Assistance connecting electonic kick drum to drum machine

[eRory]

Hello All, I'm trying to expand my old electric drum kit with a new (better) kick drum, however, they are incompatible and I was hoping to make a project box that gets the new pedal triggering the drum module correctly. I'll try and describe the problem as clearly as possible, I am only semi-elecro-literate but have put together simple circuits before.

The new kick drum trigger is a piezoelectric pickup, so I guess the harder you hit the kick-drum the higher the voltage generated.

The old drum pedal trigger is a mechanically operated variable resistance switch. When the pedal is pushed gently the switch closes further down a resistance track closing the switch with more electrical resistance which the module interprets as a quieter volume. As you increase the force on the pedal, the switch gets closed further up the resistance tracks causing less resistance which tells the module to play a louder kick-drum sound. (There is a current running through this switch from the drum module)

Can anyone think of a simple circuit that I could plug in between the new kick-drum and the old drum module, please? I would imagine it would need some way of adjusting sensitivity too?

Thank you in advance

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Hi there and welcome to Electronics Point

That's an interesting problem. I will do some web research and get back to you.

Thanks for giving such a clear and detailed description of the problem. It's a welcome change from many of the requests we get.

In the meantime it may be helpful for us to know where you are (there's a place in your profile for this), and what electronic component supplier(s) you prefer to use.

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Also, can you provide the make and model number for both pedals please.

 

[eRory]

Hi there and thank you

The new Kick Pad is the Roland V-Drums KD-9

The old drum set is the Roland HD-3 V-Drums lite

I will need to get the parts mail ordered from Maplin as I wont be in the UK again until Christmas

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

I found a helpful Wikipedia page at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_V-Drums. Please have a look at it and let me know if it tells you anything that sounds useful.

According to that article, the HD-3 "brain" (drum sound module) uses a custom connection to all the pads and pickups. Are you using the HD-3 drum sound module with your new kit? Or do you have a third party sound module? If it's third party, what's the make and model?

Am I right in thinking that the old resistance trigger was actually part of the kick pedal, but the new piezo pickup is in a pad that is hit by the batter?

Does the old kick pedal have an individual part number on it?

Edit: more questions:

That Wikipedia page mentions "mono" and "stereo" pads. Does this refer to the type of plug that goes into the sound module? So for example a hi-hat trigger that has a pedal pressure/position sensor and a hit sensor would need a stereo (tip-ring-sleeve) plug, while a kick or tom pickup would only need a mono (tip-sleeve) plug?

Can you list some common models of sound modules that work with piezo pickups? So I can try to find technical information and schematics on them, so I can see how they deal with the signal from the piezo.