How Piezos and Switches work: (edrums demystified)

[@HearTheLarkAndHarken]

Just want to let you know 7 years after you posted this that for a guy trying to attach a piezo to a djmebe, this was really helpful and delivered a lot of info in a super clear and informative way. Thanks man.

[@gushill4236]

Thanks for being fearless and dismantling your drums so we don't have to. This was great information and I appreciate knowing a bit more about the inner workings of my set.

[@65Drums]

Glad you liked the video!

[@adweet6691]

You sir are doing the drum God's work.

[@kickbonzo1765]

Hello. Good job! In 1982 I and my band was one of the first buyers of Simmon elect drums; SDS-V, which I still have by the way. So after a few weeks my sound engineer and me decided to take one of the pads apart as when playing under very hot stage lights, the so called carbon fibber playing material glued on to the surface of 1/4” plywood would separate and they would puff up like jiffy-pop popcorn ( if anyone still remembers that product), when you hit the surface that carbon fiber would splatter like shrapnel. Anyway, we took one apart and found each pad was being triggered by a .25 cent piezo, same as you get at radio shack. So we got the idea to mount the piezos onto my acoustic drum shells and after s few tweaks, viola! They worked like a charm. You don’t know how many bands that have toured with us back then wanted to know how we were doing this through the acoustic drums; one in general was the drummer for the band, The Outfield , forgot his name, but he had a mic suspended inside his snare drum and his sound engineer would add a little white noise to it, were as we had ALL the Simmons sounds at my disposal. In saying all this I have bene doing this at a time were no-one else even thought about it. Just thought I’d share . But again, good job my friend...

[@MegaFrankgarcia]

This is the future...Thank you for making this video, I'm just getting started and when looking for upgrades or replacements, it's always a sentence including a Piezos, a switch or a trigger. Now I know how to answer. Thanx

[@65Drums]

I'm not an engineer or a big DIY guy. So I tried to do as much research as I could, to be as accurate as possible. Despite all of that, I realize some mis-information probably slipped through. Let me know if I missed anything.

[@ryanduswalt]

65 Drums I just gotta say I love your intro music. Such a nice sounding intro!

[@65Drums]

Thank you so much!!!

[@joeblow4938]

piezo material generates a small voltage when it undergoes mechanical stress. The act of hitting the drum head causes the sensor to experience compression and therefore a voltage proportional to the amount of force. The drums must have amplifier circuits that detect this small induced voltage, amplify it, and then digital sample it. It must then be digitally signal processed and converted it into an audio signal. Quartz is a common piezoelectric material.

[@65Drums]

Very thorough definition.

[@datapoint6859]

Every chintzy little beep you hear coming from your various appliances? The alarm beep in your wrist watch? The speaker in your old school hand held LCD game or your late 80's computer? Piezo transducers in speaker mode. As mechanical stress induces voltage in the disk, applying voltage to them induces mechanical stress, which, if applied at the correct frequency, makes the brass disk resonate at usable frequencies. I think you can even use them in scales as a weight sensor. Nifty little toys they are!

[@bitflux2]

thank you for the education and demystifying , its quite the rabbit hole

[@Vdrumtips1]

Well explained, especially the cymbal. The hotspot issue also depends on the mesh material and the tension. Good Mesh heads that are not as stretchy will minimize the hotspotting.

[@65Drums]

I was really worried I didn't explain it correctly. I actually kinda put off posting this video for awhile. Thank you! And I did not know that poor quality stretchy drumheads caused hotspots. Good to know.

[@Vdrumtips1]

You did it correct with the cymbal. It is really a mix out of piezo and switch information. I was not sure about it myself, til I opened one of my crash cymbals. The hotspot issue is not caused by the mesh head only. But it is one of many factors. I figured out that drum-tec reel feel heads can be tensioned really strong and as they are not as stretchy, the hot spotting is reduced to a minimum. A Remo Silent Stroke for example, is way to stretchy.

[@ryleydoherty-lawson3793]

Hey, I started watching you because i needed to get an electric kit, time has finally come as I am buying an Alesis Forge this weekend, its only been like 3 weeks but I have seen a lot of your videos and I know a lot more about E-kits now so thank you!

[@65Drums]

Glad to help!

