![]() ![]() Cables Are More Important Than You Realize It’s worth noting that, although many electronic drum manufacturers require the use of two cables to connect their 3-zone pads to their modules, Yamaha cymbal pads connect to the module with just a single cable, making setup faster and easier. ![]() But when you hit the bell or the edge, the associated pressure switch diverts the spike down a different part of the cable, so the module knows that a different part of the cymbal has been hit. Here’s how it works: When you hit the cymbal pad anywhere, the piezo sensor in the bow sends a little voltage spike down the cable to the module, and the module plays the sound you’ve programmed it to play when the cymbal pad is hit. The middle zone (the “bow”) has a piezo sensor under it, just like in drum pads, but the zones at the top (“bell”) and edge have pressure switches instead, and this allows cymbal pads to do something that drum pads can’t do. Most cymbal pads (such as the Yamaha PCY175 or PCY155 you’ll find incorporated in DTX Series electronic drum kits) have three areas (“zones”) you can hit, which give you three sounds. The signals go from both sensors down the cable from the pad to the module, allowing the module to “know” which part of the pad was hit. The ones under the head detect when you hit the drumhead with your drumsticks, and the one on the shell is there to detect when you hit the rim of the pad. As an example, the mesh pads that come with Yamaha DTX8 Series and DTX10 Series electronic drum kits have either one (toms) or three (snare) piezo sensors under the head and another on the shell. Piezo Sensors in Padsĭepending on the pad, there might be one or more piezo sensors, or even one piezo sensor and a special switch called a pressure switch. ![]() ![]() And when you hit an electronic drum pad, it is a piezo sensor that’s responsible for making that little voltage spike go all the way down the cable to the module. When your phone beeps to tell you that you have a message, that’s also probably a piezo sensor embedded in your phone. When you leave your refrigerator door open or your microwaved popcorn is ready, the appliance tells you by making a pinging or beeping sound … and that sound is coming from a piezo sensor. That’s why you’ll find them in pretty much every electronic device you own, from your phone to your computer - even your refrigerator and microwave have them. The amount of electricity (that is, the amount of voltage) generated depends upon how hard you hit the object: Hit it lightly, and the spike will be quite small hit it harder, and the spike will be much larger.īecause they are really flexible, piezo sensors make very good loudspeakers, and so they are excellent for giving us information and receiving information. If you attach one of these piezo sensors to something else (such as a block of wood or lump of plastic) and hit it, the sensor will send out a little spike of electricity. By themselves, neither part does anything special, but put them together and attach a couple of wires, and they start to behave like a very basic microphone. The white material is actually an extremely thin slice (or wafer) of quartz crystal. Together, this is called a piezo sensor (or piezo pickup). This is a small brass disc (usually around 1″ or 27 mm in diameter) with what looks like a circular piece of paper on one side. Interestingly, one of the most important parts of just about every drum pad comes from the Earth itself. We’ll talk more about the module later in this article, but for now let’s focus on the pads. The Magic Of Quartz CrystalĪs you can see from the illustration below, an electronic drum kit consists of several pads and a couple of pedals, plus a module, which is actually a specialized computer that acts as the central “brain.” In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into the inner workings of electronic drums and explain how they deliver their sonic magic. In reality, they’re not nearly as complicated as most people think - in fact, the technology is actually quite simple. There is a lot of misunderstanding when it comes to exactly how electronic drums work. ![]()
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