Roland TMC-6 or Alesis Trigger IO

[JB872]

Which one of these would be best to use with Ddrum Redshot triggers and a laptop? I'm not looking for something with drums sounds built in, I'm simply after a trigger-to-midi device, and these two are the only ones I'm aware of.

[liquidorange]

ROLAND

[JB872]

Originally Posted by liquidorange

ROLAND

I couldn't find too much info about the TMC-6 inputs....are they TRS 1/4"? And does that unit have USB as well?

[Kiwiburger]

USB is a good idea. Otherwise you have the latency of the trigger-to-midi, and then the latency of your midi-to-PC. If you can do it it one low-latency hit, you are better off.

It's also worth consider recording your triggers as Audio (not midi) and then using software to sample replace and/or convert to midi. Even lower latency, cheaper (if you already have the audio channels), but at the expensive of hard drive space.

[jeremy.c.]

I had the TMC-6 for a while and it's great. 6 1/4" inputs, one is TRS for a stereo snare trigger. Very simple and uses the same triggering system as all of their top end trigger/sound modules. You could likely pick one up for less than $175, great deal.

[JB872]

So is it worth spending the extra money for the Roland Triggering system even though the Alesis has USB and MIDI?

[jeremy.c.]

if the alesis triggers like the D4, not the DM5, get it, it looks much more flexible and cool for the $$$... if it triggers anything like the DM5 the roland is the way to go.

[Bounce]

Well, I'm not an employee of Alesis but I did help them develop and beta test the Trigger I/O and demoed it for them at NAMM. It's a really great little trigger interface. 10 dual zone trigger inputs (you could plug in 20 pads!). Very, very sensitive in a good way. I have several e-kits here (Roland V-drums TD-10, Yamaha Dtxtreme IIs, drumkat, and other types with different pads). The Alesis Trigger I/O triggers as well as a Roland TD-20 using the pads I have here and others I've tried. The user interface is much simpler of course but works fine. Plus the thing is only $150. Geez. I don't make any money at all pimping the Alesis I/O. I just think it's a really cool little unit. It comes bundled with BFD Lite as well. Pretty freakin' cool if ya ask me :-) Additionally, I asked them to add a Sustain function for the hi hat (which they did) so you can play keyboard parts with your pads if ya want :-) It's a killer piece of gear, I think.

[JB872]

Originally Posted by Bounce

Well, I'm not an employee of Alesis but I did help them develop and beta test the Trigger I/O and demoed it for them at NAMM. It's a really great little trigger interface. 10 dual zone trigger inputs (you could plug in 20 pads!). Very, very sensitive in a good way. I have several e-kits here (Roland V-drums TD-10, Yamaha Dtxtreme IIs, drumkat, and other types with different pads). The Alesis Trigger I/O triggers as well as a Roland TD-20 using the pads I have here and others I've tried. The user interface is much simpler of course but works fine. Plus the thing is only $150. Geez. I don't make any money at all pimping the Alesis I/O. I just think it's a really cool little unit. It comes bundled with BFD Lite as well. Pretty freakin' cool if ya ask me :-) Additionally, I asked them to add a Sustain function for the hi hat (which they did) so you can play keyboard parts with your pads if ya want :-) It's a killer piece of gear, I think.

Did you ever test it with DDrum Red Shot triggers? And how would it compare to the triggering of the D4?

[Bounce]

Ya know, I didn't but I do have a kick drum one here. I'd dare to say that it would work fine considering all the other piezo based triggers I use and make.

[JB872]

Originally Posted by Bounce

Ya know, I didn't but I do have a kick drum one here. I'd dare to say that it would work fine considering all the other piezo based triggers I use and make.

I just tried to order in the Alesis Trigger IO to test along side the Roland TMC-6 and they don't have it in their system at my local music store. Is this box available yet?

[liquidorange]

Originally Posted by Bounce

Well, The Alesis Trigger I/O triggers as well as a Roland TD-20 using the pads I have here and others I've tried. The user interface is much simpler of course but works fine. .

- yea but its an alesis . might be fine with pads but triggering acoustic drums you need more than simple tweek options to make them rock.

[Bounce]

Originally Posted by liquidorange

- yea but its an alesis . might be fine with pads but triggering acoustic drums you need more than simple tweek options to make them rock.

