TMC-6/TD-20 "How-To" Sticky

[Alan VEX]

I recently saw a great thread where one of our member's (thanks Aaron "The Source") provided a great explanation of the easy way to tether a TMC-6 to the TD-20 for additional inputs. I wanted to produce a sticky on the subject as it does come up from time to time.

Please keep in mind that while you can trigger the sounds through the TMC-6 and control most basic functions such as decay, reverb, etc., you cannot access COSM features with these triggered sounds such as shell depth, material, etc.

I hope this helps those of you who search for this information.

I will leave this thread open so that questions and additional help can be added.

- Alan

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Simplified Instructions for expanding the TD-20 with a TMC-6

• Make sure the pads plugged into your TMC-6 are set to channel 11.
• On the TMC-6, set the head and rim notes to notes that are logical and easy to remember (ie head:40 and rim:41). Do this for boths pads (different notes for each of course).
• Press "Pattern" on the TD-20, then scroll up using the jogwheel until "Part" appears above the F2 key (if it isn't already there of course ).
• Press F2 (Part), then F3 (Perc).
• Select the kit you want then press F5 to edit.

You are now in the "Percussion Set Edit" screen.

• Press F2 (edit).
• Go to "perc note" and select the note you assigned to the head or rim (depending on what you want to use).

You will need to do this for each head and rim of each pad you want to use. When you're done you can press "List" in the "percussion set edit" screen to choose what instrument you wish to assign to your pads head or rim.

You can also change the settings for each instruments Volume, Panning, Pitch, Decay, Reverb, Chorus, and CC.

All editing for the pads plugged into your TMC-6 is now done on the TD-20 (except for trigger settings like sens. threshold etc.). Hope this helps you out!

[No1drummer]

It's me again the same bonehead who posted the first time on this subject. I thought it worked but I'm still haveing the same problem. Ok when you say channel 11 is that on the TMC-6 or the TD-20 and how do you get to it if it's on the TD-20. I understand what to do after you get to that point (channel 11) but I don't know how to get their. Just a note, I'm using the triggers on the TMC-6 for things like a cowbell, tambourine and woodblock so I don't need much adjustment on things like that. If you would please explain one more time like I don't know anything (cause I don't) from step one. And thank you in advance, Pete!!!

[BarT]

Turn the knob on the TMC-6 to MIDI CHANNEL and select 11 there. It's already set to 11 by default for the percussion part on a TD-12 or TD-20.


Bruce

[No1drummer]

I guess I'm still doing something wrong! I did what you said and when I change the trigger on the TMC-6 it changes something on the TD-20. Where do you change the trigger sound that will be comming from the TMC-6? Do you change it on the TMC-6 or on the TD-20? Please explain step by step what you do if you want to help. Like this:
Step One: Do this
Step two: than do this
and so on, and again I would like to thank you for your help, Pete!!!

[BarT]

Are you following the steps in Post #1 above? If so, then I don't understand what you would change on the TMC-6 which would change something on the TD-20. How to change the sound (on the TD-20 for the TMC-6 triggers) is explained above, but you need to follow all the steps.


Bruce

[No1drummer]

Thank you Amonline and Bart, I finally got it figured out with your help. There are a couple steps you didn’t mention. To make some of the changes you need to have the Trigger Select and the Edit Buttons (Lit Up) or you won’t make any changes. Another thing is you need to turn the program dale to Midi Prg Chg to either select number of the drum set you want to change(1-50) or change it to 128 for all drum sets. Also my TMC-6 didn’t work in channel 11 for the percussion instruments, it was channel 7. I bought my TMC-6 a few years ago so maybe Roland programmed them different than.

However I do have one more question. I need to record the Vibraslap from the TD-10 on to the TD 20, the Vibeaslap sucks on the TD-20. How would you do that? I have a compactflash card if you need one, PLEASE help! And I like to thank you in advance, and have a Merry Christmas.

[BarT]

However I do have one more question. I need to record the Vibraslap from the TD-10 on to the TD 20, the Vibeaslap sucks on the TD-20. How would you do that? I have a compactflash card if you need one, PLEASE help! And I like to thank you in advance, and have a Merry Christmas.

There's no way to do that. You can't load any new sounds on to the TD-20. You would need to hook up an SPD-S or SP-404.


Bruce

[kaisentomy]

Can I do the same thing but with a Alesis Trigger IO instead of a TMC6?

Thanks a lot

TR

[fiddlebak]

alesis trigger i/o

you should be able to but IM not sure how many midi channels it will transmit on.

[tonkpils]

this procedure applies also to the TD12?

[The Source]

I believe so

[SuperPuss]

Having just received my TMC-6 in the last couple of days, I have been playing about with it constantly and just discovered something I wasn't expecting but I REALLY like...

The midi channels can be assigned on a per trigger input basis. This is REALLY useful.
I have my midi settings on my TD12 different to factory because my studio has a fairly complex midi setup so if you try what I am doing, keep this in mind. My drumkit is set to channel 1 and my percussion is set to channel 10.

The reason I really like this per trigger midi channel setting is because it means I don't have to share one channel on the TD12 to access both COSM drumkit sounds AND percussion sounds at the same time from my TMC-6.

I have a new set of four DIY triggers connected to my TMC-6 and have them assigned as follows -
Pad 1 - Kick drum rim sound assigned as another crash (drumkit sound on channel 1)
Pad 2 - Tambourine (from percussion on channel 10)
Pad 3 - Gong (from percussion on channel 10)
Pad 4 - Vibraslap (from percussion on channel 10)

I was not expecting to be able to do this without setting both my percussion and drumkit to the same midi channel so this discovery for me is very handy and means I don't need to go through all my Protools sessions and change my midi setup.

Update - I now have my TMC-6 running into my TD20 set up exactly as above but with different sounds. One advantage the TD20 has over the TD12 is that the head and rim sounds can be panned independently. This means that the cymbal I have assigned to the kick drum rim (which is on the right of my kit) can be panned right while the kick sound stays panned in the center. Independent head / rim panning is not possible on the TD12.
Edit - I did a factory reset on my TD12 and now I can pan head and rim independently just as I can on my TD20.

[The Source]

Nice work SP!! Another win for the TMC-6! Don't let it's simple plastic pocket calculator-like appearance fool you, the TMC-6 is a highly configurable and extremely useful little beast, particularly for the cost!! Heil V-Drums!!

[SuperPuss]

Nice work SP!! Another win for the TMC-6! Don't let it's simple plastic pocket calculator-like appearance fool you, the TMC-6 is a highly configurable and extremely useful little beast, particularly for the cost!! Heil V-Drums!!

Absolutely! This little device ROCKS!
Something else I just discovered about it too is that it has an 'audio' setting for the trigger type. I tried running a snare track from a live recording I did from Protools into the TMC-6 and used it to replace the mediocre snare on the recording and it faithfully reproduced all the nuances of the original snare track. That is very useful

[BarT]

One advantage the TD20 has over the TD12 is that the head and rim sounds can be panned independently. ... Independent head / rim panning is not possible on the TD12.

There shouldn't be any difference between a TD-12 and a TD-20 in this respect: "* Pressing [F5 (H & R)] in the [F1 (VOLUME)], [F2 (PAN)], or [F3 (MIN VOL)] setting screen, you can choose to set the head and rim simultaneously or individually." (TD-12 manual, Page 39.)


Bruce