question about triggers
 

i'm looking to get triggers for my bass drums but i understand the trigger parts that clamp...or stick on, or whatever, are hooked up to a machine that gives the bass drum the different sorts of sounds. what's that part called?

A brain or module :)

can anyone tell me some specific modules that are good? i didn't find very many on musicians friend when i searched for modules, just some alesis ones, and their ratings for it weren't very high. i'm talking of the DM5 specifically. any nicer ones?

Roland have some good shit, the TD-20 is the shizz nizz, but you are probably not looking at something so pricey, I would suggest a TD-6 which has some good feastures at a reasonable price!

what connects the triggers to the "brain"? and then does the brain go to an amp/mixer/etc?(lineout?)

Standard Guitar type Cables, connect your triggers to your Brain, and yep you are absolurtley right your brain goes to a line out, which could be Headphones if you are playing late at night or a 1000+ w PA system if you are playing live!

Roland do a personal PA for drum modules, it is good if you are playing a pure electronic kit!

so do the cords ever get tangled up with anything while your playing? how stable are the triggers on the drums? (this of course means nothing if you dont use triggers)

I don't use triggers, but they clip onto the rim of your drums, so as long as you tighten them up right, they are stable as anything, as for cables, you always have the triggers on the top edge of your toms and snare, so you can run all the cables in front of your kit, so they do not interfere with your playing, also I couple people I know use Cable Ties etc.

And roland for their electronic kits have a special rack where the Cables actually go inside the rack and are hidden from view.

yeah ive seen those racks they have and a lot of their electronic drumsets..pretty kick ass


besides kick triggers, how do tom triggers sound? snare triggers? fake sounding or ok

The triggers don't sound like anything. If you hooked up a trigger to a PA you would get a snap. The module can make any sound you want it to make, especially if it has a sampling capability.

yeah what he said

you could sample a masterworks drum sound, or you could use a gunbshot, whatever tickled your fancy, although some cheaper/older modules can sound a little tacky!