Well, when I said simple, I meant the GUI is just LED versus a large LCD on the Roland. All the basic needed parameters are there: crosstalk, gain, threshold, trigger type, velocity curve, sensitivity. As mentioned, I have many other units (Roland TD-10, Yamaha DTXtreme IIs, Drumkat, Alesis DM5 and Pro, Casio DZ-1, Alesis ControlPad) and the Trigger I/O really triggers VERY well. I mean VERY well. Sorry to qualify myself but I've been using electronic drums, acoustic triggers, and their respective evolving designs since 1986 (UGH! Am I THAT old now?! Geez.). I've used acoustic triggers forever including the DDrum ones (DDrum for the last 5 years). I'm not gonna try to sell you on the unit (I get no benefit from it) any more than trying to help someone out in their search by saying in this thread that the Trigger I/O is up to the task, I believe. John Emrich (ZenDrum guy) and Rhett of RET Percussion were also beta testers on the unit and all agree that the sensitivity of the unit is excellent. There ya go :-)

I agree Alesis has made a few less than stellar products through the years but they have made some real pro gear as well. I think for $149, you get something that functions very well for the price of a consumer toy. Hard ta beat. Best of luck to ya!

[BackHand]

I have att complete trigg pakage on sale with Clavia's best trigg mics, the Roland trigg box and all the cables included.

Musikutrustning & Instrument - Studio, Dator & Scenutr. - Trigg kit Komplett Studiostandard

I can send it anywhere.

It's about 420 american $ plus shipping maybe 45$.

it's the best trigg kit out there.

[hogo]

I like the Korg Kontrol myself.

[alvinthedrummer]

Hi Guys,

I need some help with the TMC-6 so hopefully I can get some answers from owners here.

I'm trying to trigger one-shot samples in Ableton live 6. I've got ableton recognising the trigger signal and I have got one audio track setup with a sample loaded. I've mapped the audio track to receive signal from my drum pad (roland pd8) but got a few problems:

1) Whenever I launch the sample, Ableton sets to play indefinitely until I hit stop. Is there no way for ableton live to just trigger a one-shot sample without setting the sequencer to play?

2) My pad is a dual zone pad...snare and rim. However, I can't get ableton to recognise the snare and rim as different midi signals....I'm hoping to trigger one sound with the snare and another sound with the rim....how do I do that?

3) I've already got threshhold set to 6 and xtalk set to max...and false triggering still happens sometime when I stomp my foot on my hi-hat pedal....how do I solve this?

Please help!!

[deafperception]

Sorry to bring up this relic, but I have a question that pertains to this topic.

Say I want either the Roland or Alesis trigger IO. Can I go out and buy whichever pads I want and expect things to work smoothly? Anyone have experience/insight on this? I'm on a $1K budget and I know I'm already saving tons by ditching the standard module. Any help would be appreciated!

[chroma]

Originally Posted by alvinthedrummer

I'm trying to trigger one-shot samples in Ableton live 6. I've got ableton recognising the trigger signal and I have got one audio track setup with a sample loaded. I've mapped the audio track to receive signal from my drum pad (roland pd8) but got a few problems:

1) Whenever I launch the sample, Ableton sets to play indefinitely until I hit stop. Is there no way for ableton live to just trigger a one-shot sample without setting the sequencer to play?

Dunno exactly what you are trying to do, but... use a drum rack or use Impulse. Drop the sample (either out of the browser, or out of an audio clip) onto an empty slot. If Impulse, set the TMC6 to send the correct midi note for that slot; if Drum Racks, just drop the sample on whatever midi note the TMC is sending. Should work fine. Can't remember if 6 had drum racks or not (want to say it didn't), but it did have impulse.

2) My pad is a dual zone pad...snare and rim. However, I can't get ableton to recognise the snare and rim as different midi signals....I'm hoping to trigger one sound with the snare and another sound with the rim....how do I do that?

When doing audio, it's just trigger->start. When using impulse, it will trigger a different sample based on the midi note. You just have to set your trigger controller (the tmc6) to send different midi notes for the head and rim triggers (i'd be surprised if it didn't have a preset to do this)...

[percussion boy]

Re the original question:

I use the Roland and like it.

What's good is that it is designed to play nice with the Roland v-drum pads with the mesh heads -- which are very quiet, sensitive, and comfortable -- a quantum leap beyond any kind of cheap hard pad.

Hope this helps.

[jaygodin]

Originally Posted by chroma

Dunno exactly what you are trying to do, but... use a drum rack or use Impulse. Drop the sample (either out of the browser, or out of an audio clip) onto an empty slot. If Impulse, set the TMC6 to send the correct midi note for that slot; if Drum Racks, just drop the sample on whatever midi note the TMC is sending. Should work fine. Can't remember if 6 had drum racks or not (want to say it didn't), but it did have impulse.



When doing audio, it's just trigger->start. When using impulse, it will trigger a different sample based on the midi note. You just have to set your trigger controller (the tmc6) to send different midi notes for the head and rim triggers (i'd be surprised if it didn't have a preset to do this)...

Hey there, I am trying to trigger drums in the Drum Rack(from my DM5 kit). The problem is that the cymbals are choking. Its ok if I hold the button down on the keyboard, I get the full sample, but when I use my kit, It just get a choke.

[stampz]

Hi people,

I was wondering is it possible for me to use other name brand trigger pads on my alesis DM5 Pro kit if the other pad take the same jack