Using a double bass pedal slave as hi-hat controller

[AwDeOh82]

Hi all,

I've posted a thread about my idea in the Vdrums.com forums - http://www.vdrums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50227. To recap, here's what I'm planning.

I have a Pearl Eliminator double bass pedal, and I'm reluctant to spend another $400 or more on a matching Eliminator hi-hat pedal. I came up with the idea of using the slave pedal of the Eliminator double bass pedal as the hi-hat controller. There are normally two situations:

A) both feet are on the double bass pedal, and a drop-clutch is typically used to set the hi-hats to the position you like them.
B) left foot controls the hi-hat pedal, right foot on the master/main kick pedal, and the slave kick pedal normally lies unused.

I do understand that some drummers will be in situation B and also use the slave pedal for quick triplets and such, this IS a draw back. But there's a drawback to every plan I guess. What I'm planning on doing, is installing Dmitri's Optical Hi-Hat Controller design into the slave pedal (LED, Phototransistor and components on the floor plate, and a piece of acrylic underneath the footboard to cut the light), along with rotary potentiometer and a bypass switch in the circuit.

To explain how it each scenario works, in situation A above, the bypass switch would be engaged to disable the Optical Hi-Hat controller in the slave pedal, and the rotary pot would be used in place of the drop-clutch that acoustic drummers use, so you could adjust the hi-hat to the sound you want while playing double kick with both feet (so you could achieve a half open splashy sound, tight chick, or whatever sound you like while playing double bass, instead of only having full open hats available).

In situation B, you would need to turn the bypass switch off (to activate the optical circuit), open the rotary pot up to fully open, and remove the slave beater head from the double kick pedal - turning that slave kick pedal into a hi-hat controller.

I would imagine that it would only take about 10 seconds to change between either setup, meaning this *could* possibly be used in a live gig if it were your preference. Atleast for those home drummers (like me, who don't want to shell out for a hi-hat stand), it gives the best of both worlds.

My questions:

1. Will a bypass switch and rotary pot work when put in Dmitri's Optical Controller Circuit
2. If this would work, where should they be placed? I'm guessing they'd be directly between the jack output and the rest of the optical circuit below?



Thanks for any input you guys could give me. I'd also appreciate knowing what you think of the functionality of this, whether you'd be interested in using it, or whether you think there's a problem from a playing perspective.

[gabriel1712]

You could disconnect the slave beater. Then you'll only need to switch drummap.

QUICK ACCESS setting
When set to No you can quickly load next/previous drum map by pressing keys UP/DOWN while not in the Menu and holding the HiHat pedal pressed.

A) both feet are on the double bass pedal, and a drop-clutch is typically used to set the hi-hats to the position you like them.

Drum map 2 - Double bass - Tight hihat:
All hihat positions are assign to tight HH notes. Chick is assigned to bass drum notes. Splash is disabled.

Drum map 3 - Double bass - ½-open hihhat:
All hihat positions are assign to ½-open HH notes. Chick is assigned to bass drum notes. Splash is disabled.

B) left foot controls the hi-hat pedal, right foot on the master/main kick pedal, and the slave kick pedal normally lies unused.

Drum map 1 - Single bass - variable hihat:
Normal drum map


The trade-off is the very different feel in the two bass drum pedals. If you bought an extra bass drum pad you could have the same feel and the same options.

[gabriel1712]

I'd personally go with what you have and spend $50 on this hihat for a opticle conversion

milhhp.jpg

or $125 on this already variable hihat

rohhp.jpg