Author Topic: My (Slightly Modified) Strike Pro in Action  (Read 1915 times)

Offline Iggford

My (Slightly Modified) Strike Pro in Action
« on: May 30, 2019, 03:02:37 PM »
Hey, guys,

Just thought I'd share this (I hope it works with this Facebook link, if not, I'll have to upload it to my YouTube page, just haven't had a chance to yet!).

This is one of my band's mashup/medley extravaganzas, LOL.  Just wanted to show off my Strike a bit.  I've got another expansion finished that I used last week, but I haven't gotten the media files for it just yet.  This is the Strike with my Gen16 hi-hat.  The user kit is made up of imported sounds from the Hugh Padgham Big Fill Kit expansion for BFD3.

https://www.facebook.com/DisasterRecoveryBand/videos/664954943975399/


--
Shawn

Offline Dartanbeck

Re: My (Slightly Modified) Strike Pro in Action
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2019, 07:13:25 PM »
Check it Out!!! It's our very own Iggford Man on his awesome new Strike Pro using his super-awesome Ahead drumsticks!

Way to light it up at the end of Rock n' Roll!!!

There was a comment on the board when I was there: "Hey, what kind of kit is that? I want to try one!"!!!

Sounds great! I think that's So Cool that you can import sounds from cool VST packs (Strike module). What is that little pad, and what do you use it for, cowbell? Is that like a Nitro pad?

Either way, do you like it? Did you have to split out one of your other triggers to add it?
Alesis DM10X Mesh - Laurin Drums & Cymbals - Strike Module
Dartanbeck.com Digital Artist

Offline Iggford

Re: My (Slightly Modified) Strike Pro in Action
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2019, 11:50:22 PM »
First of all, thank you greatly for the kind words!  :)

The small pad is a Roland PD-8.  For this show, I actually had two more resting right above Tom 4.  I used the one visible in the video just as you said, as a cowbell.  I eventually want to either buy or DIY an electric cowbell. 

I took the comment on the board as the kit sounds I was using, but I described those plus the alterations I had made to the kit itself.  The back and forth in the discussion was with the bass player that was in the band when I joined.  He's always commenting on how the kit gets bigger every time I post pics, LOL. 

I've since been able to rework some issues I was having with some pads that were replaced under warranty, so now I have a 4-up and 2-down setup for my toms.  I've had to lose the extra 2 PD-8's but I've kept the cowbell.  I've made the choice to go full-time with the Gen16 hi-hat, so that gives me the option to bring at least one of the other pads back in some capacity.  With our gigging schedule, I just haven't had a chance to figure that one out yet.

For the version of the kit in the video, I have the Tom1 input split to Tom 1 and my China.  Tom2 went to Tom 2 and the cowbell.  Tom3 was for Tom 3 and the left PD-8, and Tom4 went to Tom 4 and the right PD-8.

For my new setup (4-up, 2-down)  Toms 1 and 2 are on Tom1, 3 and the China are on Tom2, 4 and 5 are on Tom3 and the cowbell has been moved down to rest above Tom 6 on the Tom4 input.  I may end up having to move inputs around a bit, since you can't trigger head and rim simultaneously on the same input.  For the most part, that's ok, I just have to be mindful of that when I play.  I didn't think of it at first, and have wondered if I should connect head and rim to opposite ends of the kit, but with my style of playing, I may have it set up best for me.  I gigged with this setup last Saturday and didn't have any major issues.  I posted a pic below of the setup for Saturday's show.

I do like having the extra Roland pads.  They come in handy.  I have extra user kits set up, all identical except the function of that PD-8.  It's usually a cowbell, but I have claps, chimes, a tambourine and even a gunshot (for a specific song) that I can switch kits to change.  I have two kits that use Toms 1 through 4 as actual toms and 5 and 6 as specialty instruments.  One is a high and low timbale, the other is the stomp and clap sounds sampled from Queen's "We Will Rock You." 

I love this kit!! :)


-
Shawn

Offline Dartanbeck

Re: My (Slightly Modified) Strike Pro in Action
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2019, 12:30:55 AM »
Interesting... and awesome!

I just found out in another thread that none of the newer kit modules from my DM10 have trigger expansion capabilities via MIDI. Wow!

My Tom1 rim is my cowbell, Tom 2 rim is a vibraslap, Tom 3 rim gong, Tom 4 rim clap, then I have a Sample Pad Pro giving my nine more triggers... and the DM10 still has a lot of expansion room left. I'm loving my kit So Much these days!

My wife (bless her beautiful heart) let me set up my drums in the dining room now! :)

Since then, I've been discovering many new ways to get more and more out f this amazing module which is, unfortunately, of a bygone era.

