www.megadrum.info

Hi,

I have a suggestion that may or may not make sense, but which I think would save a lot of people new to Megadrum (and forum members) a lot of frustration.

The most recurring problem is people not knowing how to set their pads up. From people who turn the module on for the first time, plug in a pad without configuring a single thing and come on to the forum asking what might be wrong, to those who do read the documentation but (understandably) struggle to grasp the many parameters there are and which ones to prioritise. The same issue keeps cropping up time and time again, and no matter how many times the questions are answered and people are directed to the documentation page, the answers in the forum get buried and the documentation page is either ignored or dismissed as incomprehensible.

My proposal would be to create a sort of setup wizard (within MDM?) that would take you step by step through the basic parameters to get a pad working, in a certain order. For instance, you choose jack input 4 (snare):

Name: snare (changeable)

Pad type: Single zone / Dual piezo / 3Way Yamaha / 3 Way Roland.

NEXT →

Note: xx (sets master note)

NEXT →

High level & Gain
The user presses 'start' and is instructed to hit the pad hard a number of times. If the value is under, say 300, the user is told to up Gain by 1 and repeat the process until high level is above, say 600 and under 900. Press 'done' and the value is saved.

NEXT →

Threshold.
You press 'start' and the application, through 'live updates', decreases the value of threshold until it detects auto-triggering (the user is instructed not to hit the pad), and raises the value by, say 3. If this can't be automated, tell the user to do it manually.

NEXT →Retrigger/DynLevel & DynTime.

I have my own order of configuring these but I suppose it would just be a matter of establishing the correct order and doing it step by step like above.

Depending on the pad type chosen, the steps are presented accordingly, with switch threshold detection, etc.

The idea would be to just have this for the bare minimum settings for different kinds of pads, Positional sensing values, alt notes, curves, compression, etc. can be left out to be done in MDM by the user – these are not normally things people get into until they are familiar with the module or they know what they are looking to do.

Some of the things I mention above are 'automated' to a degree, but that isn't even necessary. Just providing the user with step by step instructions in the application itself for basic essential parameters to get a pad up and running I think would help immensely.

What do you reckon Dmitri?

I thought about it myself and I do want to implement something like this. I just rarely have enough time to think it through and come up with a definitive step-by-step procedure which can be built into MDM. Hopefully it will be easier to implement with MDMFX.

Good thinking! I proposed this before...

I would be even easier if every input was disabled by default.
And you could setup every input, from the ground up. Something like:

- Add Pad -> What input? And give the pad a name e.g. "Snare Drum" -> Test input -> Configure (only the needed) settings for the pad;
- Add Cymbal -> What input(s?) (Explain why more inputs/types/etc) And give the cymbal a name e.g. Ride Cymbal -> Test input -> Configure (only the needed) settings for the cymbal;

Yeah, I also think all inputs should be disabled by default. Every input has to be configured first anyway before you can use them, and that way you wouldn't have the random triggering problem some people have due to inputs with low threshold or whatever, which confuses and distracts when trying to set up pads. What about an enable/disable input option (individual and global) instead of setting the note to 0? That way, when you enable a disabled input, the default note is still there and you don't need to look it up.

I personally have no need for any this stuff, but each time the umpteenth person comes on here asking the same questions that have been answered a zillion times, I audibly groan (and I imagine I'm not the only one)... I've sometimes considered writing up a detailed setup procedure, but I think that a software that walks you through the basics would be much more effective and user-friendly and would prevent people from missing/skipping/misunderstanding steps.

ignotus wrote:I personally have no need for any this stuff, but each time the umpteenth person comes on here asking the same questions that have been answered a zillion times, I audibly groan (and I imagine I'm not the only one)

+1

It's an idea, but I think there's going to be a problem.

As more inputs are enabled and calibrated, it's going to affect the electrical balance across the previous inputs. For example I can configure one of my inputs separately, to be perfect, but when I enable the next input the previous input starts self triggering. In that case, the previous calibration will be wrong have to be revisited again, that's no good. Now imagine doing that for every input... you'd have to do a quality pass on every input after each stage. Crosstalk is another thing.

So instead of a first time setup wizard, I think we should have a couple of auto calibration tools - that would set up one item at a time - across all inputs.

We could do with:

Hands off - automated threshold finder
Interactive gain & high level finder (following ignotus notes)
Interactive crosstalk eliminator
Interactive DynLevel and DynTime wizard

A series of options from a tools dropdown menu in MDM. Including a set all edge thresholds button.

Kabonfaiba wrote: For example I can configure one of my inputs separately, to be perfect, but when I enable the next input the previous input starts self triggering.

I don't understand this.

airflamesred wrote:

Kabonfaiba wrote: For example I can configure one of my inputs separately, to be perfect, but when I enable the next input the previous input starts self triggering.

I don't understand this.

I *think* you are talking cross-talk here? But I'm absolutely not sure...

airflamesred wrote:

ignotus wrote:I personally have no need for any this stuff, but each time the umpteenth person comes on here asking the same questions that have been answered a zillion times, I audibly groan (and I imagine I'm not the only one)

+1

This could be easily fixed with an intermediate/expert user-mode from some menu, or a simple "Proceed without setup wizard" button..

I would like to see the "next step" approach!

What is MDMFX?

Best Regards

Angr77