# Drum Triggers Help



## Xenos0176 (Mar 26, 2011)

I mainly started this because i do also drum with playing guitar and i have tried again and again to mess with my bass drum to get a lower, deeper, fat tone when i play double bass and it may sound good when i play but on recordings i don't think its that great.

So that brings me to my next point, i've heard about them, i don't know how to use them in a show or even in my room just playing my kit. I looked on guitar center's website for triggers and they have a bunch for like $80-120 but there's one for like $25 the ddrum red shot trigger. I guess i wanna know all about triggers basically.

The only thing i DO know is that they can change the sound on whatever they are triggering to whatever you want...i'm not too sure how but i know that much.


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## Yorgo (Mar 26, 2011)

A "trigger" is literally a piezo transducer, you don't need to do know what that means, but what it does is detect a vibration (of different magnitudes) and transfers that information to a sound module. 

At the sound module you can alter many parameters, such as how sensitive the triggers are and what sound the module will produce when "triggered". The output of the module then goes to the PA System to be amplified and played in real time as you strike your bass drum.

I use Roland triggers because they allow for a balanced TRS cable input (XLR connections found on ddrum pro are very good and clean but finding a repleacement female XLR - Male Jack live if a cable decides to fail is pretty hard!) and the housing of the unit is pretty good! Although, the actual transducer costs around 5p and the quality rarely differs, you pay for the name/housing with ddrum and Roland.

Remember that your signal path is only as good as your weakest link so buy decent cables, connectors, triggers and module if you want a reliable sound. I go like this;

Right Bass Drum - Roland Trigger - Klotz Cable - Input 1 on Alesis DM5
Left Bass Drum - Roland Trigger - Klotz Cable - Input 2 on Alesis DM5

Alesis DM5 L/R Output - Klotz Cales - ART Stereo DI Box - Neutrik XLR Cables - Channels 1/2 on Multi-Core (Or PA mixing desk in a rehearsal room without the need for a snake).

My DM5 settings have a fairly low sensitivity (Gain at around 32) and it is used live on speed metal settings with the loads of high end and very little low or mid. This is then mixed with the microphone input of each bass drum to provide a "click" to cut it through the noise in the fast sections, but still has a nice timbre to it.

Hope that helps.

G


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## rogrotten (Mar 26, 2011)

Basically a trigger is a sensor you mount on your drums or pedal ( axis ekits or the new trick triggers). When you hit a drum, the sensor sends an electrical impulse to a drum module. The drum module is where you choose what kind of sound you want to trigger when the sensor is activated. On the drum module you adjust different parameters for the sound you chose ( curve, tuning, crosstalk...etc...) this change depending on the drum module you have. there are pros and cons to using triggers. One of the pros is that you get a more precise sound every time you hit the drum, which is really good at higher speeds. However one of the main misconceptions about using triggers is that you are cheating. This is totally WRONG, using triggers makes your playing and mistakes even more noticeable. they give a smaller window of mistake than playing with microphones. 
If you are planning on triggering the bass drum and you are going to use an external trigger (like the ddrum acoustic triggers, I recommend you get the PRO, they are sturdier and more durable than the red shots). I recommend you muffle you bass drum a lot (lots of pillows and sheets) so you reduce the vibrations of the drumhead and you have less trouble with the cross talk and the double triggering.
I hope this helps if you have any other questions let me know


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## Xenos0176 (Mar 29, 2011)

So then you have to plug the trigger into some kind of mixer or audio software to get a sound out of it then right? And i assume after that you would output the signal from there into a speaker or amp or something like that. Am i right in saying this?


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## yingmin (Mar 29, 2011)

Xenos0176 said:


> So then you have to plug the trigger into some kind of mixer or audio software to get a sound out of it then right? And i assume after that you would output the signal from there into a speaker or amp or something like that. Am i right in saying this?



Not a mixer. The trigger generates nothing but an electrical pulse, basically equivalent to a MIDI note-on message, which wouldn't mean anything to a mixer. You need some sort of hardware, either a trigger-to-MIDI interface or a standalone module like the Alesis DMs, in order to translate that pulse into a sound or MIDI note. The standalone module is going to be the easiest way to go about it, since then you wouldn't need a separate sound module, and you can pick up a DM4, DM5 or DM Pro (what I personally recommend, because I'm all about STUFF) for fairly cheap. The cheaper module just have stock sounds, but you can probably find something you like in there, or re-tune an existing sound to your tastes. The DM Pro lets you sample your own sounds in there, if you're as nitpicky as I am about having control over absolutely everything. And from the module, you'd just run straight to the mixer.


