A cheap kick-ass way to get your e-drums to sound extremely FAT

[Dimitri]

I have just tried to run my TD-6 through a Line6 POD (guitar amp modeler) into my monitors. Wow! I put the pod on the tube preamp setting and added a little bit of gain and a bit of compression. I was blown away, my friends.

The kind of sound you get that way closely resembles a real acoustic kit, at least to my judgement. Those of you that haven't tried that yet, definitely should!!! (I suppose it could work with any amp modeler such as J-Station etc.)

I suppose that in the mix, blending the POD-sound and the unprocessed sound together could produce some extremely satisfying results (POD-sound for realism, sustain and fatness, and the unprocessed sound for dynamic range/stereo). Yet have to try that myself.

[IndustrialDrummer]

that's cool. I've wondered what it'd be like to do that, but haven't had a chance. (lack of processor.) I've heard of the processor or brain being damaged when you run the drums through the efx though. Does anyone know about this?

[Blades]

Though not a bad idea for some dirty sounding stuff, I don't think this is the optimal way to treat them.

Why?

Well, first off the POD (which I have and LOVE for my guitar) is only 31.250k sampling rate...I don't know what the vdrums use, but I'd guess that for the range of instuments, individual sounds might only need 31.250k for representation, but the whole kit can fill 44.1k, I'd think.

Second, the frequency response of the POD is in qustion as well. I took a few minutes and tried to find what it is in ths POD, but could not.

If it makes a usable sound for you...great,though.

redbrick

[dr. kildrum]

If you have even a basic board, you should be able to run any of your channels to any kind of effects processor through an aux send with no problem. Phaser on your cymbals...very retro.

Chances are, the processor in the POD is just that much better than the onboards in the module. Turn off the module effects completely and try something like a Lexicon MPX-1 or better if you really dig what you are hearing.

[MPCman]

So I gotta be a guitar player to get a good drumsound? :P

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http://mpcman.flappie.nl

[dr. kildrum]

Originally posted by MPCman:
So I gotta be a guitar player to get a good drumsound? :P

Heaven forbid. You can get good sounds from the module. The effects on the other hand could be much better. I personally don't get much usefulness from a guitar effects processor (I have both the Roland VG-8 system, and a Roland GP-8 as well as some other stuff) to augment drum sounds, but a quality all around general duty unit is not a bad idea if you can spring for one (IMO).

Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against putting chorus, flanging, phasing, distortion, etc. on drums. Just not my thing and suspect that's not unusual. I was only pointing out it can be done easily with no adverse consequences to your equipment with a board. I've fiddled with it on occasion, but have very limited interest in it.

[fartnokker]

Jeez, Doc, you just HAD to go and mention running a phaser on cymbals? Def Leppard all over again!!!! DAMN, I really hated that!

If you want that REALLY cool retro sound, run at least 8:1 compression, super-fast attack (.01 or so), and run a really high & fast noise gate. EQ everything with a high-end rolloff at 12K, and a low-end rolloff at about 120Hz. For the classic Dokken drum sound, give everything a nice boost at about 500Hz for that "listening thru a long hollow tube" sound.

Seriously, tho, outboard processing is great, tube pre's are really great, but lowering your sample rate is bad. What sounds good to you through your headphones might not sound as good thru a big PA or on a recording. Heck, the bass POD would probably be set up for the necessary frequencies moreso than the guitar POD.

Now, if you could run it thru a Marshall JCM 900 100-watt lead head, then out to the PA (monitoring thru a 1960A cab, of course), you might have something... I'll try that at rehearsal tonight!!!!

