Superior Drummer 2.0 & Alesis Trigger IO - Various grooves

[satellite619]

Hey sounds great. What did you record the drums on? In other words, what program and config, if you can remember. Appreciate any feedback you can give me!

[kocots1991]

Dumb question - when I add plugins to my drum module - does it really matter if it's td 12 or td 4 ?

[nathunder1]

Hey I see your note about you no longer having this set up. I'm just curiouse as to why to changed out sets. I am currently contemplating going Superior drummer 2.0 for my live drums and seeing as you changed, I'm wondering if I should reconsider. Any advise.

[EKsound]

great sound! 

[MaxSynths]

Very nice . I've bought a Trigger IO in these days but I have to choose the pads. Which pads are you using?

[MINIMI95020]

i want to trigger my drum bass, and i got the trigger io, but i can't really get things right, can you help me?

[pivester]

@MINIMI95020 If your kick drum is bouncing too much , Get some gorilla glue and cut out a circle of egg crate foam. Apply a little glue on the back of the egg crate foam piece and lay the crate foam in the place where your kick mallet will hit the mesh head. This will keep your e kick from bouncing so much. I just had to do this last night. Works like a charm.

[Relajust]

You are my savior! I am breaking my head on thinking what to do to get an acoustic kit acting like an electronic drum kit, and I think this is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Three questions I still have:

- What are the components I need and what are the total costs?

- The snare seems a bit adynamic, every hit is hard or is it just your playing? What about crosssticks and rimshots? Is that possible?

- Is it loud when you do not amplify this?

[mikeybleh]

Hi, im sure you get this alot but i was wondering as i am completely knew to this, i have a roland td9kx2 and i want more realistic sounding drum kits, what do i need to buy regarding superior drummer , i dont quite understand how it works , any advice would be most appreciated

[woodworxmusic]

Hey there, nice grooves, just wondered what sort of pc setup you have to run SD 2.0? Yours seem really responsive thats all

[drumtravelfun]

Just an awesome video-well done.

[marfguy1987]

can you explain how made the diy toms

[jhueni]

very impressive sound and playing.

one question: are all the instruments from this demos from the basic sd 2.0 package or do i need the lost NY Studios expansion as well?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@jhueni for this video, everything was from the base SD 2.0 library (Avatar studio)

[ScrabbitTheRabbit]

That is one sexy as hell drum sound.

[JCRx45]

would you mind sharing the superior drummer settings used in this video? it sounds fantastic.

[nakedtaxidermist]

the snare is so fucking badass!

[FreetoSessions]

sound fake!!!

[pivester]

@FreetoSessions Idk man, Ive been playing for 19 yrs and these drums sound pretty real to me. Not trying to knock you homie. Just sayin.

[fayser1]

HI there... you say you have a TD12 now... do you use the stock sounds of the TD12 or do you use it to trigger superior drummer... I have a td12 and am wondering if I can get better sounds liver (maybe using "superior drummer" ..but then not with a computer as I dont want to bring computers onstage?

Thanks

[marfguy1987]

what design are you using for the snare and toms this is some of the best diy work I'v seen on youtube

[BeyondOurBelieve]

*IMPORTANT* I recently bought a ddrum kick drum trigger and the Alesis I/O. They are both shipping right now but I need to know if that is all I need to trigger the kick, In other words I am saying is that I don't need to buy anymore or what? Also to create sound can I use a guitar amp?

[MaxLug]

hi, i'd like to know what kind of hi-hat you use with your alesis trigger io. could you suggest me something?

[MaxLug]

hi, actually i was thinking to buy an "alesis trigger" as well. Could you tell me, pls, where i can find

*the hat control and cymbals that you usually use?

[Tuffmeshheads]

Hello Chris

I really like your kit. What piezo size did you use on your kit? And did you do the full bridge with the Roland type cone. Or the L bracket with square foam. I been building A to E drums for 5 years. Check out my new Tuff Mesh material also. You will get better response out of the Alesis I/O also with this head material.

[XTeRmlnAtOR]

@ChrisBakerDrummer Are you using only the Alesis Trigger IO with the pc, or you have a firebox to reduce lag? Can you play live only with setup without lag?

