5 Ways to connect more Pads to an E-drum Kit

This video is about expanding an electronic drum set with countless trigger pads.


Find V-drum Tips on:

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✭ Webpage: http://www.v-drumtips.com

Great Slave Modules:

► DDTI Trigger Interface: http://amzn.to/2Hh0iNR

Trigger MIDI Interfaces:

► Steinberg UR22 MkII: http://amzn.to/2Bvc4DQ
► ESI Midimate eX: http://amzn.to/2BvgRVN

Sample Software for 2 Modules:

► EZdrummer2: http://amzn.to/2Euat43
► Superior Drummer 3: https://goo.gl/VRXR67

→ Drumsplitters: http://www.drumsplitters.com/ ←

✭ ✭ ✭ Video Links: ✭ ✭ ✭

Big Metal Kit with 2x TD-12:    • Badass Metal Drumkit converted to E Drum  
Drumsplitter Review:    • Drumsplitters Review (E-Drums)  
Roland TMC-6 Review:    • Roland TMC-6 review and instruction  

1. Roland Percussion Set

Some specific Roland modules like TD-8, 9, 10, 12, 20, 30 and most likely the TD-50 have a MIDI input and feature Percussion Sets that are triggered by an external slave module. Just connect the “Midi out” of your Alesis Trigger IO, Roland TMC-6 or TD-4 to the “Midi input” of your Roland master module. The slave module becomes a trigger interface and sends plain midi signals to the master. The master takes the signals and generates a sound out of its own instrument selection.

This way it is possible to connect a lot more pads. The secondary module has to be set to MIDI Channel 11, but this is not possible with every module. The Roland TD-3, for example, does not feature MIDI Channel 11 and can therefore not be used as a secondary module.

The slave modules sounds are uninteresting, as it is only a plain midi converter in such a setup. It does not transfer audio signals, but Midi signals.

The Percussion Set is basically an instrument selection of the master module, which can be modified independently from the main drum kits. All master module instruments can be assigned and triggered through the slave module.
This TD-20x, for example, has 8 percussion sets that are independent of the main kits and do not get changed when scrolling through your drum kits.

Sadly the Roland TD-11, 15 and 25 do not feature a MIDI Input nor a Percussion set. They can only be slaves, not masters.

Hack:

The 2 chained modules can be connected to a PC or Mac via the MIDI or USB cable of the master module. The whole setup can now trigger EZdrummer2.

2. Drumsplitters

Some Roland modules (show the modules) can be extended with drumsplitters. You find them in the form of y-cables or boxes with 3 jack inputs. These devices split the 2 zones of a dual zone pad into 2 mono pads. The drum splitter is not a regular y-cable. It has to have a built-in 100K Ohm resistor to be able to work.
Both, toms and cymbal become mono triggers after splitting. That means there is no choke function available for the cymbal pad and it is also not possible to hit both split pads at the same time because the module recognises this as a rim shot.
A lot of trigger adjustments have to be made in the module to use drumsplitters. Therefore it is but still only a compromise, but also a nice and cheap solution to add extra pads.

Drumsplitters do not work for physical reasons with TD-1, 3 and 6 as these modules are wired differently. And I would not use them for software reasons with TD-4 and TD-25. Those 2 do not allow you to assign the pad zones independently, which is vital to even use a drumsplitter.

3. Module into Module

Almost every E-drum module has a stereo input for MP3-Players. Connect the headphone out of the second module to the MP3 input of the primary module. This works with all kinds of e-drum modules. You can also connect both modules to a mixing desk. Same result, you could end up with different module sounds if you don’t use identical modules though. This is a low budget version that serves the purpose.

4. EZdrummer2

Ezdrummer2 and SD2.0 allow you to connect 2 or more modules simultaneously via MIDI interface or direct USB to your PC. I plugged this TD-30 via direct USB into my Mac and an additional TD-20X via MIDI Cable into a Tascam MIDI interface, which is connected to the Mac via USB cable as well. The TD-30 Module driver and Tascam interface driver have to be installed and that’s it. Both modules trigger one digital drum kit.
This method works with any e-drum module.

5. ESI Midimate eX

The ESI Midimade eX is a special MIDI to USB adapter that has 2 Midi ports on one side and a USB plug on the other side. You can connect 2 modules to your PC and trigger any drum sample software with both modules simultaneously. This would be ideal for TD-11 or 15 users.
There is a guy on youtube who built a huge metal e-drum kit with 2x Roland TD-12 modules. He uses a MIDImate. The link is in the description.