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Why Trigger?


WillyRay

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Maybe it's my all-jazz-all-the-time perspective, but I don't understand about triggering. I work with computers all day, but my understanding of percussion is decidedly analog!

 

So.... say, I'm a rock drummer, why would I want to trigger, again? When we say trigger, we're talking about firing sounds from an electronic drum module when we hit an accoustic drum, right? For what reason are we doing this? It can't just be a volume thing, can it? Wouldn't it be easier to just mic' the drums and amplify?

 

Maybe I've got a fundemental mis-understanding of what we're talking about here... I can see getting an electronic set, if that's what you want, and I can see mic-ing and amping if you need more volume... but I'm unclear on the whole concept of triggering.

 

/willy

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one reason to trigger is having a poor sounding drum or PA. The trigger fires a nice sound most people can't achieve. Another reason is that with speed metal guys and doing all the fast double bass stuff, they go so fast that it is pretty much just tapping the drum and can't produce that huge sound.... So they trigger so all their speedy little hits sound amazingly even and huge.

 

I don't personaly like to trigger my drums that way. Although I use synthetic type sounds sometimes. But never layerd over my acoustic kit, just extra pads and edrum stuff for loops and such.( roland spd-s or batery to a computer)

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Trigger = Consistent sound with very little hassle in setting up. When you mic your drums, you have to set up each mic, set levels for each mic, worry about feedback, bleed, reverbration, etc. But when you trigger, you're guaranteed a consistent good sound that's relatively easy to set up.

 

Triggering the bass drum is used because it is impossible to get a good sound on the bass drum when you're playing 16ths at 220+ speeds.

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Another reason would be: lousy room acoustics.

 

You know how some rooms just make the drums sound like {censored} no matter how carefully you tune them? Those are the perfect occasion for triggering - providing the PA is halfway decent.

 

One more opinion.

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Originally posted by WillyRay

Ok... Is the audience hearing anything from the drums if they're triggered? If not, why wouldn't you just take electronics on a gig like that? Showmanship?


/willy

 

 

With triggers you get the best of both worlds, the sound quality and consistancy of electronic drums, with the look and feel of acoustic drums. Plus, a set of triggers is alot cheaper than an electronic kit.

 

Another reason some people use triggers over electronic drums is that you can always convert a triggered acoustic kit back into a regular acoustic kit whenever you want. Try that with an electronic kit.

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Originally posted by rockbeat


[...] you can always convert a triggered acoustic kit back into a regular acoustic kit whenever you want. Try that with an electronic kit.

 

 

"Grrr... Why can't I get these rubber pads to RESONATE?!?!"

 

/w

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Vinnie Paul, Jon Wysocki (Staind), Raymon Herrera (Fear Factory) and a bunch more I've read interviews with said they use a cross between triggered and acoustic drums in their live mix on stage for mainly the reasons above. Quality of sound + look/feel...

 

This may be getting too deep into the inherent attitude behind rock music, but unlike jazz, there's a stipulation behind rock to have everything be perfect (at least that's the Boston scene mentality). Improv and freeform doesn't happen too often, so the desire of having the same drum sound all the time is kind of expected, as opposed to the fun nature of other musics where it would be cool to take the stage with a whole different set-up and sound.

 

Case in point: Rage Against the Machine and Presidents of the United States of America. Remember how long people had to talk about their set-ups before they just accepted it? That never happened to Joey Baron! :)

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Willy I think you're overlooking slightly the possibility that acoustic and electronic can live in harmony. As Rockbeat said - there is the versatility to switch between electronics and acoustics if you trigger, whereas an all electric kit will never be a great acoutic substitute.

I only have one trigger which I use on my snare sometimes running through an Roland SPD-S. I use it sparingly though - our sound is sort of indie/dance crossover so for the occassional track I like to have a good dancy electronic backbeat. But trigs are incredibly useful elsewhere - I work a lot in theatre pits too, where often I find a cheesy/MIDI type snare sound go well with some numbers from musicals - I also trigger my snare rim click so it puts a lot of reverb on it (again cheesy ballad type sounds!!)

However I dont quite understand some of these "rawer" type bands who use triggers on everything.... I can see that some metalheads may use them for the power to combat the speed, but what sounds do they use?? are they just 'realistic' drum sounds subtly layered on top of the acoustic for bite? Or is it just the triggers that are heard? + What brains/modules do they use?

I went to see the manic street preachers a while back (fairly typical rock sound really) and found that Sean Moore now uses triggers on all his drums.... I couldnt hear what he was using - sounded like a normal kit to me...in that sort of situation i dont really see the point - maybe for ease/tuning simplicity and the same sound night after night, but for bands like that think they may aswell stick to full acoustic sound!!

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