[skarekrowkomplex]

You HAVE to tell me how you did this! Construction wise

[poxcr]

Will the Alesis I/O read rimshots (hitting the snare head and the rim simultaneously) and position sensing on your snare?

[reallychicen93]

zieh dir n' bh an ^^

[RikJamezBich]

I see you with that Garibaldi thing going there. ;-) 

[Luiscardenasg]

hii you can play the ringshot with this drums ? how make this mesh ? sorry for my bad english ..

[semiLivedj]

why did you go to td 12,after hearing this,the td12 doesnt have near the sound,or does it?or did you just want more inputs?now i think the roland modules are more reliable,and easier,but limited to drum sounds,or can you load sounds in the td12 module?I got a set of td 4's and a alesis trig.I/O thinking they would go well together,Wrong,you cant run the brain through the I/O,the module has an midi out,and the I/O has midi out,and the harness fucks you on chords and outputs.any ideas?Thanks

[Drummerkid74]

@semiLivedj I got a ControlPad instead, which is basically the Trigger IO with 8 built in pads and 2 extra trigger inputs. It costs the same as the Trigger IO and has MIDI IN and OUT and USB out

[Rogermineiro]

Congratulations Chris, nice video. What was the SD kit you used in the first grooves on the video? Thanks. Rogerio - Brazil

[EVguitarsNW]

C:\Program Files\Toontrack\Superior\Super­ior Drummer 2.0/SL-Avatar/Sounds/soundb1.o­bw

[JohnInder]

WICKED  :)

[SabianTamaDrummer]

2:26 mmmm :)

[royalbastardo]

Is there any chance you'd be willing to share your settings for the trigger IO. I bought one and am using it with a roland kit (no roland brain) and am having a hard time getting it to sound right. Your kit sounds very expressive and natural. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@royalbastardo Sorry, I don't have this setup anymore. I have a Roland TD-12 kit now and I don't know what the Trigger IO parameters were set to back then. Thanks for watching/commenting :)

[HamburgerTrain]

Sounds great!

[brentonius12]

that sounds great ... i have a td3 roland kit - with a 002 pro tools rack .. can i just midi out of the kit and use superiour drummer ? any latency problems? any help would be great thanks . also how much for program ?

Brent

[truffel40]

i have de td 6 with midi inderface ua25 and i want buy de surge cmybals van alesis.

latency 3ms

[CannibalisticWasabi]

I hear a lot of Benny Greb influence! :D

[zakfmt]

With the Alesis IO and Superior drummer, is he able to listen to the same sounds we heard, while playing, without any delay?

[elrockydelsiglo]

awesome sound...

[PcH340]

Did you make those hats with a trigger yourself or buy them from an e-drum company? Cause I haven't been able to find a way to make the hats that perfect.

[dugganrob]

@PcH340 That is a Roland VH-11 or 12. Good hats, but I am leaning towards the Yamaha units for playability.

[kcasazza101]

this is the best sounding conversion set i've seen on youtube. I plan on doing this too (strictly for recording purposes) but I have a question. Are you using diy piezo triggers because I can't see anything hat looks like a manufactored trigger. and, did yu make your mesh heads yourself?

[truffel40]

klinkt erg goed ik ga deze ook aanschaffen succes

[ThePretender94]

Where can you change the mixer to natrual mixer or dry mixer? (in SD 2.0)

[drumdigger]

Chris - great sounding kit and very good play! Could you share more about your gear:

1. Mesheads - which make/model

2. Triggers - inside the drums?

And finally - If I used your kit in my apartment - is too loud to disturb the neighbors?

Thanks!

[shahzains]

nice sounding kit

[rastusthecat]

Man, this is awesome!! What hihat controller are you using?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@rastusthecat

I'm using a DIY homemade controller based on the Michael Beatnik design. It's basically a Lutron light dimmer switch inside a Radio Shack project box soldered to a 1/4" female jack. The sliding dimmer switch pokes out of the side of the project box & is attached via picture wire to the hi-hat foot pedal. The project box clamps onto the hi-hat stand & then I adjusted tension from there to sync up hi-hat travel & switch travel

[rastusthecat]

Thanks man, just made it. Hard to find the parts in NZ, bu its done and awesome! Thanks loads for your vid & info.

