Author Topic: Resistors? Or no Resistors?  (Read 1052 times)

Resistors? Or no Resistors?
« on: October 23, 2021, 05:52:37 PM »
I'm converting an acoustic kick drum for my e-kit. And am putting together a simple side trigger.

I see some people add resistors in parallel to their piezos. What are they for? And do I need one?


Offline Chaser

Re: Resistors? Or no Resistors?
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2021, 02:22:37 PM »
I'm converting an acoustic kick drum for my e-kit. And am putting together a simple side trigger.

I see some people add resistors in parallel to their piezos. What are they for? And do I need one?

These are used in parallel with the piezo elements as pull-down resistor(1 Meg OHM and up) to ensure a good read of the voltage produced by the Piezo/Element

The resistor in parallel with the Piezo/Element keeps it at zero volts until the Piezo/Element produces a voltage. When this happens, the voltage "overrides" the weak pull-down by the resistor, allowing the voltage to be read preventing false triggering (from static electricity etc)

I haven't seen a lot of usage for a DIY single zone trigger except maybe arduino projects(along with a Zenier diode) to prevent high voltage getting back into the controller and trashing it.
Typically DIY drum triggers are just piezo to jack and adjustments are made in the module.
If you do a web search you'll see parallel resistors used in multipe zone triggers or custom trigger designs to help prevent crosstalk and/or false triggering..