Drum Wagon

Getting a Wireless Zendrum To Play Nice With a Wired Roland Module

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 17:16:00 -0700

One of the best upgrades you can get for your Zendrum is the integrated wireless option. This adds an internal MIDIJet board along with a battery compartment for a single 9-volt that powers both the Zendrum board and the MIDIJet. I cannot say enough good things about this setup, it simply rocks. Once you've tried it you'll wonder how you ever got by being tethered with a MIDI cable! Of course keeping the option to go back to being wired is important too, if for nothing else than to have a "plan B" should things go wrong. For instance you may have forgotten to bring or charge your batteries, or perhaps there is too much radio interference at the gig. Whatever the circumstances, it's important to be able to go back to using a wired connection at will. Which brings us to the point of this article, because if you have one of the first crop of Z4 boards and utilize any Roland drum modules, you probably have discovered that a wired connection (i.e. not using the MIDIJet) simply no longer works! The Zendrum powers up fine, but no amount of banging on the triggers will register with the Roland unit. The official explanation for this that I've received from the Zendrum folks is that the Roland units expect just a slightly higher electrical current than the Z4 is providing at the MIDI port, even though the Z4 is adhering to the official MIDI specification. One workaround for this that I stumbled on is to rectify the MIDI signal before it reaches the Roland unit, by doing a pass-through on another unit. In other words, by placing an additional MIDI device between the Zendrum and the Roland unit, the MIDI data signal is boosted to a level that Roland can pick up on. This would seem to contradict the notion that the Z4 board is operating correctly and that it's the Roland unit that is at fault, but i can't speak to that -- I only know that using a middle-man approach here works. Of course that adds a bit of complexity to your rig, and it's not always practical to drag around secondary MIDI devices, so it's less than an ideal solution. I've received information from one of the Zendrum electrical engineers on how to affect a more permanent fix, as I will describe here. This fix involves opening up your Zendrum and taking a soldering iron to it. If you're not comfortable doing either of those things, then stop reading now. Even if you *are* comfortable doing this, I would encourage you to first contact Zendrum corp and discuss your options. I'm making no warranty against performing this fix, and I certainly won't take responsibility if you brick your axe. Nuff said. The fix involves shorting out one resistor on the main Z4 board, either R10 or R13. Removing one of these from the circuit path with increase the amount of current that leaves the MIDI port, bringing it in line with what Roland modules expect. The simplest way to short out one of these resistors is to place a blob of solder on top of it. As long as you are very careful about not getting solder anywhere else on the board it should be a piece of cake. Details of the fix plus photos of my axe under the knife... One thing I learned about my Zendrum is that the leads to the battery case are very fragile. It turns out that every time you swing the battery compartment out, the wires that are soldered to it twist a tiny bit. One of mine was just barely hanging on and indeed snapped off during reassembly. Call me paranoid, but I would try to limit how often you open and close the battery compartment. Over time I'm sure the lead will snap off on its own. If you ever find that your axe no longers powers up from the battery, this would be the first thing to check.

ZenEdit 1.0 Now Available

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:16:00 -0700

Announcing the immediate availability of the foremost GUI editor for your Zendrum -- ZenEdit! ZenEdit takes the hassle out of programming and calibrating your Z4 based Zendrum. It also allows you access to features that you simply can't get at any other way. Features such as programmable crossfade instruments and trigger level control over noise floor and response curves. ZenEdit is now available for immediate download at:
http://nebiru.com/zenedit Supported platforms are Windows(r), Mac OS and Linux(r). Start unlocking the power of your Zendrum today, with ZenEdit!

Newly Posted Audio

Sat, 17 Apr 2010 07:52:00 -0700

I've posted some new demo tracks from a group I've recently joined called MayFly & the BlueNotes. We're starting to get some traction and may be playing live in-studio at a local radio station within the next month or two!