[puresoulg]

@rastusthecat

NICE !

[ThePretender94]

Hey! I have a Roland TD 4 KX and i want to buy SD2.0 and the Alesis Trigger IO. Do i Need more than those two things? Or is a midi interface enough for me (in use with SD2.0). Do i need sthm like the FireBox to reduse the latency?Or an additonal programm to record my drumming? Pls need answer!

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@ThePretender94

I don't believe you even need the Trigger IO cause you should be able to run a MIDI cable out from your TD-4 module into your computer (get a MIDI-to-USB cable online). You'll need a decent soundcard (I just happen to use an external Presonus firewire model, but you can use an internal card as well)

You'll also need some type of DAW software to record everything in. I used Ableton Live 7 for this, but you could use something like Reaper or Cubase or whatever you want

[ThePretender94]

Y i have a Midi to Usb cable and i am using cubase 5 to record. But i have such a huge problem with latency. But i can´t afford another 300 euro.

Maybe some cheaper thoughts?

[BlackPheonix81]

@ThePretender94

If you download reaper you can change the buffer from 8 with 400ms latency to 2 with 46 latency, And to me there is like no difference in sound.

I'm trying to save money and its working, Only spent £10 so far and it sounds/works the same way as people who can afford triggers and such.

[produccionesmiranejo]

@ChrisBakerDrummer

i want to trigger my drums, but i dont exactly know what i need.

i have addictive drums. Do i only have to buy the triggers and the alesis IO?

and one more question, can you connect the alesis IO via usb to your computer?

i really need help because i just dont wanna deal with micing the whole set right now, just the cymbals

Thanks

Hugo

[merstan05]

mexico992 i may be wrong but i think that lick you're referring to is a triplet hemiola. he's playing a triplet rhythm accented to sound like a normal 8th note beat. sounds like beat slows way down, but its still in perfect time. adds a sick effect..

[TheTrooper9169666]

hey,man,if you could,could you tell me how did you done it? i mean,what module are you using,how much did it all cost you? it sounds awesome,but i heard that it takes a lot of work to make it all work like yours (perfect)

[FRISM510]

hey bro what snare are you using on the first groove????????????

[Drummerkid74]

@FRISM510 13" piccolo snare. It's in the desc. :)

[mexico992]

whats the lick from 2:32 to 2:36?

[BreakB97598]

how do you connect the drums to the computer?

[TheTrooper9169666]

LOL,man they gave you thumbs down,what a retards - this drum (maybe not every piece of set) is triggered - so it is conected to computer!!

[siether9001]

loving the sounds :P

[EletroDrummer]

Very Nice I really like S2.0

I was just wondering if you can use

your midi controller/ interface/sound card for midi input and sound out at the same time

from the same box

[darthjoey13]

Are the toms triggered? Because I really want to get triggers so i can play a flat drum set at gigs, and not have to mess with mesh/rubber heads (which you do with an electric kit). I can't stand the flat drum sound though because I like my drums to sound like yours did.

[blakey32]

yeah they look like mesh heads on the toms, triggered, using superior drummer. its all electronic

[KomradeKrovi]

@darthjoey13

The whole set is triggered and run through Superior Drummer 2.0

[ALDOYSOLE]

how set your hihat ( midi map) because i have loss of strokes sometimes.

Thanks and congratulations for your video!!!!

[Skcrog86]

Do you think that an electronic kit with Alesis Trigger IO on USB through Superior Drummer 2 WITHOUT an external sound card will be ok to play without latency issue? (AMD 64X2 @ 2,7GHz, 2GB Ram, Asio4All v2)

[dpaik360]

i would say you couldn't get it to a latency that you'd like enough to play on beat with a song...you can use it to record a groove and then line it up in your DAW to beatmatch...but if you want to track live drums on point...then external audio card is the way to go

[satinsteelrocks]

AMAZING!!! Question for you; Did you trigger practice cymbals or are you using Roland or something else?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@satinsteelrocks Those are all Roland V-drum cymbals. My first couple of vids were my DIY acoustic-to-triggered cymbals. But they sucked so I stopped using them shortly after making them. I mean, they would trigger...but you couldn't achieve any subtlety or anything.

