what are drum triggers?

[SEAN8293]

iv heard of them but i dont know exactly what they are

i heard they make you sound faaster, and they are pre-recorded drum sound

what would be the point of them then? if you want to play faster you should pratice not get electrnoics to make you sound faster, and why would you buy an electrnoic sound if you already have a set

[drummer]

Sean, many drummers want to either enhance their sound or have alternate sound sources for variety and diversification. Triggers are simply that; they allow you to "trigger" another sound source. Usually it's within a brain that you buy like an Alesis D4, DM5 or a drum machine that allows to trigger its sounds.

Here's an example of a sound module:



Here's an example of an acoustic drum trigger that triggers the sounds within your sound module:




You can also trigger your sound source with an electronic pad or pads like these:





The above Octapad device is the triggers and the sound source within one unit. You can also attach single trigger pads to it if you wish.

[drnez]

I'm actually in the process of retrofitting my rockband drums to do this through Reason. Should be pretty neat

[xweasel]

Triggers to double kick players is basically a little gadget that picks up vibrations from the bass drum head and plays a sound sample. They do not make you play faster. The samples that are playing only go as fast as your feet are. They're generally used to make the kick drum cut through the guitars and bass because, say if you're playing at 240bpm 16ths or so without triggers, the bass drum(s) will just sound like a muddy wall of noise, and you won't be able to hear the kick drum through the heavy guitars and bass.

Some people think using triggers is cheating - try saying that to Akira Jimbo :P

[SEAN8293]

i understand the usage of it on bass drums now, but for like toms and snares why would drummers with sets as good as pearl masterworks use triggers

[nucjd]

Well, lots of reasons. Lets say you have your midi triggers tied into your midi sampler which then outputs to your PA system. Now you are playing your drums like usual however you want to sample a sound for that midi note in a song you can do it on the fly. Now lets say every time you hit your 1 tom the red spot light will fire and lets say when you hit your 2 tom the blue spot light fires. And so on and so on. So you can trigger lights and effects with midi with the correct interface. As you can see it can be used for other things than just sound replacement.