Announcing the Nebiru JS Effect Library for Reaper

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:32:00 -0700

While I've been Reaper fanatic for some time now, I've only recently begun to dig into programming my own effects, purely out of necessity. I've decided to make the fruit of these efforts publicly available at no charge, under the Creative Commons license. The library is still in its infant stages. It presently has but one humble effect, though as I gather ideas for more I will be adding them. The initial effect is one that is extremely useful to me personally (and I suspect other Zendrummers as well). It's a MIDI filter that will turn specific CC messages into MIDI note-on messages. For instance, this enables you to choke cymbals in various VSTs using the momentary switch on the back of the Zendrum. Please feel free to download and use the library. If you find it useful, then please consider throwing me some loose change. A link to donate via PayPal is on the library page.

Upgraded Zendrum

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 21:09:00 -0700

My Zendrum returned to me over the holidays, after trekking across the country for some upgrades.

This was absolutely the best decision I've made in some time as while I was pleased as punch with my Zendrum to begin with, its upgraded form has me absolutely giddy! Here's what all I had done to it:

Upgraded controller and firmware. There's been alot of hype around the new 4.0 Zendrum and its improved sensitivity, and while I was keeping my expectations low as to not be dissapointed, I needn't have worried -- the new board is 100% as awesome as claimed. The sensitivity is absolutely mind-blowing! Every little nuance of my playing is picked up, even 32nd notes at top speed.
New wireless capability. I can now ditch the cable completely and go wireless, without needing any external battery packs or antennae -- it's all built right in and powered off a single 9-volt.
Six extra triggers. The new board can handle a maximum of 30 triggers, so I of course had to max mine out :)
New CC control knob. In addition to the stock momentary switch on the back, I now also have a variable CC knob. I'll more than likely be using this as a volume knob, seeing as since now that I'm wireless, I'll probably be some distance from my rig.

There are some pictures of my upgraded axe in the slideshow.

Zendrum Surgery

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:52:00 -0700

Here's a sneak peek of my Zendrum customizations. It's currently under the knife back in Atlanta getting 6 triggers added, an upgraded controller and internal wireless capabilities. I'm also having a volume control and extra CC switch added to the back. Can't wait to get it back!

Couple More Shots From The Hard Rock Gig

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:18:00 -0700

Some additional photos from this month's Hard Rock gig.

Show Postponed Two Weeks

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:27:00 -0700

Just an FYI, the Spancky's show has been moved from December 4th back to the 19th. Sorry for any inconvenience if you were making plans to attend. Hope you can still make it!

Hard Rock Gig

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:40:00 -0700

Some photos from last weeks' Hard Rock gig. [More]

Viable Muse Receptor Competitors Emerging

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:52:00 -0700

There can be little question that stand-alone sound modules are quickly becoming a thing of the past, although the writing has been on the wall for a number of years now. E-MU systems for instance has stopped producing hardware modules and now only offers their most popular sound sets in software form.

Software sound sources, or VSTi's have however been slow to catch on in electronic drumming circles, and for very good reasons:

Cost - Unlike simple synths, realistic drum sounds require a ton of processing power, gobs of ram and dedicated external hard drives. You can easily wind up dropping a few grand on what is effectively just a drum brain. By contrast you can pick up a top-of-the-line brain from Roland, Yamaha or Alesis for a fraction of that.
Complexity - As drummers we already have a lot to worry about on stage. Dealing with a finicky laptop and software up there doesn't exactly equal fun. Plus you'll now wind up walking around before and after the gig with a laptop strapped to your back (you're not going to really leave that expensive machine on an unguarded stage between sets, are you?).
Road Ruggedness - Most dedicated sound modules are built like tanks. They power up instantly and have next to zero lag time between changing patches. None of this can be said for software solutions.

Despite all these impediments, VSTi's are slowing gaining ground in the edrumming community, due to their hyper realism and flexibility. Crossover products such as the Alesis DM-10 are starting to emerge which allow limited uploading of VST instruments.