[uashes]

this is tight man

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@uashes thanks!

[PearlNeverFails]

Hi I have my kit all triggered up ( with Ddrum acoustic triggers) and was just wondering if i have an alesis Dm5 peo module do i need something like superior drummer 2.0 or EZdrummer to make it work? thanks :)

[MrEVENSTEVENS]

Hi Pal ... thanks for all the answers to my questions. The insight is most appreciated. I currently have a DM5 and BFD 2 and am researching the best trigger options. I am seriously considering a DIY conversion project of some sort. Anyway - you have done a great job with those triggers - even if you are now a Roland convert!!! I definitely recommend trying BFD - though the expansions will set you back a bit. they are worth it!... Happy Drumming.

[eisuke120]

this sounds 10 times better than the V-Drum sound module

[ogskeetdizzle]

sorry to swamp your page, i saw you already answered you are using presonus firebox, i just want to know if anyone has ever used a tower pc setup using the m-audio audiophile 2496 sound card, because it has ZERO Latency!!! no usb or firewire only 2 analog I/O and 1 midi I/O , i wonder if you could use that with software just using midi cables directly to the alesis I/O and get zero latency?? do you think that would be possible?

[ogskeetdizzle]

check out pintech drums, that's what i'm gettin, check out the artists, ppl like bozzio and chris adler use them. smitty smith even endorses them, tim waterson, the list is huge, i know a guy that had a mid-level series kit of pintechs, i'm gettin a setup here in a few months.

[ogskeetdizzle]

what sound card are you using, and are you using a laptop or tower pc setup, cuz i'd like to know what sound card you have, are you just using the alesis I/O straight into the soundcard using midi cables?

[drumshith]

Did you by the pack from virtualpercussionoutlet ?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@drumshith hehe, no I didn't. I think MikeyVPT is a great guy but I put this kit together long before I'd seen or heard of him and his VPT setup

[hibachii]

does this thing have more electronic sounding effects?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@hibachii the Superior Drummer 2.0 software is just sampled real drums (to my knowledge) and so, no, there are no electronic sounding drums or effects. but Toontrack also makes EZDrummer which has an expansion library called Claustrophobic which has more hip-hop/processed sounding drums and kit pieces.

The Roland modules all include various electronic drum kits, though. I will be doing some video demos of my TD-12 kit in the very near future (along w/ more Superior 2.0 videos)

[drumshith]

Do you have a sound card ? 0 delay ?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@drumshith at the time I was using a PreSonus Firebox external firewire audio interface. There was a very minimal amount of "lag" when playing the kit & monitoring it at the same time. Not too bad, though. I could play through it well enough

[MrEVENSTEVENS]

Could I expect the same response from commercially available triggers from alesis or Ddrum?

Have you tried this setup with FXpansion BFD?

Sorry to bug U at such length buddy.You can't imagine how desperately I have yearned for a functional E-kit that is a pleasure to play and sounds good. I would really appreciate any insight you can offer.There are clearly lots of people dying to know so I'm hoping these questions might clarify for everyone out there once and for all. thanks again.great work

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

1. I would expect the same or better response from the drums using those triggers, sure

2. I've not used BFD or BFD2 yet, no. Just Superior 2.0 and EZDrummer so far

No sweat man, I'm happy to answer what I can. My best advice knowing what I know now...just forget having the "look" of an acoustic kit that's triggered & go w/ a Roland V-drum kit to start (w/ a module). You'll save yourself headache in the long run which is worth more than your marginal initial savings. Trust me :(

[MrEVENSTEVENS]

... (cont from below)

1. I assume the acoustic sound is not captured in the video? How loud is the kit physically?

2. Did the alesis I/O and superior drummer parameters require a lot of tweaking to acheive this realism?

3. Is Jeag correct - unlike triggering via a Roland module you dont have access to several zones per drum? (would Superior D cater for this anyhow?)

