TD 6 compatible with motion sensor Roland?

[MvB]

I am a newby, have just finished my A to E drum conversion. I now want to do A to E conversion of my cymbals, including my hihat. I have a normal hihat stand and want to use a piezo to E my acoustic hihat cymbals. I have understood that together with a motion sensor of Roland this would work out well. But I am not convinced that the TD6V is compatible with my newly acquired Roland motion sensor. Is there anyone who can help me here? And if it is possible, where should I connect the motion sensor in my TD 6V?

Every insight is welcome.

Yours,
MvB

[happy_dude]

If I recall on the TD-6 the hihat is a stereo input compatible with any pad and the foot control is another stereo input for an FD-8 pedal. So you would need to connect the cymbal to the Hihat input and the motion sensor to the Hihat control input, but if your set up is supposed to work like a VH-11/12/13 then it might just not work as the TD-6 is notoriously not compatible with these. You should check with the manual. If not compatible, you can maybe design a way to include the FD-8 to you Hihat stand and then the cymbal move would only be cosmetic (I guess it would be an extensive design project with reliability issues on the long run), or you can add another TD module compatible with the VH-series, or simply use an FD-8 with a fixed Hihat.
Maybe someone has a better idea?

[MvB]

hi Happy_Dude,

Thanks for your reaction, bu I am not sure whether your reaction triggers a happy response from me if I am not able to use the motion sensor together with my TD6. I want to have a very responsive hihat, also an open one because I like to use that. From which TD version you reckon it is possible to use the motion sensor?

[happy_dude]

Well, the standard fixed cymbal on the TD-6 is already very responsive, as long as the FD-8 functions well, and if you can live with the older sounds in the TD-6 (hihat is not what it does the worst imo), you'd have full opened, some degrees of closing hat (on some hihats), closed hats, on both the cymbal and its edge (so that's already more than 6 different sounds), and also foot chick and foot splash. The VH-11/12/13 work about the same, only the moving cymbal or pair of cymbals make it feel better. But as far as trigger works, it's about the same, the difference in recent TD-25 and TD-30 modules being more in the module than in the pads. With your converted hat you'd have a great advantage : a natural rebound. But even with vinyl on it it will be louder than a cymbal pad.

If I remember VH-11 works with the TD-6, offers only opened and closed hihats, but not much in the middle. Older modules like the TD-8 would be ok (check it out in the manual - besides the TD-8 also has a brushes function that is about the same as today's), and the actually all modules would work with the VH-11 at least, exception of the TD-3, TD-6, and TD-4 (maybe). But you really should take a look at the manuals to be sure.

The TD-6 is a good module though, its sounds are outdated but you can still manage to make a few good kits out of it, and its midi functions are complete so maybe you will need its inputs at some point, and it sells for little cash only, you might want to wait before getting rid of it, even if you get a better one at first.

[MvB]

hi Happy Dude,

I recently bought a used TD6 and it's the first time I use an E-drum. I converted an A-drum to en E-drum (still tweaking a little here and there) and strongly wanted to use real cymbals to get this bouncy feeling. I will dampen the cymbals however. Not sure how right now. The TD6 manual says it can handle the VH-11. But now there seems to be two TD6 modules on the market (or more maybe): a black one and a blue one. I have the blue one. I know someone who plays the VH11 motion sensor with one(!) A to E cymbal for a hi-hat on the black version. But right now I am not sure if it will work for mine as well. I have to dive deeper into the matter I guess.

[happy_dude]

With a coat of paint, you need this to make a black one out of a blue TD-6 : http://www.vdrums.com/forum/general/...-to-td-6v-kits

Then you could simply try with your friend's VH-11 and decide if it's good for you. The TD-6 will handle the VH-11, but giving only opened or closed positions, and nothing in the middle, see http://roland.com/support/article/in...-6V&id=1832284 (btw, google gave this as the 1st reply to "vh11 with td-6v"...)

But in fact the motion sensor is not detecting motion of the cymbals, it's only a variable resistor that is mounted on the hihat's axis instead of being mounted inside the FD-8 pedal. So the triggering has nothing to do with the actual motion of the cymbal, it's purely cosmetic, it only has to do with the fact that the cymbal is on the axis too. This is why the fixed hihat vs VH-style hihat makes no difference at all in the triggering. The FD-8 pedal is a piece of work however and playing dual cymbals or moving VH-11 cymbal makes a big difference in the style and feel however. But in a blind test, you would have hard time to tell which is which. As for the cymbal itself it's as simple as any other pad, and you could make the VH-11 bottom part work with any pad on top. To dampen the cymbals you could mold a vinyl sheet on them, or apply vinyl coating, no idea where you find that though.

You should ask JmanWord on this forum as he makes A to E cymbal conversion kits, available here http://www.stealthdrums.com/purchase22.html

[MvB]

Thanks HappyDude. I had noticed JmanWord's solution yeah. Thanks anyhow. I will check out more and now look into stealth drums to begin with.

[MvB]

hi HappyDude,

Last week I found out that my Roland motion sensor works quite well with my Roland TD6 (blue version) at a friends. Now I have to trigger my hat cymbal and then I can progress....!