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Dub
Joined: Jun 25, 2006 Posts: 2 Location: London
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2006 3:22 pm Post subject:
Noobie - Dual MIDI Pedals Bassdrum and Hihat Subject description: What's the easiest and cheapest way of generating MIDI messages for BD and HH pedals? |
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Hello,
a strange question, I know, but I want to generate MIDI messages for both a Bass drum pedal and a Hi hat pedal?
I could use an old drum machine I have sitting around, but it seems a bit of a waste to carry that around - does anyone know of a cheap and cheerful way of generating MIDI messages from a Bass drum pedal (Velocity sensitive) and a Hi Hat pedal (CC)?
BTW - The MIDI inputs are being read into a M-AUDIO Uno 1x1 - so another solution might be to have cutout the midi-le man, and use a single USB MIDI Controller which can take a HH and BD pedal - if anything like that exists! _________________ Dub |
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opg
Joined: Mar 29, 2004 Posts: 954 Location: Berkeley, CA, US
Audio files: 3
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 7:48 am Post subject:
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I use an old Roland PM-16 trigger-to-MIDI converter I luckily found in a music shop. I bought drum triggers (the ones that clip to the side of acoustic drums) and made drum pads. I shaved off the rubber on the drum triggers and glued it under a piece of aluminum flashing to increase the surface area. I then stapled the aluminum flashing to a piece of MDF, then covered the aluminum with mousepads.
The hardest part is to find an inexpensive trigger-to-MIDI converter. Well, that is unless I got your setup all wrong - what type of pedals? |
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Dub
Joined: Jun 25, 2006 Posts: 2 Location: London
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2006 5:07 pm Post subject:
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opg wrote: | I use an old Roland PM-16 trigger-to-MIDI . |
After much hunting about, I was thinking of a Roland TMC-6, but it looks horrendously expensive for something that does what I think it does.
opg wrote: |
The hardest part is to find an inexpensive trigger-to-MIDI converter. Well, that is unless I got your setup all wrong - what type of pedals? |
I hear what you say! See above.
I've got a few cheap micro-switch pedals, being single micro-switches they're not velocity sensitive - so I was planing to make something myself as the prices of the Kd-8 and FD-8 pedals are also way too much, for what I want. Hell, I could buy a kit for that!
I saw some DIY PIC-based MIDI trigger units, but I never heard back from the designer - I figured these would work for one-offs, but that if I was using both DB and HH untis, I didn't think that they'd work well together. _________________ Dub |
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opg
Joined: Mar 29, 2004 Posts: 954 Location: Berkeley, CA, US
Audio files: 3
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:32 am Post subject:
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Wait, wait - hold on. You're not using a bass drum pedal from an acoustic kit or a hi-hat stand?
Of course, the hi-hat's going to be a little bit more work, but if you use an actual BD pedal on a homemade pad and have it go into a trigger-to-MIDI converter, it will be velocity sensitive. The hi-hat input on the Roland PM-16 (which of course is an older model that is cheaper than the TMC6 and therefore almost impossible to find) and other converters like the TMC6 have two inputs for the hihat's open and closed positions. I didn't worry about the hi-hat pedal when I built my set, but I'm sure there are ways to do it.
First, I recommend eBay for the trigger-to-MIDI converter. There are a handful of older models that are just as good as the new ones (at least for what you need). For example, this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Midi-K-I-T-I-PRO-trigger-interface-manual-AC-adapter_W0QQitemZ290001770469QQihZ019QQcategoryZ10175QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
ends in 7 days, but there will be a lot of bids on it, I'm sure. Also, a lot of people use the Alesis D4 and DM5 as a converter, although it has built-in sounds. It ends up being too expensive on eBay, though. I took a look at the hi-hat pedals, and the Roland FD series seem to be affordable. I'm afraid I don't know that much about compatibility, however, since I never added a hi-hat pedal.
This guy has a great site with instructions:
http://members.cox.net/ampage/triggers.htm
I also used this page when building:
http://www.electronicdrums.com/pads/pads2.htm |
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Uncle Krunkus
Moderator
Joined: Jul 11, 2005 Posts: 4761 Location: Sydney, Australia
Audio files: 52
G2 patch files: 1
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Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2006 7:44 am Post subject:
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There's a trigger to midi converter kit here: -
http://www.siliconchip.com.au/cms/A_105432/article.html
but it looks pretty involved if you've never done anything like that before. Might be cheaper than a pre-built one though. _________________ What makes a space ours, is what we put there, and what we do there. |
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