4. How might this compare to a Hart Dynamics or RET drum kit for realism?

5. How much would a set up like this cost?(cont)

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

1. Correct. The kit isn't loud but it's not as quiet as a normal Roland V-drum kit (the mesh heads on the toms make more noise)

2. Yes, way too much tweaking and I still didn't get them where I wanted.

3. The Trigger IO supports only 2-zones per trigger input. And it does NOT support positional sensing

4. I would imagine a Hart kit would respond a bit better due to better engineering of the pads. Not sure about RET

5. Not counting the PC or a drumkit to convert, prob. less than $1500

[MrEVENSTEVENS]

Awesome work my man. Like many people here I am really intrigued by this setup. Any chance you might be able to set the record straight and describe the setup from the ground up? I am confused trying to work out what you have done from prior answers... to clarify did you build your own triggers for the kick and toms? use real kick and toms but with mesh heads? Use Roland E-triggers for snare and cymbals. Is all then fed to EZ drummer in standalone mode via Alesis I/O and Presonus ... cont'

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

Snare - Roland PD-120 into Alesis Trigger IO

Kick - DIY conversion w/ homemade trigger & mesh head going into Trigger IO

Toms - DIY conversion w/ homemade triggers & mesh heads going into Trigger IO

Cymbasl & Hi-Hat - all Roland V-cymbals going into the Trigger IO

The Trigger IO goes into my PC via USB cable

I am running Superior Drummer 2.0 within Ableton Live 7. I monitor the live triggering of those samples through headphones while I play

[brotherspdp]

Does the Alesis iO trigger really well? I would love to go with that than spending the extra bucks on a td 20. also, what kind of triggers are you using to trigger the toms and bass drum? Does the mesh heads work well on them? Your stuff sounds amazing.

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@brotherspdp it's passable, but honestly I got pretty frustrated with it. And it could've been the nature of my DIY triggers...but the combination just got too frustrating to work with in the end. i now have a TD-12 kit (using the TD-12 module as well)

[drumshith]

if you are suing a CY-15R/C for ride, do you get the 3 way triggering ? dosent the Alesis trrogger io only have 2 way triggering ?

[JEAG]

Trigger IO does not support Roland's 3 way triggering as far as i know...

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@drumshith no, the Alesis doesn't support 3-way triggering. i just had it setup for bow & bell triggering

[RVanAs]

finally someone who actually can play the drums shows his diy drumkit!

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

hehe thanks man

[Perkmonster]

I really like your videos!

What kind of snare trigger do you use? is it a Roland, or is it a diy?

Also you have changed your cymbals?

thanks

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

yeah, it's an older beat up Roland PD-120

The cymbals are all Roland V-cymbals (CY-15R/C for ride and 2 CY-14 crash cymbals)

[bassjorge]

man will i need to get a new sound card for my computer if i get Toontrack superior drummer 2.0???

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

you really would need either a beefed up sound card (not a gamer card, but something for professional audio) or an external audio interface that's either USB 2.0 or Firewire. I use a Presonus FP10 firewire interface and it works like a charm (and gives me 8 XLR inputs should I want to mic a live kit and record)

[sniperguy4u]

niiiiiice!!! I want to do this so pad.. I need to just DO IT!!

[MusiciansQuarters]

Sounds great Friend!! I like SD2 over Addicitive drummer anyday.

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

thanks!!

[nathanstaton]

Yep I remember my drum trigger years....

Was pointless to me cause of the loss of tone and character

nothing will ever beat micing real drums in a nice live room

[anotheruser22]

Hi Chris,

Can you tell me how I can learn the techniques you use at:

2:26

2:33

in this video?

Is the one at 2:33 groove displacement?

Thanks

[terrellbass10]

can u record using this

[phxdrummer16]

Kidding right?

[bowrooco]

what did you use for the triggers on the toms and bass drum?

[Em4Freak]

what is with your hi hat it is all time hald open ???

