Purely electronic kick pedal?

[BrooksT]

Hi, everyone. Yes, I have searched the forums, read lots, and am generally stoked to have found this place. But I'm not finding what I need.

My problem is that I have a TD-12 in a loft type space, with a large structural beam running under it and into the unit next door. As you'd expect, the kick is just unreasonable to use; it echoes through their entire place (they're nice, I went over and heard it myself).

I've seen all of the tennis ball stuff, and that seems great for some applications, but I have two problems: 1) no way do I have time to build it, and 2) because we're talking about a large steel beam right under the drums, and not a large surface area of floor, I don't think it would help adequately; the entire 5' x 6' space (or whatever) would all just be sitting on the thin beam.

Is there any solution out there whereby I can use a purely electronic pedal? I'm tempted to try to hack the Rock Band pedal, as terrible as that is. I know any solution is going to be at least somewhat crappy, but it beats not being able to play at all. I am willing to spend some money if there's a decent solution. I miss my drums!

[BarT]

Welcome!

There are several (FatKAT, TapKAT, HansenFutz etc.), but they aren't necessarily much quieter in your type of situation as most of the problemmatic vibration is from the downward force of your foot: Triggering the kick without hitting it?

Bruce

[kysrsoze]

As stupid as this sounds, I think you should build yourself a platform. I HATE using the electronic hi-hat pedal trigger on my kit, and would rather just preset the hi-hat. Then again, I'd probably still want to do that even with an actual mechanical hi-hat pedal. It still feels artificial and unnatural to my foot.

I've seen where people have built platforms on a bed of tennis balls (google that), and I've built my own kick drum platform to keep it from swaying from side to side. Have you thought about building a small wooden platform onto which you'd install your kick pedal and bass drum pad? You could place some plywood on a rubber isolating layer, but I would expect the rubber layer would have to be a little thick to absorb the energy. Still, velcro that sucker to your rug/carpet and it won't go anywhere or make any noise. I think your problem would be solved.

[doxxon3]

There is this pedal that comes with the cheap ION set made by Simmons here http://www.zzounds.com/item--IONIED01. It looks like the pedal that comes with the HD-1 set, but it uses a standard 1/4" mono connection. You can find it on ebay from time to time...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ION-drum-rocker-pedal-for-XBOX-360-Rockband-drum-kit_W0QQitemZ300261508376QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item300261508376&_trkparms=72%3A570%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

[BarT]

There is this pedal that comes with the cheap ION set made by Simmons here http://www.zzounds.com/item--IONIED01. It looks like the pedal that comes with the HD-1 set, but it uses a standard 1/4" mono connection. You can find it on ebay from time to time...
http://cgi.ebay.com/ION-drum-rocker-...d=p3286.c0.m14

That pedal appears to be a foot switch though, so it probably wouldn't work on the kick input of any Roland module (except an HD-1).

The HD-1 pedal won't work with a TD module either: cannot get the HD-1 kick pedal to work on the TD3.


Bruce

[doxxon3]

No, it's actually a trigger pedal. My brother has an ION kit. It's got a little click switch for a trigger when you depress the pedal, so there's nothing to impact. It works if you're desperate, but good luck trying to play fast notes on it...

[doxxon3]

That pedal appears to be a foot switch though, so it probably wouldn't work on the kick input of any Roland module (except an HD-1).
Bruce

Actually Bart, now that I ready that old post, you may be right. Might use some other kind of trigger method. I'll have to borrow my brother's pedal & try, just curious...

[NateVentura]

[saku]

No, it's actually a trigger pedal. My brother has an ION kit. It's got a little click switch for a trigger when you depress the pedal, so there's nothing to impact. It works if you're desperate, but good luck trying to play fast notes on it...

I had the ion kit before it burned up on me thrice and i REALLY hated that kick petal...no feel to it, you cant play fast and if you play slow you get all types of double triggering...the kick petal was one of the main reasons I gave up on the kit and bought a rolands instead....

[doxxon3]

I had the ion kit before it burned up on me thrice and i REALLY hated that kick petal...no feel to it, you cant play fast and if you play slow you get all types of double triggering...the kick petal was one of the main reasons I gave up on the kit and bought a rolands instead....

Yeah, that's what I thought of it, too. But I guess if you're playing only straight beats, I guess you could survive.