Author Topic: Having trouble with cymbals - sound seems to cut off after striking  (Read 4751 times)

I'm hoping someone has some advice. I have a new strike pro and I'm working on dialing in the kit/sounds I want. I'm really happy - both over all and with the Tom/snare and kick sounds are working. Having trouble with the cymbals

So when I strike a crash, it rings out for maybe a second or second and half then cuts out. I have the decay all the way up to 99. I even tried putting a reverb on the voice to attempt to get them to ring out and not sound like they are cut off.

Any advice on how to solve this issue? Do I simply need to select a different voice/instrument? 

Thanks in advance for any help!

Alan

Offline Purpledc

Re: Having trouble with cymbals - sound seems to cut off after striking
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2018, 08:09:19 AM »
Some cymbals have a short ring.  But to be sure lets try this.  Take the cymbal sound you are trying to use and assign it to a tom head instead.  If you put the sound on a tom head and it sounds proper then 1 of 2 things is happening.  you have some type of jacked up trigger settings or your cymbals may be defective.  It almost sounds to me like your chokes are activating shortly after playing the cymbal.  Which I could see on one of them but not all.

if using the stock sounds I find that I usually want the cymbals louder than my pads. But if you find the initial volume of the strike is fine and its just a issue with them not really ringing out and reverberating like you would like you can do this.

Press Voice

Then on the right hand side under the screen press F3 for velocity.   This is where you really can custom tailor your sound.  Here is how they work.  I will start with the one most relevant to your situation.  Velocity Decay.



Velocity decay-makes cymbals have more swell and ring out but its tied into the initial hit rather than the overall decay.  But it seems to work in tandem.  So by increasing the decay of the initial hit your in turn will make the cymbal ring out longer.  Increase this and let me know if it helps.   This setting also can waken up dead toms and give a bass drum more woof.


Velocity Level - Higher values increase the dynamic range.  Turn it up for maximum range of soft to hard hits.   Turn it down if you want your softer hits to sound louder.   

Velocity Filter - This I find to have a different effect on each instrument.  Cymbals to me can increase or decrease the metallic nature of the initial attack.    On toms and kicks raising it can add punch and lowering it can tame smack sounds.   on snares it has a unique effect that has to be experienced to understand.

Velocity pitch tunes the attack and initial hit.  Very cool to play with to really fine tune your sound.  Like on a bass drum if you feel the overall tone is low and deep enough but you feel the attack and initial strike is to high pitch you can microtune that here.

Offline Iggford

Re: Having trouble with cymbals - sound seems to cut off after striking
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2018, 10:21:19 AM »
I'm almost wondering if there's an issue here besides decay settings.  My band played a party over the weekend, and I started having the same issue a couple of times with at least one of my crashes. 

There was a point in one song where I realized I was on the wrong kit, so I switched at a pause in the song.  It cut off the cymbal that I had just struck in mid-ring.  I understand that instance, as I initiated the change (even though both kits use the same cymbal samples).

However, I noticed on a couple of other occasions, I would strike a crash and I'd hear it cut short.  I've had it happen once or twice before since getting my kit, but it happened more than once in this weekend's session.  I'm thinking there may be an issue with my trigger, and the choke may be activating somehow.

I wonder if this is an issue that I should contact Alesis about?  If it is, that may be what's going on with your crashes, Alan.  My crashes normally ring out for quite a while, and it's only on the odd occasion that they cut short.  If it's a failure issue, mine may just be on its way out.

Just a thought...


--
Shawn