Heh... when I was in Kixx Wikked in the 90's, we did the Tesla version of "Signs". As a gag in some shows, when it came to "...and the sign says anybody caught trespassing, will be shot on sight... so I jumped the fence and" BANG, I'd rim-shot a gunfire from my deep-dish Ludwig Chrome on Maple snare... get it? He jumped the fence and got... oh... right... not so funny. But it was at the time! :)

Man... I love that kit of yours! I can see how more actual pads and using less rim-as-trigger would be a lot of fun. I might just have to try that myself! Your cymbals sound (and look!) great, as does the rest of that wonderful kit!

Bravo, Iggford!
Alesis DM10X Mesh - Laurin Drums & Cymbals - Strike Module
Dartanbeck.com Digital Artist

Offline Iggford

Re: My (Slightly Modified) Strike Pro in Action
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2019, 09:33:06 AM »
Thank you again! :)

Yeah, it wasn't until after I bought the Strike that I learned of the MIDI limitation.  I was a bit disappointed at that, but it wouldn't have been enough to keep me from making the purchase anyway.  I'm just blown away at what I've been able to get out of the module, and I know I'm only scratching the surface.

My DM10 is a solid backup.  I have it set up to mirror the layout of my Strike, so if for some reason my Strike should fail (fingers crossed that it won't, but it's electronic, and anything can happen), I've got a plug and play replacement.  I've even thought about using it for expansion and running it into my AUX port on the Strike. 

Have you split any of your cymbal inputs on the DM10?  Seems like I remember doing that before buying the Strike and it working pretty well.  If I recall, I had split nearly every input on my DM10 at one time or another, and it worked fine.  I ask because it seems to be another limitation of the Strike.  You can split toms all day long with no issue, and there's even a way to split the kick.  But if you split cymbals, the pad that you run the bow side to works just fine, but the edge doesn't trigger properly.  I haven't fully tried to dial any of these settings in to see if there's a way around it, so there could actually be a solution out there.

I loved the story about "Signs."  I love throwing stuff like that in.  We have an original song that our bandleader wrote years ago.  It's about a murder at a county fair, and at the crucial point, the killer pulls a .22 pistol and shoots the victim, who is really the villain of the whole story.  Anyway, long story short, when he recorded it years ago, they just used a kick and snare to symbolize the shot.  There's a quick pause right before so it stands out.  We have played it in our band a couple of times, and I'd use a snare/china combo to make it pop a bit.  We played an all-original show back in February, and we decided to add that song.  I went out on the web and found a .22 sound sample, cleaned it up a bit and added it to the kit.  During the rehearsal, I let it loose and I thought he was going to fall out laughing.  He couldn't believe how great it sounded.  And loud!  We decided to keep it under wraps until it came up in the show.  May not have been the greatest plan, LOL.  We were in a small brewery, and didn't realize how much louder it would sound.  We had a couple people come up afterward and say they were scared at first until they realized what it really was.  Everyone loved it, though!

I used to have a bad habit of hitting rims, something I worked on controlling, so it made more sense to me to deaden them.  I used to duplicate the head sounds to get around it, but I've since improved accuracy, so I kinda miss having the rim clicks.  But it is nice for appearance to have more pads! :)


--
Shawn

Offline Dartanbeck

Re: My (Slightly Modified) Strike Pro in Action
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2019, 09:42:02 PM »
No, I haven't split anything yet. I use every trigger that came with the DM10, but the edge of the ride was seldom being hit.

Just the other night I tore my kit apart and set it up with my Sample Pad Pro where the small rack toms would normally go, then put my ride cymbal on a boom over it, with my other crash off further to my right.

Doing it this way I ended up not having enough room for all of my tom pads, so I'm trying my small 10" as my snare, which then ends up a little higher, which works better for me. One of my 12" tom pads is up and over the two floor toms, and I'm using it to trigger ride cymbal bell and bow, and I had to dual layer the ride to turn it into a crash (using a ride note in A) otherwise the edge/choke wouldn't work. But if I turn the Ride sample (even all the way) down, the crash still works on it, but the bell doesn't, which I'm not using in this configuration anyway.

Works really well!

Not sure if I'll keep it this way, but I'll be trying it with the band during this week's rehearsals, so that'll lead me to the answer.

My favorite part about it (also my initial reason for trying it) is that I get more use from both hands' sticks with the Sample Pad now, making it a lot more versatile and worthwhile. Now I have my cowbell, clap, and gong all on the far left of the Sample Pad, and vibraslap is on the top right, which is really easy to play. The top middle and both other lower pads are three toms (Yay for getting that high tom back!!!) with the two floor toms finishing off those, and now the upper floor tom has a slightly different pitch and sound on it's rim from the head itself, making it a very dynamic low tom, while the rim of the last floor tom is a semi-closed hi hat, useful for double kick. The final, upper right pad of the Sample Pad Pro is a shaker turned way down blended with one of the random percussion samples, which really works neat for so many situations - at least it does while I'm jamming by myself to tunes from my phone! LOL

Keep gigging, my friend! This is an awesome chat I think!!! :)
Alesis DM10X Mesh - Laurin Drums & Cymbals - Strike Module
Dartanbeck.com Digital Artist