userfriendly's MegaDrum build

[userfriendly]

So... after mulling a bit over the hihat-y inputs and soldering a wee little jumper board for them, I connected Kick, Snare & Hihat inputs (that's all I have for triggers at the moment, cymbals are coming this week and toms in June). And lo and behold, the VU meters started jumping. I jumped as well, to the computer. Started Cakewalk Sonar and loaded a kit into BFD, selected the MegaDrum as MIDI input device and... well, it just worked like that. Big fun.

Now I have to play around with sensitivity and stuff, eliminating ghost triggering and all that. But - and that's the important thing - it works! So happy, I am. Thank you Dmitri, thank you Synthex! This is great stuff.

[userfriendly]

Alright, I updated the firmware to version 20090520 and been playing with the settings a bit - looking at the MIDI output with the midi-ox input monitor. Snare & bass drum were set up quite easily. Still might need to adjust them a bit (they're a little hot), but I can already see that they play just nicely with the MegaDrum. So far, so good.

However, my Jobeky Hihat proves to be troublesome.

• I can only make the cymbal trigger send note on/off events when I hit it really hard. They end up having velocities of 127.
• The controller doesn't seem to send anything at all, regardless of jumper settings (polarity, impedance). VU meter constantly displays 127 for the pedal.

Will give it another bash tomorrow, it's 1am here now.

[userfriendly]

Obviously I couldn't stop thinking about what might be wrong, so I checked the solder joints once more and, just to be sure, made a new jumper board. Still the same thing, hihat controller sends nothing.

Don't have a multimeter at home, so that's the first thing I'm going to buy as soon as I'm awake in the morning. Probably more like afternoon. Already put a 100 ohm resistor aside to simulate the impedance for the MegaDrum's pedal input (and an additional 4k7 to check the triggers too, just for giggles). But that really has to wait until the next day, what with no multimeter available and no electronics store opened at 3am. So I should be able to sleep soundly now.

[userfriendly]

Coming closer to having solved the mystery - the variable resistor in the controller is not connected to tip and ring, as i had assumed, but to tip and sleeve.

I'll now try and move one of the cables leading to the jumber board to the sleeve instead - I'm still wondering about not having to connect that particular input jack to ground, can that be right? Oh well. What's the worst thing that can happen... apart from everything exploding around me.

[userfriendly]

Alrighty. Now the VU meter clearly follows the change in resistance. Nice. But - there is always a but, right? - first it starts off with 127, then I press the pedal, it stays on 127, and when I take the foot off the pedal it goes to 0. Press the pedal, goes back to 127, foot off the pedal, goes to 0. It should be the other way round, no?

Well, I changed the polarity on the jumper board. Still the same thing. I'm starting to feel stupid. Or rather, more stupid, considering...

[gastric]

Coming closer to having solved the mystery - the variable resistor in the controller is not connected to tip and ring, as i had assumed, but to tip and sleeve.

I believe that's how it should be, and is how I have wired all of my pedals. Tip-sleeve, standard for a mono device. Sleeve is the ground.

[userfriendly]

I believe that's how it should be, and is how I have wired all of my pedals. Tip-sleeve, standard for a mono device. Sleeve is the ground.

Yeah, that does make sense.

Is this not correctly wired, then? This is how I first had it: look at the pedal input jack, tip & ring.



Still wondering what I'm doing wrong with the pedal - it's backwards: 127 when pressed, 0 when open.

[userfriendly]

Still wondering what I'm doing wrong with the pedal - it's backwards: 127 when pressed, 0 when open.

Well, considering I have the sleeve connected to the jumper board instead of the ring, all that the "polarity jumpers" do now is switch between tip/sleeve and sleeve/tip. And thus have become pretty useless. What remains is the jumper to switch between high and low impedance.

What I find strange is that, according to the MD documentation, it's correct: "0 - for fully open, 127 - for fully closed." And yet, I get an open hihat when the pedal is closed and a closed hihat when the pedal is open.

[dmitri]

Still wondering what I'm doing wrong with the pedal - it's backwards: 127 when pressed, 0 when open.

Well, considering I have the sleeve connected to the jumper board instead of the ring, all that the "polarity jumpers" do now is switch between tip/sleeve and sleeve/tip. And thus have become pretty useless. What remains is the jumper to switch between high and low impedance.

What I find strange is that, according to the MD documentation, it's correct: "0 - for fully open, 127 - for fully closed." And yet, I get an open hihat when the pedal is closed and a closed hihat when the pedal is open.

But you wrote yourself that this is what you got:

Alrighty. Now the VU meter clearly follows the change in resistance. Nice. But - there is always a but, right? - first it starts off with 127, then I press the pedal, it stays on 127,

This is how it should be if it's the first time you press it and 'AutoLevels' are set to Yes (which is default)

and when I take the foot off the pedal it goes to 0. Press the pedal, goes back to 127, foot off the pedal, goes to 0. It should be the other way round, no?

It behaves just as stated in the documentation.

[userfriendly]

In that case, my problem is only related to the mapping of MIDI notes, then?

Sorry for being a total noob. 'tis my first e-drum.

I'm just confused that it sends the chick note on/off when the pedal moves up and not when it moves down.