Alesis pads too hot?

[mprinz]

Hi,

did you try the 10k Ohms resistor?
I got this device from Rob years ago for the Jobeky snare and the eDRUMin4 R1

I recently used a 10k / 10k voltage divider for the kick pedal triggers.
Fixed!

Did you check the cable.
Your velocity setting in the software is... No!

If it is such a wired behavior, maybe the piezo came off or the cone moved or whatever.

[LooseSends]

Thanks for the reply.

1) It's on all Alesis pads not just one so we can rule out any cabling issues, etc.

2) It may be something to do with using Addictive Drums 2 and may not apply on other software

3) The resistor may be the way to go but I haven't tried it yet.

It's not a velocity issue but rather a "mapping" issue where the samples don't line up with the force used to trigger them, i.e. a medium strength hit triggers a hard slam on the snare, for instance. A soft hit sounds like a medium force hit. Again, this isn't a volume/velocity issue, and yes, I've tried from scratch using lower overall volume using the full articulation range and it simply sounds like crap as if I'm over-hitting the kitpiece. It is more noticeable on the snare but applies to hats, cymbals, and toms as well.

My only solution to date is to squish the velocity curve maximum down to about 1/3 of the full range to get a reasonably mapped range that matches well even though playing in that smaller range has a bit less volume variability.

This leads me to believe that there is either too hot of a signal coming out of all my kitpieces, or that EDrummin spits out a hotter signal for these kitpieces, OR that Addictive Drums 2 is doing it. I've tried limiting the Global Velocity in AD2 but I don't think that really solves anything as far as giving back the wider dynamic range that I would like to have.

So it sounds like using a resistor is the answer but I've been reluctant to bother since I've managed to make the kit sound great anyway, although I have to be a bit more disciplined on hit force consistency (probably a good thing to some extent). Also, I would have to make one for every kitpiece.

I suppose I'll make one up just to see

[Rob]

If the signal from your pads is clipping the eDRUMin VU meter when the velocity curve is off and the gain setting is 1 (it's lowest value), then your pads are indeed too hot. What weight of sticks are you using?

[LooseSends]

If the signal from your pads is clipping the eDRUMin VU meter when the velocity curve is off and the gain setting is 1 (it's lowest value), then your pads are indeed too hot. What weight of sticks are you using?

Just tried that and a minimum gain with curve off gets me about 25% where my normal setting is 4.1 gain which makes harder hits register about 80%.

I'm guessing this means it's an AD2...or perhaps more likely a "me" problem.

[Rob]

Getting solid dynamics is all about fine-tuning the eDRUMin gain and velocity curve. You should get your dynamics right before the MIDI goes into your drumming app. eDRUMin has analog gain and its curve is applied to 10 bit values, whereas any MIDI application will only have digital gain and velocity curves applied to 7 bit values.

[mprinz]

Hi Rob,

so, what do you use to set this.
Just a synth plugin?

Because I recognized that every library has it's own distribution
of velocity layers. At least through my ears.

So we need a velocity neutral sound source.

Some snares feel completely fine, right out of the box and some are off. Snare edge and Center articulations I need to fine tune.

Is there a possibility to do the velocity setting for the pos sense in the edrumin?
Uh ...No, because I just get the hit note and the CC.

[Rob]

I just use a handful of SD3 kits and I've adjusted my eDRUMin settings so they sound good for all of the those kits. Maybe I would run into issues if I started working with more applications.

Being able to set a separate velocity curve for positional sensing has come up several times in the past, and it's likely something I'll implement in the future.

[LooseSends]

Getting solid dynamics is all about fine-tuning the eDRUMin gain and velocity curve. You should get your dynamics right before the MIDI goes into your drumming app. eDRUMin has analog gain and its curve is applied to 10 bit values, whereas any MIDI application will only have digital gain and velocity curves applied to 7 bit values.

More and more I'm thinking it's AD2.

I make all my dynamics adjustments first on ED so that I get a full range using the gain to peak out at about 90% of max on hardest hits, then adjust velocity curve before making adjustments in AD2. Pretty much as you said.

With the snare and hats, I need to adjust the velocity curves in AD2 to shelve quite early at about 30% and fine tune the front of the curve (softer hits) to scale reasonably well with real-life hit strength. Most of the dynamic action happens early on the AD2 velocity curve for a kit-piece, as if the usable range is compressed and the remaining 80% of the available range is dedicated to overly "loud" hits, irrespective to volume. I'm also careful to make sure that it's not clipping, either from ED, AD2, or further amplification to headset.

I can live with it as is though. I'm very happy with the overall response when taking these inconsistencies into account, and I can get a good drumming response that lines up with reality, but I know that Superior Drummer is by far the more popular application used and supported.

Maybe I'll cave in and buy SD3 as well at some point.