[@bongo042]

Hey Justin, with all the vids you've created I'm shocked you havent made one with a good choking solution for using low volume cymbals with, in my case, a Roland head. I hybridized my kit using acoustic drums, mesh heads with a mounted trigger inside the drums and KD-A22 on my kick drum beater head. I replaced some of my dual zone PD-x crash cymbal triggers with low volume cymbals and non-roland triggers. They work well for one cymbal sound but, as you know, it eliminates my ability to choke the cymbal and eliminates the extra sound I could have using the dual zone PD-x. I havent been able to find a solution for this that seems practical for my skill level or that I can completely understand and create. I'm sure many in addition to myself would enjoy you doing that video.

[@TRUTH4U2NO]

Yamaha DTXreme II and IIIs rubber pads with a 3 zone drum is manufactured with 1 drum trigger countersunk dead center under a wooden backboard and the 2 other rim zones Yamaha uses ribbon triggers.

[@briankarrick4362]

Thanks so much for the info! Fixing old e drums

[@Ikebena]

Awesomely explained ..... enjoyed a lot

[@MikeyLikesItt]

Question, I read that a Roland pd8 dual drug trigger uses peizo for drum head and a switch for the rim, My intention is to use the switch on the rim to activate a 'footswitch pedal' for looping on boss rc505 with acoustic drums, Just as a footswitch would activate and deactivate a loop But using rim on pd8 instead

[@pgale]

Thx for the effort in explaining it all.

[@65Drums]

You're welcome :)

[@MarcoPisaneschiDrummer]

Great job from ITALY! SUBSCRIBED!

[@dabeatmanFROMtheNO]

Is it possible to create a 3-zone snare with the piezo and switch option? Looking to have the snare sound, side-stick and rimshot available on the fly!!!!

[@Havron]

Hey, not sure about that, but clever idea! What you can do, though, depending on the capabilities of your particular module, is assign the cross-stick samples to most velocity layers of the rim zone with the higher velocities assigned rimshot samples, so that above a certain velocity level hitting the rim will switch from triggering stick sounds to rimshot sounds. Since people generally don't cross-stick crazy hard or do quiet rimshots, such a setup should end up playing pretty naturally.

[@dennisgidley]

Hi...we have a Roland PD-105 and it doesn't seem to be working properly....the "active" area for the snare seems to be just about 1-1/2 " in the centre and the rim is quite quiet....the wiring appears to be intact and the piezos are solidy fixed........what suggestions for checking the piezos and making the snare work better.....?

[@stuiedaman]

One thing that is false, that I've also seen in the comments, is that the Piezos doesn't create a voltage. It's better to think of it as a door, that's why there's two wires. Those two discs make a varying amount of contact when you hit your drum, allowing a varying amount of voltage to pass through. One wire is coming from your module with a constant voltage, and the other wire goes back to your module letting it know how voltage has been let through.

[@ananthugopinathan5968]

Great video brother 👍

[@rongarza9488]

YES! You pronounced PIEZO correctly: pee EH(Y) zoh. Even the Brits start with pie. It's a Greek word, so pee, not pie. Aargh. Also, great video! All that piezos need is a change in pressure, hence the foam cones or donut-like cylinders.

[@mikeycurtis7861]

I made my own triggers for my kit a long time ago. I used bifold door brackets, a scotchbrite pad, hot glue, female 1/4" TS, and buzzers from RadioShack... lol they called em buzzers, but when i looked on the back of the package, they said piezotransducer.. so i bought all of em lol.. was only $1.50 each... man... back when RadioShack was around. How did they lose?!

[@crisdrumming]

Great video! I was wondering if you can help me with this problem: I replaced the heads on my alesis drum kit with a mesh heads kit and I didn’t install any foam cones. I just realised that it could be the reason why the pads miss some note when I play. If they are so important, could you suggest me a way to make the cone with some recycled material? A simple sponge or vacuum filter would be suitable? Cheers!

[@waltariusofficialretrowavesynt]

Hi, question, a piezo whit volume control lost sensibility?

[@simcajon9445]

hi, I was about to abandon my e-cajon project when I saw this video, I have the problem of isolating the 2 sounds with 2 piezes on the same surface using also a Roland TM2 and I would ask you if you can explain me how to do it

[@justinf1343]

👍 great as always.

[@we-are-alva]

so it would theoretically be possible to trigger a sound with a guitar with a piezo pickup?

[@Jcgalllo]

I need some help! I upgraded my Alesis ComptactKit7 with a a Roland FD-8 and KD-8. The FD-8 works great but KD-8 does not since it has a Piezo trigger in it. Does anyone know if there is such a thing of a converter that can bypass the Piezo so it is just a standard Switch trigger?

