TD-20 Kick Drum Fault?

[jonnystash]

My TD-20 appears to have developed a fault - so I was wondering if anyone else had shared the same issue - and maybe fixed it?

The Kick drum sound is messed up. There appears to be what sounds like a distorted electronic drum sound over the top of the correct drum sound.
This appeared suddenly when I was playing and didn't occur when any adustments were being made. The distorted sound is present on every kit selected.

I have tried a factory reset and tried allocating the kick drum output to an alternative port - but the distorted sound remains.
I've also played with the various kick drum sound editing features to see what effect they had - but cannot overcome the issue.

It appears to me that a fault may have developed with the kick drum sound generation part of the device.
Any suggestions regarding what I might do to diagnose and maybe fix the issue would be appreciated.

[ignotus]

Maybe your headphones/speakers are toast and distort with low frequencies, which is why it only happens with the bass drum.

[BarT]

Maybe your headphones/speakers are toast and distort with low frequencies, which is why it only happens with the bass drum.

I agree; that is the most likely explanation.

[SiliconDrummer]

1) What happens when you assign a kick drum sound to a different pad i.e. one of your toms, or your snare? Does it still sound distorted to you even when the "kick sound" is triggered by the other pad instead of your kick?
2) Unplug all the other pads so that you only have one pad plugged into the module. Do you still get this "layered" distortion effect when only one pad is plugged in to your module?

-SD-

[jonnystash]

Thanks for the replies -
Re:

Originally posted by ignotus View Post
Maybe your headphones/speakers are toast and distort with low frequencies, which is why it only happens with the bass drum.



I agree; that is the most likely explanation.

Good thinking - but my sound system is all good. Other low frequency signals sound fine. Each of the TD-20 drum sound outputs are patched to individual inputs on my mixer so I was able to quickly confirm that the issue wasn't external to the drum module.

Re:

1) What happens when you assign a kick drum sound to a different pad i.e. one of your toms, or your snare? Does it still sound distorted to you even when the "kick sound" is triggered by the other pad instead of your kick?

If A kick drum sound is allocated to another pad it sounds fine - no apparent distortion.
But whatever sound is patched to the kick drum channel is messed up.

Re:

2) Unplug all the other pads so that you only have one pad plugged into the module. Do you still get this "layered" distortion effect when only one pad is plugged in to your module?

Thanks for the suggestion - I tried this but the distortion issue remains on the kick channel.

[SiliconDrummer]

f A kick drum sound is allocated to another pad it sounds fine - no apparent distortion.
But whatever sound is patched to the kick drum channel is messed up.

So, the module can produce the kick sound just fine without distortion when the sound is triggered by another pad? If that is so, then there is nothing wrong with "the kick drum sound generation part of the device". It sounds like something is wrong with the trigger input/settings or the actually kick pad itself, or it's trigger cable.

Thanks for the suggestion - I tried this but the distortion issue remains on the kick channel.

Okay, just to make sure you understood me. Unplug the pads from the trigger inputs on the module. I was not talking about the audio outputs from the module to your sound system.

If you did unplug all of the other pads so that ONLY the kick could trigger a sound and you still got the distortion, then try unplugging the kick pad and plug a different pad into the kick trigger input on your module. Does that still sound bad? You might need to change the pad type in the trigger settings for the kick input since you no longer have a kick pad plugged into it.

[jonnystash]

Thanks for taking the time to reply SD - On further investigation it would appear that the issue is not restricted to just one of the channels - it applies to all of them. The distortion is only apparent on sounds with a significant decay time and which have some strong bass frequencies. I have tried with all trigger inputs disconnected - except for just one. I am using a KT-10 pedal - and I have a spare, so I've tried swapping these - and changing the trigger cable. I've also tried an old Alesis trigger pedal and the same issue exists.
So the issue applies to all channels and is not affected by the trigger device or cables.

Sorry for having not checked things out thoroughly enough before posting my query - and thanks again for your assistance.

[SiliconDrummer]

I am using a KT-10 pedal - and I have a spare, so I've tried swapping these - and changing the trigger cable. I've also tried an old Alesis trigger pedal and the same issue exists.

What are the trigger settings that you are using for the KT-10? You said you did a factory reset and that would change the trigger settings to the default settings for a KD-120 -- probably not ideal for a KT-10.

Anyway, does the meter peak or go into the red easily? If so, then reduce sensitivity so that it just barely peaks on your hardest hits. Then adjust threshold so that it barely triggers on your lightest hits. If you still have this distortion, then raise Retrigger Cancel to see if the distortion stops -- Retrigger Cancel detects distortion at the decaying edge of the trigger waveform and prevents the triggering of an additional light "ghost hit" from occurring at the end of the trigger waveform.

One more thought. The TD-20 has a "preview" button on the right side of the front panel. This allows you to preview the sound without triggering it from a pad, so it bypasses all of the trigger input circuitry and settings. What happens when you press the "preview" button? Does the kick sound still have this distortion?

-SD-

[jonnystash]

Hi SD - Apologies for not responding sooner - I've been out of touch for a few days.

I've played with the trigger settings on the TD-20 - and tried a variety of trigger devices and all result in the same distortion issue.
The preview facility also prompts the distorted sound output.

Thanks for taking the time to give me some suggestions.