SalsaNChips, I can't really help with your questions, because I just don't have much experience on e-kits, but i can say welcome to Drum Chat! I'm sure you will be getting some thoughts on your questions soon.
Again, welcome.
I recently purchased a used Hart Dynamics Professional 6.4 TE 3.2 electronic drum kit with a Roland TDW-20 Expanded Module off Craig's List. The set is in very good/new condition. It included brass Hart ride e-Cymbal and crash (the plastic ones, which I want to replace with brass).
I've had the kit for 3 days and after initial set up and adjustments, starting to get the feel of it and confident I made the right decision. I am having a few issues though and wanted to get some advice from players familiar with the Hart Professional series sets and Roland TD module. Specifically:
1.) The snare, for lack of a better word, feels "mushy". I tied tightening the head *slightly* (Magnum) and that helped a little. Wanted to see if I should play with head tension more or if a certain amount of mushy-ness is normal and I just need to learn to deal with it.
2.) The snare seems to have a dramatic decrease in sensitivity when I get my sticks closer than about 2 inches from the rim. That is, the center is real hot, sensitivity-wise then drops off rapidly toward the edge. I know real snares do this too and I am glad it allows for that, but this seems overly severe. Thinking it is something in the triggering options on the module I can adjust.
3.) The cross-stick on the snare is really unpredictable. Half the time I get a rim shot sound regardless of how hard I tap the rim ring. I did play with X-Stick some in the MD20 and wound up increasing the sensitivity on it to max (127) which gives me a consistent cross stick sound, but now I can't get a rimshot unless I disable cross stick globally which kind of sux. Wanted to see if anybody else has similar issues and if there is anything that can be done to improve the cross-stick playability.
4.) The kick is WAY too mushy, feel-wise. I can't seem to get reliable, defined heel/toe doubles on it. I'm using a DW 7000 double pedal, mostly in single mode. I was thinking of increasing the kick head tension just slightly to see if that helps the response some. Also spring tension on the DW pedal, etc. Probably not a lot I can other than play it and tweak, but wanted to ask anyway.
5.) The kick sounds in the Roland RD-20, at least the ones I've heard so far, are just awful. Boomy, loose, etc. I want a TIGHT kick sound. Again, I am sure what I want is in there, just need to mess with it some, but any direction, pointers in that regard appreciated.
Finally, I would like to know what options exist for obtaining studio-quality samples and triggering this kit by MIDI. I am beginning to think the instrument sounds in the Roland module are too synthesized sounding and not enough like a "real" acoustic kit. Optionally, if there is an upgrade add-on for the Roland module that allows for high-quality, downloadable instrument samples on-board (sort of like what Pearl did for their e-sets).
I started out playing drums at 9 years of age in the late 60’s, played until the early 80’s, left drums for guitar and didn’t sit behind a drum set again until 2011 when my church needed a drummer and I decided to give it another go. Glad I did, it feels great to be banging on drums again (I think my guitars are getting jealous though…).
Chris
SalsaNChips, I can't really help with your questions, because I just don't have much experience on e-kits, but i can say welcome to Drum Chat! I'm sure you will be getting some thoughts on your questions soon.
Again, welcome.
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Welcome to drumchat SalsanChips(one of my favorite food groups). Sorry to hear about your dissatisfactions regarding the module, which I was told is a very nice one. What you might try instead is connecting the kit to your computer via midi to usb, and then using a drum sampling program such as Superior Drummer or BFD2. Has a lot of options and customizable sounds to choose from.
ZildjianLeague/LP/Aquarian/Mapex/Pearl
Snares: 4
RIP- Frank, Wolvie, Les Paul
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Last night I updated the TDW-20 module from version 2.01 to version 2.52 and did a full reset back to factory defaults, removing all settings from the previous owner.
I also went in and edited the pad configurations to exactly match the settings Hart recommends.
MAJOR improvement in the sound, response, feel, playability, etc. Almost enough to completely eliminate all the sound module concerns I listed above. What remains now is probably just a matter of me experimenting with various instrument types to find the ones that best suit me and create my own custom kit(s).
Advice to any Hart Professional owners with a Roland module -- if you haven't updated your firmware and set your pads up exactly per Hart specs, do so ASAP, you will be amazed.
Still wish the TDW-20 had USB, can't believe they left that off. I want to be able to hook it up to my computer and manage the edits from there, save, create configuration backups, etc. Oh well, that is the main value-add of the TD-30 I guess :\
Call hart, their tech support is really good.
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