PD-120 to trigger (albeit faintly) when I smack my sticks together. They're just regular ol' Vic Firth American Classics. Raising the threshold makes the problem go away, but obviously makes the drum/cymbal less sensitive to lighter hits. Once I go above 3 or 4 on the trigger's threshold setting, the problem no longer occurs.

It is kinda weird, it's like the trigger inside the drum somehow responds to the noise of the sticks clicking together. Oh well.

[tonycpsu Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonycpsu]

Originally posted by feefer:
Hi Tonycpsu,
Yes, the V-Drums are very sensitive, aren't they? That's one of the reasons they're so successful: they can pick up extremely subtle nuances of the player's technique.

Yah, but for the life of me I can't figure out how I can tap the CY-6 directly (albeit lightly) and not get a sound, yet when I do a 4-beat count-in with my sticks, it triggers. How can vibrations from two wooden sticks induce more energy on the trigger than me tapping the cymbal itself? I just think it's odd.

The funny thing is I haven't had any real problems with false triggering or crosstalk, I mean obviously I had to adjust crosstalk settings for certain triggers, but all problems were "solveable." In this case, I'm erring on the side of better sensitivity/lower threshold, and "dealing with" the false trigger when I click my sticks. But I just found it incredibly interesting that clicking the sticks could induce a trigger when a soft tap on the cymbal itself doesn't... That's all.

Thanks much for all the info... But I think the best help for something like this might just be the old lady from the Poltergeist movies.

"Walk into the liiiiiight!"

[deus62 Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close deus62]

This just can't be serious ... it just doesn't make sense, no matter what settings you use. I can drop the threshold down to zilch and push the sensitivity skyhigh and mine (my cymbals which are not CY-6s ... it's those damn CY-6s again!) will not be triggered by outside influences (nothing connected to the rack).

Sorry, but call ghostbusters.

Oh yeah: Thanx for making me look really stupid trying this out at home!

[This message has been edited by deus62 (edited June 17, 2002).]

[This message has been edited by deus62 (edited June 17, 2002).]

[tonycpsu Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonycpsu]

Originally posted by deus62:
This just can't be serious ... Sorry, but call ghostbusters.

Oh yeah: Thanx for making me look really stupid trying this out at home!

I *am* serious, I was joking about the old lady from Poltergeist part (since I lost her phone number), but this IS actually happening. I didn't post this to make a bunch of people waste ten minutes trying to recreate it, I was more wondering what could be causing it, or if anyone else had seen it, since a search turned up nothing.

I repeat, this is actually occurring. Other things like clapping my hands, screaming really loud, whatever don't cause triggers, but smacking the sticks together (*without making contact* with the cymbal or PD-120) does initiate a low-intensity trigger (The TD-10's trigger light blinks and a faint sample is played.)

I wouldn't **** around with something like this... This is too valuable a community/resource for me to be trolling it and causing problems... I'm new to V-drums and I'm gonna need you guys, so why would I screw with you?

If nobody believes me I could record a quicktime or MPEG demonstrating it... And then we could send it in for inclusion in the next Time-Life "Mysteries of the Unknown" book.

[deus62 Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close deus62]

Well, I guess I believe you, but I've been really trying to understand what's going on here and what irritates me is that hitting the CY-6 isn't triggering anything while doing some weird dance is. To me that doesn't make sense ... and changing any trigger settings will not solve this one ... I'm sure (or totally dumb).

Well, let's all help here. It must be the CY-6, so all CY-6-owners on board , please. (Use the damn thing as a pizza plate).

P.S.: I do not feel trolled. I can't help laughin though, sorry. Imagining a drummer trying to trigger a cymbal by "clapping my hands, screaming really loud" just cracks me up. Adds a whole new dimension to drumming.

[tonycpsu Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonycpsu]

Originally posted by deus62:
Well, let's all help here. It must be the CY-6, so all CY-6-owners on board , please. (Use the damn thing as a pizza plate).

I guess you missed the portion of one of the earlier posts where I stated I can also get my PD-120 to trigger in the same manner...

I didn't mean that I can't get my CY-6 to trigger when I hit it, of course it responds to normal strokes... But depending on threshold settings, softer strokes can be ignored (that's the purpose of the threshold setting.) Any thresholds 3 or below, however (2 or below with the PD-120, it seems) are subject to the "phantom trigger" from the sticks being clapped. I can't make this stuff up!

As for it being silly with the clapping and such, well, yeah, it is... I'm as stumped as you are, and I thought that if the sticks do it, why not clapping or making some other kind of loud noise... I was just trying to get to the bottom of this whole thing.
I'm laughing at all of this, too, but I'm also quite curious!

BTW changing trigger settings DOES get rid of it, as I said, raising the threshold to something like 5 or 6 will get rid of it, but that's to the point where some softer strokes get ignored. I do realize, however, that there's no "ignore freaky psychokinetic energy coming from your drum sticks" setting in the trigger menu.

[GRRAVEE Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close GRRAVEE]

i've said it before i'll say it again.plutonium drumsticks just cannot be used safely.even if you solve this issue.what about those sticks' half life.4500 years from now,some drummer will have the same issue with those sticks.have the proper authorities dispose of them.drum responsibly.

[pjames Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close pjames]

Stick clicks will trigger my PD-80 as well, maybe my CY-6's but I don't remember. I know this topic has come up once before in the forum, but that guy didn't get ragged on nearly as much as you...

[tonycpsu Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close tonycpsu]

Originally posted by pjames:
Stick clicks will trigger my PD-80 as well, maybe my CY-6's but I don't remember. I know this topic has come up once before in the forum, but that guy didn't get ragged on nearly as much as you...

Well yeah, I was kinda asking to get ragged on with the Poltergeist and psychokinetic comments.. But I'm glad someone else can confirm this... To all those who mocked me, and in the immortal words of Homer J. Simpson, I say "In yer face, Milwaukee!"

[Slash Crazy Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close Slash Crazy]

I have also noticed this with my TD-6 and PD80R pad, but only when my monitor is cranked way up. I guess it's happening all the time, but I can't hear it unless my monitor is blasting.

I think it comes down to two words:

Resonant Frequency

Just so happens that the frequency of your stick "clicks" resonates with the piezo trigger in the CY6 (or in my case, the PD80R) and causes this phenomenon. It's the best explanation I can come up with, anyway.

Either that, or call Ghostbusters!!!

[jimbo Registered Member Find all posts View Profile Close jimbo]

The PD-80R and one of the PD-80's (w/TD-8) on our church kit are doing the same thing, but, thankfully, it's not loud enough for anyone besides me to hear. I'm calling it a "stick pattern" instead of a "pad pattern."