Alesis DM5 sounds (combining them)

Bretton

Silver Member
I just bought an Alesis DM5 on craigslist, not quite in my hands yet, but once my dad gets home from Vancouver with it tonight, it shall be mine! This will be my first trigger module. Still need to get the triggers.

I found a website with all of the DM5's sounds available to download as .wav files
http://www.alchemystudio.it/FreeSamples/FreeSamplesIndex_en.htm (scroll down a bit)

playing around with the .wav files I had the idea to combine some of the sounds, eg. for my main snare, I like Piccolo and BluSprkl combined (if I decide to trigger the whole kit rather than just the kicks), and for my two toms I was thinking of using StudioMd and StudioLo both with two of the same sample, pitch shifted differently into a chord-like idea to thicken up the sound.

I would think this could be achieved with a Y cable rather than having to put two triggers on one drum.

has anyone tried anything like this?
 
I used a Y cable to plug two kick towers into one port. You can't do it the other way around like your saying as both pads will trigger the same sound unless the pad has rimshot capabilities and you split the stereo line so one pad is the rim (left) whichever sound you assign and the other is just a normal stroke (right) with whatever sound you assign.

I've experimented with thickening samples, I made my own samples by recording my acoustic kit at different velocities, got the sound I likes, thickened then lightly with two seperate snares one left, one right, quietly with my main snare in the middle and mixed it up with the velocity curve.
Did the same with the toms so if I really hit them hard I get a Slipknot percussion effect. Makes the toms sound epic on big parts as I've always envied Slipknot fr thickening their parts with percussion.
Did the same with the cymbals so they don't sound thin. just make sure the lower velocity curved samples are nearly solo, it won't sound right ghosting samples like that. Just give it a sharp curve at the top for that extra oomph wheb you need it.

Took me an age to record, eq, compress mix, chop up and export then. Then mapping them is trial and error, find your comfortable dynamic level and adjust the samples to you not the other way around.

I use battery 3 to trigger my samples, you could do the same if you plug your alesis into your pc. Sure it has a usb.

Good luck!
 
so you can confirm that using one of these:
images

to put my two kick drums into one channel would work, however, using one of these:
images

to split a signal into two channels to play two samples simultaneously would not?
 
Yes that will work for your bass drum.

The splitter idea will work only if the input on the module has more than one sound to it, if it's dual zone ie snare or cymbal then it will work, you split the lead and left is the 'normal' zone and right is the 'rimshot' zone.
Then you pick whatever sounds you'd like for each.
 
hmmm, I'm trying to get two simultaneous sounds out of one "zone." For now I'll just be going with ddrum triggers on my kicks (figured I'd rather eat than trigger my snares and toms right away). It should be a mono signal coming out of the trigger. If I then split the mono signal with a Y cable an put it into inputs 1 and 2, both of those sounds should fire when the trigger is activated right? I don't see why that shouldn't work.

ah well, I'll try it once my triggers come in and post the results, then we'll know.
 
it works! but as I suspected, the more splitter cables you use, the weaker the signal gets. So What I'm going to do is use four inputs on my DM5, trigger from bass drum 1 will go into inputs 1 and 2, and trigger from bass drum 2 will go into inputs 3 and 4. 1 and 3 will play Fat Head, and 2 and 4 will play SpeedMtl, so both sounds will occur simultaneously hitting either drum.
 
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