-Danny

[dr. kildrum]

Here's an almost totally off-topic anecdote: I had a 100 watt Marshall lead stack once when I was just out of college. I bought it used with the grill stuff already replaced with tiger striped grill cloth. I blew one of the Celestian 12's in one of the cabinets and sold the other seven to upgrade to four Black Widows and had the head hot-rodded. At this point I had a bad-a$$ amp (albeit somewhat Elvis-ish) but was only using one of the two 4X12 cabinets (the other empty). I eventually acquired a band memeber who built speakers quite professionally. He cut the entire face off the empty 4X12 for me, retucked all the edges perfectly with excess black cover material, hinged it with a piano hinge and installed a small refrigerator in it with black flashing around it and a special track in the cabinet front piece to let the fridge door slide as they both opened together. The finishing touch was a bottle opener mounted on the side. I wish I still had that. A fridge in the studio or on stage is very handy gear indeed, and I've never seen one as "cool" as that. People always had a chuckle the first time they would see me walk over and open up the front of that top cabinet exposing the fridge inside with its light on and full of beer. Then when I would pull one out and open it on the side...too much. (End of only extremely tenuously related anecdote.)

[fartnokker]

Okay, it's official: You are my hero! Now, off to start planning the "fake 2nd kick drum that is actually a cooler" project...

-Danny

[Jgel]

Originally posted by dr. kildrum:
People always had a chuckle the first time they would see me walk over and open up the front of that top cabinet exposing the fridge inside with its light on and full of beer. Then when I would pull one out and open it on the side...too much. (End of only extremely tenuously related anecdote.)

This was one of the best damn posts I have read in a LOOOOONG time. That sounds so sweet. It also sounds a little 80's rock-ish, but still sweet.

[dr. kildrum]

Originally posted by Jgel:
...It also sounds a little 80's rock-ish, but still sweet.

Ding. Ding. Ding. Good eye! It was. It is. But I figure if I can enjoy laughing at myself as much as I do, others probably can even moreso.

[dr. kildrum]

Originally posted by fartnokker:
...Now, off to start planning the "fake 2nd kick drum that is actually a cooler" project...

LOL! Or one of those big suspended gongs perhaps, with a tumble dryer spinning a load of fluffy warm towels behind it...or ....?

[Dimitri]

Well...

I agree with the fact that POD dirties up the sound a lot, no matter what. AND, now that one night and one day have passed, I have decided that I would not put the POD-ed signal in the mix by itself. Though, I tried a combination of the POD signal mixed with unprocessed signal... That indeed, as I imagined, sounded pretty damn cool.

The only problem though (if recording that way) is that one would have to patch the cables so that both signals would be recorded at once. Otherwise, the two go out of phase (I mean one is slightly behind another). Though, thats a whole another issue...

[FloridaDrummer]

Originally posted by dr. kildrum:
I wish I still had that. A fridge in the studio or on stage is very handy gear indeed, and I've never seen one as "cool" as that. People always had a chuckle the first time they would see me walk over and open up the front of that top cabinet exposing the fridge inside with its light on and full of beer. Then when I would pull one out and open it on the side...too much. (End of only extremely tenuously related anecdote.)

How could you possibly let something so completely ingenious go. That should, at least, of been put in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. How? How? .....

[charlyv]

After alot of experimenting, I have put together what I think is an awesome stage setup for my TD-8/Vdrums. I use an SWR WorkingMans 15 Bass amp with a SWR 2-10 extension cab. The output of the TD-8 goes into a Behringer Virualizer-PRO DSP unit. This DSP has 2 channels, so I put the TD-8's master mono in channel A and patch it into the effects insert for the SWR. I patch the output from the TD-8's direct out to the B channel of the DSP, and put it into the PA mix insert. In the TD-8 my hats and cymbals get assigned to the direct out, and every thing else goes to the Master out. This helps to drive the cymbals and hats since they get attenuated the most. The DSP is incredible since it has a compressor that can really make a kit fat and it has effects such as a plate reverb, rotating 'Leslie' , and even a Vocoder that provide some very interesting possibilites. I put the SWR cabs about 10 feet apart and slightly behind me. This is important for stage feedback. If you play behind your amplification, it can feel like you are playing a kit made out of foam rubber. Anyway, hope this helps those who are planning on playing out with V-Drums.