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For some reason, the instructions advise you to move the trigger pyramid assembly off centre, which I did. When connected to the Roland TD-20 module, the trigger responded well with PD125X settings, needing only one click of sensitivity boost and about the same rim gain as most of the other kits. Performance was surprisingly good. The trigger was responsive all the way to the rim. Triggering was even all around the rim, and tracking and dynamics were very good. Positional sensing was up there with the other samples, the only slight issue being a difficulty in getting ‘distant” hits on the side closest to the trigger and a slight loss of response on the opposite far corner. Again, I’m puzzled by the offcentre position. It’s almost as if the unit was designed for the TD-6 because it needed absolutely no adjustment on this module. Response and dynamics were very good almost to the extremities of the head, and rim triggering was excellent. On the 2box, quite a lot of tweaking – reduced gain, reduced threshold and alternation of the curve - was required to produce passable, but not brilliant, triggering and the rim response was useless unless struck very close to the sensor. At $30 plus postage, this is one of the cheapest solutions and its other clear advantage is that it has minimal impact on the shell – none if you’re using a bottomless shell or if you have a generous airhole (or your shell does, at least). Price: $30 Ease of construction: 4 Non-invasiveness: 4 Performance: 3.33
Pintech AcousTech kit American e-drum maker Pintech has been producing its conversion kits for many years, usually performing conversions in-house. However, growing demand from international distributors and from DIYers has seen the company offer the kits as a self-install product. The kit is based on the components used in Pintech’s ready-made drums and includes a bridge assembly, head and rim piezos and a foam column, and buyers are able to specify cable length and jack style. One word of warning: read the instructions before jumping in or you may end up with the bridge upside down! Installation requires the removal of the top screw from each lug and mounting the bridge, which 54
comes in three sections and fits a range of shell sizes by simply sliding the two end bits under the middle section. The piezo and sensor column are then attached, using the premounted adhesive strips, and the jack is then threaded through the airhole, which may require widening of the opening. The rim sensor is mounted on a metal strip that needs to be attached to a lug screw somewhere near the bottom of the drum. No soldering is required, with all the electrical bits simply clipping together – and actually staying clipped in! Just make sure you have attached everything correctly by tapping the sensors before putting back the mesh head (which is available from Pintech) and the hoop. On the TD-20, triggering was excellent on default PD125 settings. Positional sensing was spot-on, and the tracking and dynamics were faultless. However, the rim trigger was quite hot and rim sensitivity needed to be reduced a fair bit. The Pintech trigger was fairly comfortable on the TD-6, needing just a bit of sensitivity reduction, but that did reduce the responsiveness at the very extremities of the head, so it was a bit of a compromise between dynamics and use of the whole playing surface, especially as the rim triggering was quite hot and miss-hits at the edges easily triggered rim responses. On the 2box, it was a battle to dial this trigger in. Ironically, rim response was great, but I had to virtually push all the adjustments to the limits to get reasonable triggering, and the best results were using the Kick 2 settings. This resulted in very limited dynamics, with every stroke basically sounding like the drum was being bashed full bore. Besides the trigger kit and mesh heads, Pintech also sells rim silencers. Price: $56 Ease of construction: 3 Non-invasiveness: 4 Performance: 3.5 www.digitaldrummermag.com