Newbie: V-Club questions

[matt_brooks]

Hi there,

I'm new to the world of vdrums - I have my own real kit, which I haven't been able to play for the last few years because of sound/space restrictions. I make a lot of electronic music now and I'm looking to sell my real kit and add a vdrum setup to my bedroom "studio" (VST+Yamaha CS1x+SW1000XG).

I'm very keen on the Roland V-Club kit and I can't afford anything more in the short term, so I will definitely be looking to start with something like it. I spent 20 minutes playing one this weekend at my local store. I'm still not sure of a couple of things though, even after reading the newsgroups and some posts on these forums. I've boiled my queries down as much as I can to these:

1) Do the pads included with the v-club set just sense velocity?

2) Am I right in thinking that the cymbals are "dual trigger" - ie the exposed plastic sections giving the bell sound, the rubberised sections giving the (erm.. non-bell?) sound?

3) I notice that some people have upgraded their snare pad to a "dual trigger" pad. Does this just provide rimshot functionality or does it provide positional functionality? And if it does provide positional functionality, will the TD6 brain use it?

3) Which leads me on to this one - The TD6 brain - is it purely based on velocity crossfades of entirely fixed samples? In which case, how many samples are used to construct the snares? And how does it interpret positional information (if, indeed, it does)?

4) How much am I missing by not having COSM? Could I use the V-Club as a starting point and replace the brain with one that supports it? I'm up for reading a tech paper on COSM but I haven't found anything that goes into detail.

I've tried to interpret discussions I've read as best as possible but I still need clarification on the above points. One of my concerns is the lack of tonal variation you'd get with a snare pad/brain combo that only senses velocity, which is why I'm wondering about positional sensitivity and COSM. Anyway, all advice gratefully recieved!

Cheers,

Matthew

[pjames]

I'll answer 2, and one of your 3's:

2) The cymbals are dual trigger, but it's bow and edge (I kept trying to trigger the bell in the store myself, to no avail). But both zones are on the rubber, you'd typically avoid striking the plastic surface.

3) V-Club users will often add a PD-80R (or PD-120) pad to the kit to use as a snare. Not only does this give you a rim for another trigger, but it's a mesh pad, which many people prefer.

I'm fairly certain that the pads just sense velocity, not position, but I'll leave the rest of your questions for the better informed.

[Steveo the Devo]

Originally posted by matt_brooks:
I have my own real kit

So let me get this straight. You have a 'real' kit but are thinking of getting a 'pretend' (aka edrums) kit for your studio??
Welcome aboard!
PS Try not to insinuate that edrums are pretend!!
and oh yeah RTFM and use the search!!!!

[matt_brooks]

pjames - cheers for that. the guy in the store was playing the plastic at the back... I didn't realise you could trigger the bell on the rubber pad area.

I guess people prefer the mesh pad because of a more realistic playing feel, and the fact that you can trigger rim shots from the rim. I think with the default VClub setup if you hit the snare pad hard enough you must get a rim shot - it's not a dual trigger pad, and I heard it in the store.

Steveo - I read many posts and did several searches before posting, but didn't manage to turn up the results I was after, as I explained. I did find a thread with some COSM information though:
http://www.vdrums.com/discussion/For...ML/000063.html

and I checked out http://www.vdrums.com/vspecs.html for specs - unfortunately the TD6 isn't on there!

Re "Real" drums - I wouldn't be after V-drums if I didn't think they were up to the job!

[This message has been edited by matt_brooks (edited February 12, 2002).]

[Steveo the Devo]

Originally posted by matt_brooks:
Steveo - I read many posts and did several searches before posting

Re "Real" drums - I wouldn't be after V-drums if I didn't think they were up to the job

No stress. My comments were tongue in cheek. It is just a rather strange way we have of welcoming new people to the board - don't take us too seriously!