Now that my Sample Rack is mounted, I have gotten down to hooking up with my DM10 via midi, putting samples on the SDCard and firing them off from the pads on my kit.
This is all going great, but it occured to me that the Sample Rack as enough inputs on the back for an entire kit and I am not using any of them. It would be nice if for example the on the song that needs the authentic timbale sounds (the intro the Land Downunder by aussie band Australian Crawl) could be played on other pads, and not on the rims of my DM10 kit, or taking up space on the toms.
I had this idea that if I could find an inexpensive edrum kit with suitable pads, I could rig up some extra pads around the kit for various sounds from the Sample Rack.
I had a quick look on Gumtree (.com.au) and the first kit I found was a Mastercraft MCDD403.
A kit that on Allen's Billy Hydes sells for $499AU
http://www.allansbillyhyde.com.au/prod/MCD403P/Mastercraft_MCDD403_Electronic_Drum_Kit.aspxA very low in the range kit.
The one I found on Gumtree was asking only $50 for the entire kit. (about $36US).
I bought it.
It's a beauty eh? What DIY dream kit!!
Just for fun I wired it up and had a play. What a nightmare. Something was wrong. Hitting a tom would buzz the sound like the pad was vibrating... Holding the pad helped a bit but it was not till I took a pad off did I see the issue..
I was thinking. "that is an odd spot for the piezo on a single zone pad".
I whipped out the screw driver and reveal the issue..
The piezo is upside down in that shot. I had it flipped over when I took the shot. The 4 little rubber feet are suppose to be on the base.
On all 3 toms the piezo had come loose.
That's all. Trivial and simple to fix..
All 3 toms had this issue. Now I'm just imagining the people who sold this, and why they sold it for $50. It was horrible to play. All in all I am super impressed with these little pads. They don't have to as fabulous as my DM10 pads. They will mostly be for single hit stuff. Maybe a 2 and 4 snare in a song or two.
Speaking of snare, check out the 'dual zone' pad on this kit. Look familiar??
Here it is open and upside down..
Now where I have seem those metal disks before..
More on this project as it unfolds.