td-12 plus additional inputs?

[Vader]

Considering going with a Td-12 module for my diy kit, but had questions.

#1: Do external mechanisms like tmc-6 or alesis I/O have the ability to trigger ALL the sounds of the module (all cymbal sounds, for instance) or can they only trigger the percussion set? Can you alter the percussion set so that regular sounds are put in place of these sounds.
#2: Is there such a thing as a MIdi-splitter so that I can have a tmc-6 or alesis I/O connected via midi WITH a sampler such as spd-s? Or is this a physical impossibility.

If these issues are a problem i guess the price of td-12 + extra input device is almost equal to td-20 so maybe a moot point. I would like to know what sounds are accessible from these external midi triggers, though. Thanks, sorry if covered before. V

[SuperPuss]

You'll find many of your answers about triggering percussion AND kit sounds in this thread.... TMC-6/TD-20 "How-To" Sticky
What applies to the TD20 also applies to the TD12.

There's two ways multiple midi devices can be connected together. The simplest way requires two of the three devices to have midi thru connections (or outputs with a function called 'soft thru' which the TD12 / 20 both have).
Here's an example of how I have my midi connections configured.....

TMC-6 out ----> TD12 in, TD12 out ----> TD20 in, TD20 out ----> Computer in. Soft thru is on for TD12 / 20.

It is also possible to combine three units when only one has an input. You'll need a device called a 'midi merger' for that. I'll use two TMC-6's and a TD12 for this example because the TMC-6 only has midi out....
TMC-6 (1) ----> midi merger input 1,
TMC-6 (2) ----> midi merger input 2,
Midi merger output ----> TD12 input.

Hope this helps answer your questions.

[Vader]

Great

I looked up the midi merger, and looks to be ~$59 for a two to one. I guess that means I could have spd-s and tmc-6 (or alesis I/O) connected via a midi merger to the midi in of a td-12 and have things work just fine.
That may be a more reasonable option for me than getting a td20 right off the bat and breaking the bank. Myabe start with the td-12 and add these other things to it as GAS kicks in. Thanks for the help! V

[SuperPuss]

You're welcome V
You might have to play around with the midi note settings on your SPD-S and TMC-6 (or whatever else you get) to make sure each pad produces a different sound but that is really pretty simple to do. On the TMC-6, all you have to do is select 'midi note no' on the dial, hit the pad you want to change and scroll through using the value buttons as you continue hitting the pad. The sound will change as you do so enabling you to hear exactly what you are selecting.
You can also change the sound for a given TMC-6 pad by hitting it and changing the sound on your TD12 too, just as you would for any other TD12 sound. You can also select the midi channel for each TMC-6 pad individually too. This means you can have some pads triggering kit sounds and some pads triggering percussion sounds (or even other instruments from the TD12 sequencer).

I hope all this makes sense!! As you can probably tell, I like my unassuming little TMC-6. It does a lot more than it's simple design might suggest

[Vader]

confusing

After reading through the manual and a bunch of threads it still knots my brain into a pretzel, but here goes...
So, are the percussion set and drumkit set of sounds in the module are mutually exclusive? The pads going through the tmc-6 can only trigger sounds in the percussion set, right?
Can you go through vdrumlib/vex and fill percussion sets with any and all sounds loaded into the td-12? even normal drumkit sounds?
It also seems that the tmc-6 is better suited as a cymbal trigger add-on since the inputs are dual piezo/switch, except #2, right? This is a lot to figure out.

[SuperPuss]

I posted some info on triggering both kit and percussion sounds from my TMC-6 HERE.

....and yes, TMC-6 is piezo / switch on all inputs except #2.