2 S2/Trigger IO related questions...

[bakerboy]

OK, so I finally have S2 loaded on my PC and I'm trying to tweak my DIY kit and Trigger IO to play with it.

1. I'm totally clueless what I need to do to get the hi-hat to recognize open/closed on both the Trigger IO and in S2. I'm using the DIY slider box (Beatnik design) along with a triggered acoustic hi-hat cymbal. I've run the slider box cable into the hi-hat pedal input on the Trigger IO...but, from there, I'm clueless.

Gastric - I know you dealt with this same thing and I saw your abbreviated explanation of it in the big S2 thread. But I was hoping you (or anyone else) could elaborate and tell me each step 'cause I'm very new to all of this.

2. I built a 14" mesh head, cone/bridge triggered snare that I'm using with the Trigger IO. I can't for the life of me keep the harder snare hits from triggering a "frack" sound (like a real, super tight flam). It's not every harder hit, but it's very often. So I was hoping to get some suggestions on head tightness, Trigger IO settings, S2 settings, etc. I'm guessing that's totally a trigger/head thing but I've tried various tensions on the head and can't shake the "frack" sound.

If I can't get this snare working any better than it is, I may look at just buying a real snare pad from Hart or Roland. Can I just use one of those with the Trigger IO if I decide to go that route? Or is the Trigger IO the limiting factor and not my pad?

I love the look of this DIY acoustic/electronic kit...but I've been a bit frustrated trying to adjust the playability of it. Any tips or advice is greatly appreciated!!

[bakerboy]

First S2 track...

Well, I still don't have the kit tweaked nearly like I want and the hi-hat still doesn't work...but here's a quick/rough take of me playing along to the first Tommy Igoe Groove ESsentials exercise (#1-slow)

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=866090&songID=6822882

Go easy on me

[Gastric]

Did you find this step-by-step I posted in the Trigger IO Yahoo Group?

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/triggerIO/message/136

It details how to setup the hihat properly. You basically remove all mappings for the entire hihat, then just map hatCtrl and hatTrig.

Note I found a 25k slider works best with the IO. If you used a 10k slider you won't ever get the full open range of sounds.

[Gastric]

Missing your #2 in your post about the snare. Triggering is pretty straight forward for any of your triggers. You hit a single trigger and a single MIDI NOTE should be output by the IO. There will also be velocity info associated with that MIDI NOTE. That's all there is to the MIDI output of the IO. The note, and velocity. Your VST handles the rest and decides which sample to play.

Now, based on what you've said I think you're likely generating some crosstalk and getting mistriggers from another pad in your kit when hitting the snare hard. Most likely the rim if your snare is sitting on it's own stand. If the snare is mounted to a rack or something it could be any trigger on the rack. The easiest way to find out is to set the IO to MIDI NOTE and watch the LCD display. If you're just hitting the snare only and see the MIDI NOTE change there's your culprit, a mistrigger from another input. If you can see what MIDI NOTE it is that'll help you identify the input getting the mistrigger. You can record the raw MIDI in Reaper or some recording program to help you identify all of your mistriggers much easier. What I found is some mistriggers occur at such low velocities you can't really hear them while playing, though they are really occuring. So it's a helpful tool to record and review the MIDI info.

Potentially related is this thread in the IO Group http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group...IO/message/150 where my current IO will generate mis-triggers from adjacent unused (unplugged) inputs. Crazy, but it's true. If I plug JUST my snare in and hit it really hard it'll generate kick triggers even though nothing is even plugged into the kick input. Same thing happens if I move the trigger to any of the other inputs. It'll generate mistriggers on an adjacent input. Fun stuff!

[bakerboy]

Thank you so much for the very helpful and detailed response! When I get home from work I'll look at those things & hopefully get the hi-hat working correctly. Thanks again man! I'll let you know how I make out.

[bakerboy]

Did you find this step-by-step I posted in the Trigger IO Yahoo Group?

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/triggerIO/message/136

It details how to setup the hihat properly. You basically remove all mappings for the entire hihat, then just map hatCtrl and hatTrig.

Note I found a 25k slider works best with the IO. If you used a 10k slider you won't ever get the full open range of sounds.

I thought I'd joined that group a while ago, but apparently I'm not a member. Could you post that message in a reply here so I can see exactly what you're talking about?

How do I set those 2 parameters in S2 ? Do I select hatsTrig, click "Learn", and strike the hi-hat cymbal? And then select hatsCtrl, click "Learn", and do something else? I'm totally clueless with this. Thanks for the hand holding in advance

[Gastric]

I made a new, clearly labeled thread for this: http://www.vdrums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=42636

Hopefully it'll benefit other IO users that find this forum. Better yet maybe other IO users have some tricks up their sleeves and can share them. The Yahoo Group gets very little action, though it's picking up. But that's my primary dumping grounds for what little nuggets I gain from my experience with the IO.