My 2 cents about triggers

[jordison515]

Hi guys

I'm getting a trigger for my kick. I was looking for ddrum trigger FAQ's on youtube, when i am suddenly swarmed with comments from non-drummers saying "triggers are cheating", "triggers make you go faster", and personally, one structured similarly to this one "George kollias is so much faster than joey jordison joey uses triggers so he sucks because he's not as fast as george kollias and triggers make you go faster so he sucks"

(last one was near and dear to me, being a joey jordison fan)

Anyway, i'd like to make this clear. For drummers and non-drummers.

*ahem*

Triggers don't make you go faster. Triggers aren't cheating. Triggering was developed so drummers (such as Joey and George) aren't drowned out. 200 BPM and up sounds like crap with just mics. Triggers are used for clarity. If you're going at say, 210 BPM, all of your kicks are heard clearly and cleanly. It is a useful tool for any drummer who desires to be heard.

Triggers, well, "trigger", pre-recorded sounds with any kick, hit, or crash. Your muddy bass drum can be turned into a clicky, heavy metal bass drum with a trigger. I myself cannot find my perfect kick drum sound, which i previously described as Joey Jordison's bass drum sound from 1999-2002, in another thread. I am turning to triggers to help me find my sound, which many drummers do. It fulfills your desire for a good sounding kit.

That's my two cents.

I'd add in more (like a quarter) but uh, i'd get banned. :/

[jordison515]

It's also hardet to play with triggers, because if you **** up while you're playing live with triggers, EVERYBODY WILL HEAR IT

[SEAN8293]

It's also hardet to play with triggers, because if you **** up while you're playing live with triggers, EVERYBODY WILL HEAR IT

thats true, bass drums are very hard to hear, and i dont understand why people think they make you go faster, thats like saying if you use distortion on a guitar your playing faster

[Russ]

They aren't cheating, and don't make you go faster. Those are the words of people who don't understand midi from usb. I believe kick triggers are used so that you can get better volume, while at the same time retaining the controlled sound of a quick note. This makes for good recordings, and yes it can get very clicky. You don't play fast double bass with booming bass drums that clip like mad, do you? No, you shorten the note so it sounds more cleaned up and pleasing to the ear. It's possible to make a natural sounding kick with a module, it just takes some careful fiddling.

One thing I like about e-drums is the editing. You can edit your drums as well as record them, a lot cheaper and less effort demanding than a full microphone setup. There's far less variables in play, and so you have a lot more control over the sound you get out of it. That's the attraction that got me into it in the first place. Take caution and really look over any modules you might be shopping for, as some are worse/better than others. The selling point for me with any module would have to be the settings and adjustability.

Most any module has ins and outs, but they don't all let you adjust as many settings. Things like pitch, gate, chorus, and number of inputs are the main things I would look for. You will also have to mess with things like mask, crosstalk, velocity, etc to make sure any other triggers don't have problems interacting with each other. If you're only triggering kick, than you can relax a little and be more flexible with settings. An amp is definitely required to get sound from the drum once it's set up. Make certain you have muted the drum you will be playing as well, otherwise the acoustic noise will interfere with your sound.

The popular choices are Yamaha and Roland for their quality sounds and features, however I like the Alesis modules as well. Although they are kind of iffy with losing settings or power(so i've heard anyway), they have the most inputs and a good supply of sounds to choose from. They can be used with software as most any module can, so that makes them as good if not better. You need at least 9 inputs for a traditional size drumset, so it's really nice to have a little breathing room with an extra 3.

[xweasel]

I wish I could trigger the kick I use at gigs, so I could actually HEAR the bass drum. I can't hear my kicks, even through my monitor, because it gets drowned out by the bass which largely plays the same rhythm as what I play on the kick.