[jonutarr]

Yeh your drumming is tight and the samples are great but, I don't think the tones of Superior Drummer 2.0 suit your style,

In fact unless you are play heavy or dark music I don't think SD 2 will suit, It's the reason I will never buy it no matter how good the quality is

[JEAG]

Dude... That's just incoherent!!!

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

@JEAG ... que? :\

[JEAG]

que? Los sonidos son tremendos y nada violentos hermano... Me gusta... SIga...

[Diegel]

Those are the clear heads right? I wonder what heads they used. My guess is Evans G2 clear. Those toms just sound so perfect.

[Diegel]

Are the toms GMS the whole time?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

Yeah I didn't change the toms at all

[mecrop12]

what tom heads are you using are they silent?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

they're mesh heads. so yeah they're mostly silent

[flesheatingsmoothy]

omg ur snare sounds amazing!

[Schloo]

Sounds great. Nice playing! Some of the snare Samples seems a little squashed, don't ring out quite true. Is there a settting for that? Throw a little reverb on it perhaps? Awesome sound overall.

[cast390]

Chris Do you find that you reach max velocity to easily using the trig io? Say for instance a medium strength hit on the snare goes to max velocity in sound. Also any suggestions for the IO setup parameters.The io is a real pain to set up. Thanks

[tompepper]

i have had similar problems, and i found that it was the size of my piezo as i made my own, the smaller the better. i also found that understanding the velocity curves better helped, hope this helps.

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

Borrowing them from my church, actually

[RTorrente]

Hi there chris,

I have got a similar setup except using RET drumkit with Alesis trigger i/o.

I am wanting to swap my REAL mylar heads for replaceable Mesh heads, but i've head the mesh doesn't go too well with the Alesis i/o?

is that true?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

They work fine from my experience. Bouncier feeling than a regular mylar head, but you adjust.

[megajonson]

How much tweaking did you have to do in SD? My experience is that the sound from the kick is really low and when I try to increase the volume sound tend to get distorted. The kick is the worst, but the toms are affected too. It works well when I use my original TD-6 module so I start to think if it has to to with the MIDI-triggering. I use a EMU 0404 USB audio interface connected to my iMac. What is your experience?

[ktkdrummer]

sounds awesome.. never knew about this.

[erikeepper]

Hey. Nice to hear that from a professional, I appreciate it! I'm aiming to be one myself.

[mach0gr]

Hi, and very well done! I'm about to buy an Alesis Trigger IO but I don't know whether it is compatible with the Roland VH12 Hi-hat. I've emailed Alesis but got no answer! please tell me your opinion on this. Many thanks!

[teubmaster]

Very nice sound !

You are using a Roland FD-7 hi-hat pedal... Are you using a simple cymbal pad as a Hi-hat or something ? I though the V-Hi-Hats were working...

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

They're VH-12 hats, but I don't have a Roland module and I couldn't get the open/close range to trigger properly through the Trigger IO. But the FD-7 seems to work much better (still not perfect by any means)

[BporcarO]

Best sounding el-kit I´ve ever heared! You groove!

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

Thanks!  :)

[rollingstone66666]

I love the sound of your snare drum,cooooooooooooooooool

[llamedica]

tight man...i noticed you don't have the zbt's anymore. Are you using Yamaha cymbal trigs?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

They're actually Roland Vdrum cymbals. Not Yamaha. They work really well.

[AusDisciple]

That's some cool groovin' Chris. :)

Sounds like you have your hats triggering well now too.... and nice job on the DIY. :)

God bless,

Dannii (AKA SuperPuss)

[MikeyVPT]

Nice!

I've got some drumless track videos that I'll be putting up a few weeks after NAMM (and all the videos that come with NAMM!)

Great grooves, sir... great grooves...

-mikey

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

Thanks Mikey. Looking forward to your new vids!

[tinaso87]

what gear are you using? alesis trigger io?

[ChrisBakerDrummer]

Yeah, DIY triggered toms and kick, Roland PD-120 snare pad, and Vdrum cymbals going into an Alesis Trigger IO. Oh, and Roland FD-7 hi-hat pedal.