[Strike Multipad] Bug with pad feeling settings?

[Tré Cool 412]

Hi everyone!

As announced in my introduction earlier tonight I'd like to share I problem I ran into two weeks ago, setting up the SMP with 2box TrigIt triggers on an acoustic snare drum, bass drum and a floor tom.

Having the bass drum on TrigIn 1 and the snare on 2/3 I achieve a decent result with my dialled in main and kit settings regarding those triggers. No double triggering, no lost hits, no xtalk / good head-rim separation, acceptable dynamic range, about 70 samples latency (transient mic signal vs transient DI signal, snare to oh mics transients differ about 130 samples).

Adding another trigger on TrigIn 4/5 messes up everything, no matter if mounted on a low or high tom, close or far away from BD and SD. Even splitting up the input with a dedicated edrum y-splitter and using two triggers "mono" for the heads only with the respective trigger setting in the SMP didn't cut it. I spent a whole sunday afternoon trying to dial in good enough settings without any success. 

And I noticed something strange: whenever I set the threshold for trigger 4 or 5 [Pad->Feeling], the threshold for the other trigger was altered as well. This was not the case for trigger 2 and 3. Their threshold values can be set independently. Also the sensitivity of trigger 4 and 5 can be set independently at the same time (at least the GUI makes me believe that but the difference in the dynamics of the sound triggered is audible as well). This also wasn't affected by the trigger type setting (2 triggers vs. dual-zone).

I also noticed, that the respective "head threshold" (triggers 2 and 4) seems to affect the effective threshold of the "rim" as well (no matter the trigger type setting). Increasing the threshold of trigger 2 increased the necessary velocity to produce the rim sound noticeably (but not as if it was the exact same threshold like on 4/5).

I'm at my wits end and absolutely exhausted. Is this a known bug with the SMP FW 1.3 or the SMP in general? If so, I don't consider reaching out to the support a viable solution because Chaser (imho correctly) stated on a different issue here in 2024 already:

Alesis has never addressed/posted an Official Fix/response and probably never will as the v1.3 Update was released June 2020 (4 years ago) and is more the likely the Final Version.

I'd really appreciate any insights of fellow SMP users, especially those using triggers as well. I've seen this YouTube video where an SMP is hooked up with 5 DD triggers on an acoustic drum set, working like a charm. So I refuse to believe it can't be done, yet. Else the SMP will have to yield to an SPD SX Pro 

Many thanks and kind regards,

Sebastian

[Tré Cool 412]

Hey everyone,

Here's an update on the situation after I liaised with InMusic-Support on the issue:

[...]

"I'm afraid there is not much else available to offer asides adjusting the settings. This behaviour seems to be more firmware related, in which I am unable to offer much insight on.

The last firmware released was in 2020.

As the Strike Multipad is now EOL (End of Life), this means development updates have now ended. But as a courtesy to you - I am linking you with all available firmware version for the product which you may wish to try:

Strike Multipad FW Versions 1.1. 1.2, 1.3

In my efforts to shed light on this behaviour, I will be forwarding on your videos and tests on to our developers. Whilst I cannot guarantee a response or share any ETAs or feedback updates - this is the best I am able to do to spread awareness on the behaviour.

I do apologize for any inconvenience caused."

I tested all provided legacy firmwares. Sadly any of those contain the bug described above :/ Bottom line: the SMP was, is and will stay faulty in this regard. I sold the SMP and bought an SPD SX Pro.

Kind regards, Sebastian

[Chaser]

Hey everyone,

Here's an update on the situation after I liaised with InMusic-Support on the issue:

[...]

"I'm afraid there is not much else available to offer asides adjusting the settings. This behaviour seems to be more firmware related, in which I am unable to offer much insight on.

The last firmware released was in 2020.

As the Strike Multipad is now EOL (End of Life), this means development updates have now ended. But as a courtesy to you - I am linking you with all available firmware version for the product which you may wish to try:

Strike Multipad FW Versions 1.1. 1.2, 1.3

In my efforts to shed light on this behaviour, I will be forwarding on your videos and tests on to our developers. Whilst I cannot guarantee a response or share any ETAs or feedback updates - this is the best I am able to do to spread awareness on the behaviour.

I do apologize for any inconvenience caused."

I tested all provided legacy firmwares. Sadly any of those contain the bug described above :/ Bottom line: the SMP was, is and will stay faulty in this regard. I sold the SMP and bought an SPD SX Pro.

Kind regards, Sebastian

Welcome to the Forum !

Too bad Support couldn't help with the issue...
I was able top replicate your issue...Input 4/5 seems to not perform as 2/3...

Multipads aren't designed to be used as a Drum Kit..for one..the Polyphony is too low..32 Voice..
32 mono voices or 16 stereo voices can be active at one time (including click) and Voices will start to cut out as you run out of Poly.
It's easier than you think..especially if you group or link a lot etc and using Stereo Samples with long Tails ringing out (Loops,Low Toms/Cymbals)
The SPD-SX-Pro is also 32 Voice Poly..

There was a New Multipad  AIO with a DB25 Trigger Harness and claims 256 Poly..however still haven't seen any reviews..still havent
t purchased one.

There was also Firmware Update to V1.4... Not released to the Public
However No One in support seemed to know anything about it .
Unsure if it was a Fix..or there may have been a Hardware change.


InMusic CX Team

I have reviewed our database's official website, and it appears that there is indeed no firmware version 1.4 available; the latest version is 1.3.
However, since you are showing on your screen that you are currently on firmware version 1.4, I will escalate this issue internally to our dedicated team for further review and investigation. Once I have more information, I will get back to you.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. I am here to assist you with anything else, so please don't hesitate to reach out if you need any further help.

Best Regards,
Customer Experience Specialist


I then tried someone else and received this response..


I trust you are doing well. As I promised, I'm returning with some information from our dedicated team.

It appears that there was probably a modification in an internal component, which necessitated an alternative firmware.
There shouldn't be any features linked to version 1.4, and users with earlier versions will not be able to upgrade to 1.4.

Could you please confirm if there was any modification to an internal component after which a firmware update was carried out?

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding. I'm staying here to help you.

Best Regards,
Customer Experience Specialist