Drone optical Hi-Hat controller

[lalo]

I'm using a drone optical hihat controller with my edrumin 10 R2, this is made by Mike from the UK, the same guy who made the kit toys cymbals back in the day, he sells his stuff through ebay but has some health issues so he keeps a low profile but the stuff he makes is top notch, I had his low volume cymbals, his drone side triggers and now his optical controller. The controller sticks with velcro to the base of the hihat stand, a reflection plate is then attached to the pedal and secured with a cable tie and the edrumin 10 recognized it inmediately as VH-10 in the default settings, calibration was easy and you just have to experiment with the box positioning until you get a reliable chick/splash. The controller needs external power 5V.

The main reason I got this is that you can use it with ANY 1 piece or 2 piece cymbals, even low volume. You know th drill, all roland VH are 12" and cost a fortune, with this controller you can use even a 15" or 16" if your stand can hold it... I needed a 14" cymbal since I'm a short guy and if I want to play double pedal I can't position the hihat stand close enough so with a 14" CY-14 now I can place where I need and don't miss a hit.

You can get the controller and the landing plate here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Optical-Hi-H ... 4709534267

Here is a demo I made with it and the edrumin10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNgxWdr7PY0
And here a demo of my whole kit with the edrumin10 triggering SD3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTTZTkvWhd8

[monospace]

Ooooh that looks sweet. I like my VH-10 but I wish the cymbal was bigger. So this thing mounts under the hihat pedal, and then you use a regular hi-hat clutch to mount any old cymbal? Any modifications on the cymbal? Can you post a close-up photo?

[lalo]

Yeah, the controller attached with velcro to the front part of the base and the reflection plate attached to the bottom of the pedal. Yes I use the clutch that came with mi tama stand, no need to modify the CY-14 whatsoever, the hole looks small at first but with a bit of force the clutch goes through easily.

[monospace]

Thanks for the tip. I ordered one. If this works out I can sell the VH-10.

[thedrumdoctor]

I can also vouch for the Drone optical Hi-Hat controller having replaced my VH-11 with one. Truly a game changer compared to that archaic 'plunger' design which doesn't translate its CC info as consistently. I'm just getting mine set up in eDrumin right now after using it with a TD-20 module. I love the certainty of watching the CC values go from O to 127 in the calibration window.

[lalo]

Here are a couple of pics of it, the first one shows the reflections plate position when fully pressed, it's about 3 cm from the controller, don't worry if it's not closer, the setup instructions are not very clear on this but you only have to play with it so you get full open 0 and full close 127. Also the plate's end doesn't need to be exactly above the sensors, just under it.

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This pic shows the pedal when fully open and not pressed, it's about 6cm

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This is the CY-14 mounted as hihat with the regular clutch, no need to modify the cymbal, just with a bit of force and the clutch goes trough, remember to tighten the nuts.

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[lalo]

And these are my pedal settings, I haven't touched the curve yet since I feel it plays great, just a minor thing, you need to unplug the pedal cable before plugging the edrumin, otherwise the edrumin won't be detected by your computer, an extra step but it's worth it...

Image 07.08.21 at 08.53 09.44.03.jpeg (70.62 KiB) Viewed 998 times

[lalo]

Another thing, if you move your hihat stand and the plate and controller move a bit you will need to recalibrate it again, and if you’re not getting splashes after a restart increase the travel and reduce the xtalk

[monospace]

Thanks for the pictures; that's very helpful.

This is the CY-14 mounted as hihat with the regular clutch, no need to modify the cymbal, just with a bit of force and the clutch goes trough, remember to tighten the nuts.

How's the wobble on the cymbal? The VH-10 cymbal has a reinforced plastic center, but the regular CYs are rubber. Wonder how that plays with fast 16ths.

[lalo]

With the nuts tight, nothing out of the ordinary