Help please with setting up VH-11 (Superior Drummer 2)

[Thurston]

Is there a test I can do to figure out for sure if it is high or low impedance?

[dmitri]

I don't think I understand what you mean by " guess how you applied it to your setup". What is there to guess? I duplicated his settings in my megadrum as a starting point, that is all. I thought I made that clear? He also used VH-11 so I figured it would be a good place to start tweaking.

This approach to get my help won't work. I don't have VH-11 so either you describe in this topic how you configured your pedal controller , especially so since VH-11 configuration depends on how it was set mechanically (as far as I know), or I won't be able to help.

[dmitri]

Is there a test I can do to figure out for sure if it is high or low impedance?

Try to configure it as a low impedance pedal using LevelsAuto as described in http://www.megadrum.info/content/hihat-pedal-settings and trying different initial LowLevel and HighLevel values.

[Thurston]

I don't think I understand what you mean by " guess how you applied it to your setup". What is there to guess? I duplicated his settings in my megadrum as a starting point, that is all. I thought I made that clear? He also used VH-11 so I figured it would be a good place to start tweaking.

This approach to get my help won't work. I don't have VH-11 so either you describe in this topic how you configured your pedal controller , especially so since VH-11 configuration depends on how it was set mechanically (as far as I know), or I won't be able to help.

Sorry, I just didn't understand what you were looking for. Do you need me to describe the physical setup? The VH-11 is two parts. A single cymbal that rides up and down on a standard hi-hat stand. The bottom of the cymbal presses down a spring loaded cylindrical shaft located inside the second part of the VH-11 which is mounted below the cymbal. Here is a picture:



And another showing the two parts seperated (the third part is just a washer):



I'm not sure how the position detection works, but I can research that if you need more information (please let me know). I am using a TRS cable from the jack on the cymbal to Jack 2 of the Megadrum to register hits on the edge and bow. I am using a second TRS cable to run from the cylindrical piece of the VH-11 to jack 1 of the megadrum to register the position. The megadrum is connected to my PC via USB.

Is this the configuration information you are asking for?

[dmitri]

Is this the configuration information you are asking for?

No.
MegaDrum configuration of VH-11 will depend on how the controller is adjusted mechanically, so you cannot just blindly set Low/HighLevel values using someone else's settings. You have to come with your own Low/HighLevel values for your particular setup.

[Thurston]

OK I've done some tweaking and I have had some pretty good results.

First of all, I rewired my hihat input to high impedance as you suggested. I can't say whether or not this is correct, other than in combination with my new settings it seems to be working. I can only assume that it would not work as well wired and set up as a low impedance HH.

Getting the high and low levels to work is very unintuitive. I first set the low level to as low as possible to get the (large) VU meter to zero when the pedal was fully pressed. I then played with the high level setting to try to get the low and high level settings as far apart as I could, but not so high that the meter wouldn't max out when the pedal was fully released (depressed) as directed by the configuration manual on this website. I took this to mean that if I started by setting the high level maxed out, the meter would not show fully open with the pedal fully released, and that I could then adjust the high level down until I get a full range of motion on the meter. This was not the case. I was only able to get a good range by choosing the high and low levels somewhat randomly and making a record of how they affected the range on the MD. The best I could get was with a low level of 35 and a high level of 350. With these settings the VU meter goes down all the way and almost up the whole way, one-two pixels or so short of being maxed. Is there a better, more systematic way to determine an ideal low and high level?

For the cymbal (bow) settings of the highhat, a threshhold of 50 seems to work well. I have gain at 0 and high level at 1023 (maxed out) and I'm still able to easily hit a full volume hit , which leads me to believe that I need a voltage divider.

I do not understand what the Dynamic Threshhold is, what it does and how to properly adjust it.

I have set up a Roland PD-100 as my snare. It too will need a voltage divider. My kick (Roland KD-8) seems to be working very well and is pretty easy to adjust.

Using Superior Drummer 2.0 through Ableton Live I am able to get a good low latency beat going. An issue I'm having is that randomly the ride (D#2) and Ride Bell (F2) will trigger at the same time or in place of the high hat (D#2). Do you know what could be causing this? The only inputs I am using on the MD are the hihat, hihat position, snare, and kick (all single zone).

I intend to post my settings in the sticky thread once I have some of these issues fixed.

[Thurston]

Dmitri- I found another thread that spoke about electronic crosstalk. I will try turning off unused inputs by setting their note to 0.

[Thurston]

The hihat position sensing signal is acting strange. I still have the open to closed range as described above, but when I move the pedal to about the half closed position and hold it there, the VU meter rises and falls rapidly and (with SD 2.0) a rattling hihat sound is played. I opened MCT to see what kind of MIDI is passed when this happens and it confirms the fluctuation of the hihat position as shown on the VU, but no notes being played. What could be the cause of this?

[Thurston]

when I move the pedal to about the half closed position and hold it there, the VU meter rises and falls rapidly and (with SD 2.0) a rattling hihat sound is played. I opened MCT to see what kind of MIDI is passed when this happens and it confirms the fluctuation of the hihat position as shown on the VU, but no notes being played. What could be the cause of this?

Still having trouble with this, anyone have ideas?