what determines the playing dynamics on electronic drums

[jbonil1]

hi, I have a dm5 pro kit with the trigger i/o module, my cymbals pads just broke so i'm thinking of buying new ones so I'm looking to buy some cheap yet good pad. but I was thinking if I buy a great(pricy) pad say alesis surge or roland's, am I limited by the module? or if the pad captures the dynamics better so does the module? I was thinking about this ones, cheaper and I think they'll do the same job as the surges. but I also have to consider capturing decent dynamics. wataya think?

Alesis DMPAD 12 CRASH Cymbal, 12" Crash, Rubber, Single Zone Choke | Full Compass

Alesis DMPAD 14 RIDE Cymbal, 14" Ride, Rubber Surface, Triple Zone Choke | Full Compass

 

[TelePaul]

I believe it depends on the relationship between pad sensitivity and the extent to which a source has been multi-sampled. I could be wrong though.

 

[antichef]

when you hit the drum, the sensor creates an analog signal - hopefully one that varies in amplitude (I think - could be some other electrical factor) depending on how hard you hit. The "brain" then translates that analog parameter into a midi "velocity" from 1 to 128 (I think - maybe 256?) then whatever is doing the midi work goes to the sample bank to see what corresponds to that particular midi note (e.g., snare) and if there are multiple samples for different bands of velocity (e.g., one sample for velocities 1-20, another for 21-50, etc. on up to the max level), it picks the sample based on the velocity. If the sample bank only has one sample for the full velocity range, then you don't hear a difference, but you could switch banks to one that does have multiple samples and be OK.

I probably butchered the terminology all the way through that.