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## somniumaeternum (Mar 29, 2011)

Xenos0176 said:


> ...i have tried again and again to mess with my bass drum to get a lower, deeper, fat tone when i play double bass and it may sound good when i play but on recordings i don't think its that great.


 
If it sounds good when playing live but not when recording you may just need to get better mic technique or even just a better drum mic. 
My understanding is that triggering is mostly used for really fast playing to even out the notes live, etc. (simplistic explanation, I know). But if you're live playing is good already, the issue is not in the playing, it's in the recording. 

Drum triggers won't really do anything in a recording session that sample replacement wouldn't do without having to fork over any money for the triggers / hardware. 

I would:

Try playing around with the mic & mic positioning.
Try to EQ / compress / etc. the kick track. (Note: best results are usually had if you do a pre-fader send of the kick track to an Aux track and add the effect on there. It _really_ helps in fine tuning the wet / dry mix of the effect. I was finally able to get some decent kick sounds from DFH this way...)
Then do the sample replacement if all else fails. (and potentially redo step #2 on this track as well...)


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## Xenos0176 (Mar 30, 2011)

yingmin said:


> Not a mixer. The trigger generates nothing but an electrical pulse, basically equivalent to a MIDI note-on message, which wouldn't mean anything to a mixer. You need some sort of hardware, either a trigger-to-MIDI interface or a standalone module like the Alesis DMs, in order to translate that pulse into a sound or MIDI note. The standalone module is going to be the easiest way to go about it, since then you wouldn't need a separate sound module, and you can pick up a DM4, DM5 or DM Pro (what I personally recommend, because I'm all about STUFF) for fairly cheap. The cheaper module just have stock sounds, but you can probably find something you like in there, or re-tune an existing sound to your tastes. The DM Pro lets you sample your own sounds in there, if you're as nitpicky as I am about having control over absolutely everything. And from the module, you'd just run straight to the mixer.


 
How expensive are modules, i'm googling it but im not coming up with a whole lot of results so i'm not doing it right


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## yingmin (Mar 30, 2011)

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## Xenos0176 (Mar 30, 2011)

Jeez like $200 seems kinda pricey, i mean i could trigger my whole kit with one of those, but i only want to trigger my bass drum


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## yingmin (Mar 31, 2011)

Try something like this, then: Drum KAT MIDI KITI K.I.T.I. PRO trigger interface | eBay

The thing is that a trigger by itself is kind of like a guitar string: it's useless on its own.


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## rogrotten (Mar 31, 2011)

I have an alesis dm5 and it works perfectly (bought it for 180 used), if you just want to trigger your bass drum you don't really need anything else. it's not the best drum module out there but I'll do the job the only thing that really sucks is that I doesn't have a metronome.


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## Xenos0176 (Mar 31, 2011)

yingmin said:


> Try something like this, then: Drum KAT MIDI KITI K.I.T.I. PRO trigger interface | eBay
> 
> The thing is that a trigger by itself is kind of like a guitar string: it's useless on its own.


 
Yea i have noticed that which may cause me not to use them for at least awhile because its a larger investment than i though


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## RevDrucifer (Apr 7, 2011)

I've shared a few stages with drummers that have a small rack rig just for their kick drums. Definitely not un-common.

However, instead of viewing it simply as a kick-drum fix, try to see it as adding a pedalboard for your drums.

My last drummer triggered everything and ran the triggers into a Roland V-Drum module. This allowed him to set-up different scenes/pre-sets. When we played live, we still mic'd the drums. Generally we'd use 50% triggers/50% live sound.

He had a few cymbal pads around the kit as well as a hi-hat and kick-pad. We hooked up a footswitch so he could toggle between 2 presets or just move through a whole set-list in order. The sounds coming off that kit were insane.

Bass bombs triggered through floor toms, samples set off by pads, transistor/lo-fi sounds in the middle of a tune, etc. I had more fun programming his drum-rig than I did my guitar rig! We also had a sampler hooked up via MIDI to the V-Drum module, which is how we triggered samples live.

There's a lot that can be done if you're willing to put a little time in it. 

If you just want a good kick sound, change your head, fuck with the muffling and get a Shure Beta 52.


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## yingmin (Apr 7, 2011)

My drummer has four original Simmons pads, the big red hexagons, in his drumset, along with a footswitch he made himself. He can use it to throw ethnic percussion into a beat, or cheesy electronic drum sounds, or weird sound effects, or whatever. One section has the pads assigned as tubular bells in different pitches, another uses diatonically-tuned xylophone notes, another has ultra-80s Simmons kick and snare sounds. The possibilities are endless.


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## RevDrucifer (Apr 7, 2011)

Vinnie Paul rocked those Simmons pads for years!


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## Xenos0176 (Apr 8, 2011)

that'd be nice to do but it sounds expensive


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