Triggering Live

[Blor007]

Hi,

I'm wondering why so few bands use triggering live.
I'm in a kinda punkrock/metalpunk band and we are thinking about just taking the samples from the drum and trigger them live.

Wouldnt that sound alot better then all of those crappy PA-peeps who completly mess up your sound?

[Ironklad Audio]

you'd be surprised how many people use triggers live, especially for larger shows - try to find live pics of well-known drummers live, and you'll notice that there's often no mic on the snare and kick, and sometimes the toms as well

the only reason why i assume more people don't do it is because they don't have the $$/knowledge

[Uladine]

Be careful, those crappy PA peeps can still mess up your sound with triggers, too. Also be careful triggering toms, as they will almost always sound poopy triggered. If the kit is tuned well enough and the sound guy has basic knowledge of how to run live sound, the kit will sound better acoustically vs. triggered about 98% of the time. Triggered kicks are another story, as with some forms of music the triggered kick sound is desirable. Snares can sound ok triggered if there arent a lot of rolls or softer hits, and toms almost always sound poopy triggered. The exception would be triggering samples from say Drumkit From Hell Superior on a laptop, but it would have to be a mean motherfucking laptop to handle DFHS in real time without noticable latency.

[Farview]

I was backstage at Ozzfest a couple years ago. Only one band didn't use triggers.

A crap soundguy will suck either way. Remember, the PA system isn't EQ'd like a stereo. No matter how wonderful your sound is, it will take some doing to get it out of the PA the same way it went in. A bad soundguy will screw that up too.

[HangDawg]

I don't know what this has to do with anything but I've recently changed my bands drum micing to 3 mics. Kick,snare and overhead. Best drum sound I've ever had. Most people can't believe I don't have the whole kit mic'd up.

[fritzmusic]

I'm thinking of one of Elvis's drummers. Even he used a triggered double-bass acoustic/electric hybrid and not to forget Rick Allen....so why not trigger live?? It really doesn't matter as long as the function serves the purpose of better sound and performance.