Tennis ball drum riser for Roland TD-30K

[KimOlav]

Hi all! Im new to the forum, and don't know if this is the right forum to post this in.. But anyway:

I have ordered myself the Roland TD-30K. It should be here in a week or two.
I wondered if anyone here have built a tennis ball platform for this kit? I'm not quite sure how I'm going to make it without having the throne on the platform since the stand is curved, with the drummer sitting kinda in the middle (?). I have not actually tried the kit yet so I'm not 100 % sure how the stand and kit will be, but I'm trying to plan this riser now so that I don't have to wait to play my kit when it finally get's here..
If you have one, what size did you build it?
Hope that made sense in my Norwegian English

Kim

[Bosko]

found this at another forum

http://forum.cakewalk.com/My-Neighbour-Friendly-vdrums-platform-m1434752.aspx

[KimOlav]

Thanks. But that one still has the throne on top of the platform. Would it work to just cut out a square where the throne is, so that it is on the floor? I have read that you should not sit on the riser, because this makes it transfer more vibrations to the floor.

[Bosko]

depends on how busy of a drummer you are, for me I'm all over the place up and down....side to side.
The throne should be the FIRST thing on the riser

[KimOlav]

So putting the throne on the riser would not make it less effective?

[TangTheHump]

KimOlav,

You're over thinking the riser and throne issue. Put the throne on the riser and be done with it. Given how high the riser is, a lot of thrones don't have enough extra length to compensate so you're stuck putting the throne on the riser anyway. And, as Bosko notes, the throne makes noise as you move around so isolating the throne along with the rest of the kit makes a lot of sense.

[MisterMR]

I designed and built one for a friend a while ago (for her brand new TD-30KX at the time) where I'd incorporated an area for the throne.

I haven't got any pics to show unfortunately (I'll dig out the CAD drawings and post if I can remember where they are) but if you can imagine two single sheets of wood with the main area cut 'D' shaped (to follow the curvature of the rack)... and centred on the flat side of the main area 'D', is a smaller reversed 'D' on which the throne would sit... that's pretty much the concept.

The idea was that the throne area would have its tennis balls more densely arranged to not just isolate, but more-effectively support the weight of the drummer... but also - due to its smaller surface area and minimised connection with the main area - would have a lesser effect on reducing the isolating properties for the kit as well as restricting drummer-induced 'kit vibration' and 'bounce' that you would normally experience if you put a throne on a regular square TBP with evenly arranged tennis balls.

The end result worked quite effectively with the isolative gains over a square TBP measurably and audibly noticeable. And it looked way more cool.

Having said all that, in the grand scheme of things, I kinda agree with Bosco and Tang... you can over-think these things (that's probably the design engineer in me) and some drummers justifiably do need to isolate themselves on the throne as well as the kit.

I still think the most optimal way is to isolate the kit on its own... but if you're a real 'mover on the stool' - and you don't want to isolate the throne completely separately... or fancy cutting out curved shapes - I reckon just build a regular TBP and jump on board with your kit.

[KimOlav]

Thank you all! I think I'll just tru to build the square tbp with the throne on top, and if it doesent work, i'll just cut some more.
How many tennis balls do you think I need for the platform, with both me and the kit on. Im thinking the size would have to be around 160 cm x 140 cm? Not quite sure about the space requirements since I havent got it yet

[MisterMR]

Tennis balls normally come in tube packs of 4. I reckon if you get 4 packs (16 balls) you should be covered.

[KimOlav]

I think I have landed on the design now.. Do you think this will support me on the throne and the drum kit without compressing it too much?
I was thinking about maybe adding a extra tennis ball where the throne is ( between the two bottom ones in the middle).
Do you think this would work? I have no idea about how many tennis balls I really need, so any advice is welcome
Dimensions: 160 cm x 120 cm (about 63 x 47 inches I think?)

[MisterMR]

If you're going to be on it, you'll need to place more tennis balls in the area where you sit. You'll only need a couple more. If you place too many, it will negate the isolating effect the other balls will have acting on the kit itself.

[KimOlav]

So if I add a couple more tennis balls like this I should be okay? (The additional tennis balls under the throne are marked with x)