need suggestions on triggering...

[In Flames 19]

i want to trigger 2 bass drums to get that death metal sounding double bass (i.e. cryptopsy) how should i go about doing this? i want to do it live and while recording.. im guessing i need a module like the dm5 right? seems kind of expensive to just trigger a 2 bass drums.. but i might trigger some other drums if i happen to like some of the sounds..

so any suggestions on the triggers themselves.. and a module?

[Uladine]

Definitely get triggers, man. You should be able to get a DM5 with two decent triggers for about $350 at guitar center, and you will thank yourself for the small investment later. In my opinion any drummer that plays aggressive, fast double kick stuff cold benifit from triggers. Most death metal drummers usually try to get their kick to sound like a trigger anyway. With two kick drums you can put a trigger on each drum and run them to a 1/4 inch Y cable to run them into a single 1/4 inch instrument cable and then to the drum module. Thats what a friend of mine used to do.

[Tim Brown]

Originally posted by In Flames 19
i want to trigger 2 bass drums to get that death metal sounding double bass (i.e. cryptopsy) how should i go about doing this? i want to do it live and while recording.. im guessing i need a module like the dm5 right? seems kind of expensive to just trigger a 2 bass drums.. but i might trigger some other drums if i happen to like some of the sounds..

so any suggestions on the triggers themselves.. and a module?

Don't buy the Dm5.
Buy the Roland TD-6.
It will cost you about $450-$500, but the triggering Interface is much better, and the sounds are WAY better than the DM5.(alot of the same sounds that are in the roland TD-8 and TD-10 (which is what Nick Barker from Dimmu Borgir uses) or look for a used ddrum4, which is what VonBlumen (aka Hellhammer) from Mayhem/Oceans/Kovenant uses.

If you get the ddrum4, you can connect it to the internet and actuially download sounds from ddrum, and sounds that other users make....so the pallet of sounds is essentially infinite.

If you're going to put the $300+ dollars on the Dm5, I say it's like throwing your money away. I had one, and it did not track from triggers very well when it came to anything above what I consider mid-tempo doublebass work. My Kicking speed was fairly fast, at one point I was kicking at what is considered 1,200 bpm.... I was training to go for the Guinness Book of world records, but I can't compete with Tim Waterson... he wears a size 7 shoe, while I wear a size 14, and the fact that he has a shorter foot will always allow him to move it faster.


also, don't wate your money on triggers:
Unless you buy top of the line ddrum or Roland triggers you are wasting your money.
The only other option is to build the triggers internally into your drums, so that they work exactly like the V-drum system. (there's a website called LOGIZTIX for electronic drums that costs $20 to join, buit it will teach you how to build triggers to mount inside your drumkit. Well worth the money I thought.

http://www.electronicdrums.com



Tim

[In Flames 19]

thanks for the good information...

one more question.. when you use triggers live.. do you still mic your snare/kicks/toms to get the 'real' sound as well as the triggers going off at the same time? or is there an issue with delay when doing that?

[Tim Brown]

Originally posted by In Flames 19
thanks for the good information...

one more question.. when you use triggers live.. do you still mic your snare/kicks/toms to get the 'real' sound as well as the triggers going off at the same time? or is there an issue with delay when doing that?

If I'm triggering live, I'd put foam in the drums to knock down the volume of the kit.

The snare I do like to mic, but there are ton of drummers who just trigger the snare.

I first became interested in triggering back in the 80's....the first metal drummer to trigger was Manowar's drummer, Scott Columbus. They had a custom built system caled teh drums of doom, that essentially was a 6 channel sampler with a direct trigger to sampler interface. It was way ahead of it's time. These days he's using the ddrum4 system, and he uses 2 triggers on the snare that allows him to have 4 "zones" on the snare...in essence, he can set up different sounds to respond to different volume levels...so when he hits softly, he gets a lighter sound that has more "snap" to it, and when he really lays into it, he gets a monsterously huge snare sound. ( Those guys are totally tech heads...he's got a 10,000 watt monitor system...bigger than most average bar room rock bands have for a whole PA!)

There are a lot of advantages to triggering, sound quality being #1, and #2 - a lower stage volume....which also translates well in band practice.


I still like the sound of a big well tuned kit that's mic'ed up, but for anything above mid level speed with double bass (i.e., heel-toe doublestroke rolls on the kicks) you really need to trigger the kicks because the volume level is so much lower than when you are just laying into the kick drum.

Of course, if you have a system like a ddrum 4se, that eliminates the need for mic's and all of that.


Tim