Author Topic: Two Triggers, One Kick Drum?  (Read 3071 times)

Two Triggers, One Kick Drum?
« on: August 20, 2018, 03:11:12 PM »
Hi folks.  I've been drumming for decades.  A few days ago, I had my first gig using a completely electronic setup and my DM10X Pro with the 682Drums mesh head conversion.  I  played the kit hard for about 2 years before I finally took it out.

Well, the gig was a disaster, mainly because my kick stopped triggering.  I rigged it to get it to work and made it through the night.  When I finally got around to inspecting it, I found that the piezo trigger element was smashed. 

I have pretty quick feet with the double pedal, so triggering the kick drum has always been an issue.  So I started thinking.  What if I replaced the single, center mounted piezo element with two piezo elements, off-center, so they are closer to where the beaters strike the head.  Has anyone ever tried this?  Is it possible?  Can I run them to a single output, or should I run them to two, separate outputs? 
« Last Edit: August 20, 2018, 03:12:46 PM by Starkeyje »

Offline ironman187

Re: Two Triggers, One Kick Drum?
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2018, 12:09:56 AM »
Wow, sounds like you are a hard hitter. Have you considered using the method Alesis uses in their mesh head kicks? A foam tower in the middle to cut down on bounce and a piezo with a small foam pillar attached to it that contacts the head at the bottom of the kick?

Offline Dobly

Re: Two Triggers, One Kick Drum?
« Reply #2 on: August 22, 2018, 10:44:46 PM »
Well, the gig was a disaster, mainly because my kick stopped triggering.  I rigged it to get it to work and made it through the night.  When I finally got around to inspecting it, I found that the piezo trigger element was smashed. 

Check out this mod I did to my Dm10X bass drum pad.

http://www.alesisdrummer.com/index.php?topic=6785.0

I did that almost 2 years ago and it has not failed yet.

Re: Two Triggers, One Kick Drum?
« Reply #3 on: November 30, 2018, 11:14:06 PM »
Hi, I smashed my Quartz Trigger in my 16" kick. I built a new trigger with 2, yes two 35mm Piezos  wired in parallel.
I use a 5"x8" piece of 1/2" plywood mounted the piezo's on with foam double stick tape. The I glued on a 2" thick 5"x8" piece of foam with spray glue.
I wrapped the whole thing with thick fabric that was spray glued on.
It works great not a problem since.
Another thing that I do is that I have Rim Mounted Triggers

( http://billyblastdrums.easystorecreator.com/items/drum-triggers/set-of-five-triggers-blasters-set-of-five-triggers-blasters-detail.htm )

on every drum just in case. If an internal trigger goes out during the show. Just unplug the internal trigger and plug in to the rim mounted triggers.

I first saw double triggers on Joey Jordison's drums when he was palying with Slipknot. Even though he had two kick drums he only used one with a double  pedal and It had two DDrum triggers on on it. I asked why just the one kick and two triggers. He explained that even two kicks, exactly the same never sound exactly the same for many reasons including different mics etc. the second trigger is just redundancy in case something happens. They are both wired up and running to the module.

Re: Two Triggers, One Kick Drum?
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2019, 04:48:22 PM »
Has anybody made a DIY version of the AXis E-kits?  https://www.interstatemusic.com/34608-Axis-EKIT-Bass-Drum-Electronic-Conversion-Pedal-Kit-EKIT.aspx ($81)

I think that would be the best solution because you can literally use any heads, or even Gibraltar practice bass pads and still trigger perfectly with no unwanted re-triggering.... I guess the only issue with it would be to control dynamics...

The second best I've seen is taking the roland Kd-9 ($200) pad apart and mounting the guts to an acoustic drum head or spend the money and buy the actual pad the KDA-22, it works great but seems too expensive. ($300)

The last best choice will be the aquarian bass drum trigger:

https://www.amazon.com/Aquarian-Kickzone-Bass-Drum-Trigger/dp/B00AWKGX36/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=aquarian+bass+drum+trigger&qid=1553027162&s=gateway&sr=8-1  ($40)

According to Siren-drums (youtube channel ) he tried many different ones and for an acoustic conversion using mesh head that was the best (and probably the cheapest)....


I made a sketchup mockup and it will be fairly easy to make, at least the piezo holder, not too sure what to use to make the small hammer... Maybe a mechanical screw and a very rigid small spring... for now I am using the Roland Pad from the TD-11 behind a 22 inch bass drum, the rest are the acoustic drums with mesh heads and 8 cymbals between Alesis, Roland and Pintech. for modules I am using the DM5 for the 4th tom (floor) and I will add a few more pads for Cowbell and other extra sounds, and the Roland TD-11 for the rest of the set, both module outputs sent to a small Behringher mixer (Xenix 520 I believe) and the output of the mixer sent to a small Behringer headphone amplifier which gives me 4 outputs (one for my headphones and the remaining 3 can be used for 3 cameras to sinc audio on the fly for drum covers).