[@jsz3333]

Hi. Quick question.. I bought TD-17K with Malaysian made CY-8s a half a year ago and they work AWESOME!.... Well I recently picked up a 3rd CY-8 from Musicians friend (last week) and I noticed its an older one (or alternative) Chinese production.. My problem: The Malaysian CY-8'S work PERFECTLY and never double trigger on a Crash/Ride hit.. The Chinese CY-8 tends to "ghost trigger" second hits registers it as a low volume "hit" (5 scale out of 127 max hit). Is this normal? Should I return it? It's not the cable or anything as I swapped position of both ride and Crash 1.. Same issue. I noticed my Malaysian CY-5 (hi hat) does something similar to the Chinese CY-8, though a little different. I don't care that much on hi-hat, but its something I noticed... The biggest issue is trying to crescendo on the newer CY-8.. Seems to work at lower volume due to ghost hits nullifying Dynamics.. its SOO annoying compared to the Malaysian ones. Seems to be a different Piezo than whats in my newer CY-8's. More sensitive.. (I can hold the rear of the Chinese CY-8 and not get ghost hits) Not sure if thats a good or bad thing... but I really need need advice here.

[@146gods]

I replaced my alesis crimso mesh kit snare piezo and it fixed my problem but it triggers the snare rim sometimes when i play, what could that be?

[@pedrolarenas]

great information thanks dude

[@andrea_ciani]

Great video, thank you!

[@mikemike7345]

Well done Thanks for the info.

[@Buildings1772]

actually most E-Drums are driven by pressure sensors, pieces only detect a change in pressure (eg put out a current both when you press down and when release pressure from the pad)

[@davidclarke4915]

What size piezo is best for drum triggers? I heard 35 mm should be used but I see some diy guys using 27 mm etc. what are the pros and cons? Thanks

[@larrybledsoe4243]

I have looked everywhere for someone to show me how to change triggers ON alesis command mesh head

[@jjptech]

again... welcome to the DIY side of the force xD. Once you are there you can't go back! xD

[@65Drums]

hahahahha XD

[@PodmornicaFTW]

Does anyone know which kick drumpads are equiped with a switch? I could use some recommendations :P

[@stevieinc]

How do multi zone edrums work?

[@moritzp.2920]

Do you know how position sensing works? Are there more Piezos used or is it an other technique?

[@65Drums]

It’s just the two piezos. But they are positioned in a way that the module can time the delay between the two, and then predicting the position of your drumstick on the head.

[@riskromer9773]

Hi, man. I've got an Alesis Nitro Kit I bought used and all of the sudden the hi-hat pad started to work erratically, as if it had a false contact, you know like it would only sound every other hit, then nothing at all, then after a few tries it started to sound like if it were repeatedly struck super fast and then died. I know it's a long shot to ask you but did anything like this ever happened to you and if so what was the cause? What's your best guess. Thanks in advance.

[@ivanalfonsocorderogutierre7498]

Thanks!🎉🎉

[@dvdganon0812]

why not use the sensor inside a closed shell to detect any hit. anywhere on the pad

[@STICKYHOUSE]

great vid! you said using a central piezo my cause triggering problems towards the rim on a 14" and bigger drum, the td50 has a 14" snare and dont seem to have any problems, do you know how they have done it?

[@65Drums]

According to VDrum Tips, different types of mesh drumheads can help eliminate hot spots. And the TD50 snare is using some sort of new trigger tech, I'm unfamiliar with is inner workings. All I know is that It connects to the module via USB.

[@arturovod5847]

I make drum system + 6 piezos for my Alesis drums. I live in kiev All piesos i buy in Karavaevy Dachi Radio Bazaar.

[@Factsmama24]

Sir each piezo have various sounds pls tell me sir 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[@itz_vortex7341]

the drum module makes the sound. the piezo is what makes the drum work with the module so the piezo tells the module to make the sound

[@LMBECILCustomCharts]

you are very wise

[@nemanjasavic4204]

hy! kat kt 4 or alesis Crimson ?

[@65Drums]

The KT4

[@johneeadbl5876]

pie + ee + zoh (no 'a' sound, 'e' sound on second syllable)

[@sogo145]

Just bought an electric drum. How do you mitigate sound lag when you connect it to speakers? Do i just need to bring the speakers closer?

[@65Drums]

What drumset do you have?

[@sogo145]

roland td11

[@65Drums]

There really shouldn't be a lag coming from that drumset. The module latency of the TD11 is one of the lowest in the industry. Maybe it does have somthing to do with the speakers

[@sogo145]

It's more of the time it takes for me to hear the sound after I hit the drum pad. I'll do some more research, and I appreciate the help