drum triggers?

[chimaira_god210]

i had a question... can someone explain what exactly is a drum trigger?

[Mirror.Circuit]

it's an electronic device that triggers a recorded sound when it feels the vibration of the drum it's attached to.

[chimaira_god210]

it's an electronic device that triggers a recorded sound when it feels the vibration of the drum it's attached to.

oh ok.. just wanted to make sure, appreciate it.. thanks

[Chippy569]

google "piezo" crystal.

Basically, a piezo crystal produces a small electrical current when pressure is applied to it.

So if you attach such a crystal to your drumhead, and then hit your drumhead, the movement of the drumhead will create vibrations in the crystal, which cause it to expand and contract and therefore create a current.

So then you send that current to a module that senses the signal. The module works some digital electronics magic, and plays a soundfile attached to the signal. Kinda like a button... when you press the button, you hear the sound.


Further, the more the crystal vibrates, the stronger the signal. The module can sense the differences in the signal strength, and plays a different soundfile (ie one that's "louder"). so now, you have dynamics.

that's basically it.

[crazyguy832]

Those are expensive triggers, no, Chippy?

[Chippy569]

no, that's how all triggers work, beit in the rubber electric kit pads or mesh head triggers. (even those little "Redshot" triggers that like stick onto your heads)


the only one i'm not sure about is the Roland ones that are all die-cast bodied... they have a piston that extends from the body of the trigger down to the head. but i believe the piston is connected to a piezo too.

piezo's are pretty cheap... $.99 for my 1" one i used in my kickdrum experiment.