Anyone spiffy with kickdrum triggers?

Ferret

Senior Member
Hello drummerworld! First time post for me, I've been drumming for 5 years but never signed up with anything like a webforum. Anyway, I have been wanting to trigger my kicks for some time, but have no idea how to figure out anything thats not acoustic and doesn't make its sound as a result of me hitting it.

The sound engineer I last worked with said he could do it in protools (as well as turn water into wine with it) but then, didn't...and the kick tone sounded non-existent. Anyone got any good recommendations for triggers that you have used for fast double bass licks that don't drop notes?

Thanks!
 
As far as my knowledge goes, triggering a kick goes like this:


You have your trigger PAD which adheres to your drum head. This pad is an electronic sensor that senses vibration(strokes) and registers that stroke as a digital signal.

Then you have your Drum Module. Which is basically a comuter with different inputs and outputs, that has a library of Electronically sampled drum sounds.

Basically the trigger pad sends a signal to the Drum Module which you then connect to some kind of sound output source( PA system, speakers, etc). The sounds from the Drum Module will then be amplified through the speakers.

Usually the modules have a full array of Tom, Kick Drum, Snare, Cymbals, you name it. Set your module to the Kick Drum sample you fancy, and when you hit your kick drum, the trigger should set off the Module which will then be amplified though your speakers :)

I've only used them one time, and the trigger itself wasn't working properly, but I pretty much saw how they worked. Hope this helps
 
You can use triggers with a drum module or directly into DAW software like Ableton Live or Cubase, or indeed Logic, with a sample library like EZ Drummer or BFD Drumkit from Hell loaded. The important thing is ensuring a MIDI output from the trigger and at some point converting that into a sample. How that is done is up to you. Live, I would suggest a module would be easier (something like the module from a Roland TD-9) but there are more tonal possibilities from a software package. You could even potentially set up the triggers directly onto the pedals and use the pedal motion rather than the impact of the head as the trigger to send a bang.

Usually in a triggered live situation, you have an acoustic mix and an electronic mix - that is, the triggers are sent to the PA and so is a microphone send. Then they are mixed together accordingly. This helps the sound feel more natural, if that's what you're going for.
 
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