Zendrummers seem to be quicker to pick up the VSTi torch, mostly owing to the facts that we already have a lot less to lug around and setup and therefore have more wiggle room for allowing excess complexity to sneak in. Plus we don't require external MIDI interfaces or even dedicated drum modules and can get by solely with using a laptop solution.

Enter the Muse Receptor. These machines quickly have become favorites among Zendrummers for their ability to run full VSTi suites and for their convenient rack mount form factor. These machines are not without problems however. I've read numerous reports of hardware problems and apparently Muse customer support can be spotty. These are basically Linux machines crammed into a full rack space and weren't spec'ed aggressively enough considering their price tags. For instance, while the Receptor was able to handle running the popular BFD VSTi, it was not able to cope with the newer BFD2 version. To run that, you'd have to shell out another $3k for a Receptor 2. Ouch.

Smaller, cheaper, more reliable products have been popping up from time to time, but all have proven to be vaporware. However one such product that was previously assumed to never make it to market apparently has, the SM Pro Audio V-Machine. While the initial offering here isn't quite ready for the stage, it's very exciting to finally see a proper successor to the Receptor coming of age. Still on their "coming soon" list is a rack mount version of the V-Machine, with proper balanced XLR connections. If this product also turns out to not be vaporware, then this could usher in a new age in electronic percussion. No doubt Roland, Alesis and Yamaha will continue to sell standalone drum modules, but they are going to have to play some serious catch-up to grab a piece of the VSTi market.

It's truly an exciting time to be an edrummer.

New Audio Files

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 13:27:00 -0700

I've added some new tracks to the the audio page, this time from a pseudo-blues project I was involved with earlier this year. These were all done with the Roland TD-20 and SPS-S.

Show Etiquette

Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:37:34 -0700

One of the groups I play with recently headlined at the Last Day Saloon. The way this venue is setup, all acts need to arrive early for load-in. There is only one stage, so each group needs to setup their equipment off stage in such a way that the promoter and sound crew can progressively cycle the bands on and off. Being the headliner and with two other opening acts, we naturally had to be there early so as to the be the first group to load-in. This then meant that we, along with our entourages, needed to sit through the two opening acts. This is something we would have done anyways. It's just the way things are done -- you always support the other bands you play with. You loudly applaud each song (even if you don't like the music). You ask all your fans that are coming to see you to also stick around and support the other acts. These things are just basic courtesy. Unfortunately 'courtesy' was not part of the openers dialect. I'd never before seen such an unprofessional display. These guys just rolled in right before curtain time, took the stage, played their tunes and then split. Without a word. I often hear people complaining about the fact that there no longer is a strong live music scene here in the North Bay. Heck I've even been guilty of bemoaning this myself. But how can we as musicians expect people to support and back us if we don't first do the same to each other? Common courtesy can really go a long way.

Upcoming Acoustic Gig

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:11:00 -0700

This Friday I'll be playing my first gig with Voodoo Saints, at The Viking in Novato. While going through and getting all my equipment ready, it dawned on me that this will be my first gig on acoustic drums in at least a decade! It'll be interesting to see how well I can slip back into it. Not that playing gigs with acoustics is at all physically different than with electronics, but there definitely is a different mindset to it. Particularly since this is a small enough venue that I won't be being mic'd at all and will have to rely on the sheer volume of my kit. Lucky me that I hung onto my 'rock' kit all this time -- it'll have no problem cutting through the amps :) All in all it should be an absolute blast! So if you're looking for some fun this Friday in the North Bay, drop on by The Viking and say "hi" -- we'd love to see ya! Shows starts at 9PM.

Zendrum Sighting

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:14:00 -0700

A Zendrum appears on the cover of Mix magazine's July 2009 edition, in direct contrast to a djembe. That is all -- I just found it interesting.

Zendrum Trigger Template

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:52:00 -0700

I threw together a quick template for jotting down mapping ideas for the Zendrum. I find it more useful to work out ideas on paper rather than by fiddling with trigger settings or sysex directly.

Use it in good health.