Okay, I've 17 and have been drumming for almost 10 years now. As far as putting mics on my set, I have had no need to do so. Many will likely see this as a dumb question but what exactly are triggers (how do they work?) and what are some good companies to purchase from?

triggers basically take the attact when you hit your drum and send it through a "brain" where you have your sounds programed.

although you said you have no need to mic your drums? anytime you play a show you should be using mics. even if its a smaller venue. theres a venue in my town that max compasity is maybe 70 people. i mic the kit and just play softer and let the PA project my sound. it makes a world of differance. you'd be surprised how much better a mic'd up kit sounds next to an un mic'd kit at a show. and it makes the band as a whole sound fuller and better. but if you dont use mic's then you would have no use for triggers.

the way that i meant my opening statement was that I am interested in setting up mics for it but up til this point have not needed to... in the future though, i am looking at adding them

drummerfreek55 wrote:

the way that i meant my opening statement was that I am interested in setting up mics for it but up til this point have not needed to... in the future though, i am looking at adding them

unless you play something like extremely fast metal and need the drums to be super tight and fast you'd wanna stay away from triggers. if you are into the super fast stuff, triggers pick up the fast stuff that starts to sound mushy through a normal stage mic.

drummert2k wrote:

drummerfreek55 wrote:

the way that i meant my opening statement was that I am interested in setting up mics for it but up til this point have not needed to... in the future though, i am looking at adding them

unless you play something like extremely fast metal and need the drums to be super tight and fast you'd wanna stay away from triggers. if you are into the super fast stuff, triggers pick up the fast stuff that starts to sound mushy through a normal stage mic.

While that is one way triggers can be used, I wouldn't say it's the only way they can be used. You can use triggers to start loops or just mix with acoustic sounds. I've seen triggers hooked up to basketballs and boots etc.








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FelterSkelter wrote:

drummert2k wrote:

drummerfreek55 wrote:

the way that i meant my opening statement was that I am interested in setting up mics for it but up til this point have not needed to... in the future though, i am looking at adding them

unless you play something like extremely fast metal and need the drums to be super tight and fast you'd wanna stay away from triggers. if you are into the super fast stuff, triggers pick up the fast stuff that starts to sound mushy through a normal stage mic.

While that is one way triggers can be used, I wouldn't say it's the only way they can be used. You can use triggers to start loops or just mix with acoustic sounds. I've seen triggers hooked up to basketballs and boots etc.

yes, that is true. although i believe we're talking about triggers opposed to mic's so i was sticking to applying it to the set itself. i could be wrong though. but using a pad to start loops or even having a few pads hooked up to a brain for samples and differant sounds is neat to.

or you could use triggers instead of mics, and produce all your reinforced sounds from a module through the PA. Then you don't have to worry about mics, mic placement, feedback, or tuning (as much).
But you would have to worry about BUDGET, you'd need a relatively healthy (if not top-of-the-line) module or sampler to produce good enough tones and response to use this way. I wouldn't recommend it, but it can be done.

Roland and Ddrum triggers are reliable and accurate; but it's really the sound source that's going to make the biggest difference when you get into triggering. You want the best sensitivity and tones you can get. Many folks are using laptops to run softsamplers that contain their drumtones. You could make your own samples that way, too. But then you'll need to interface your triggers to the laptop, which requires more hardware-
it gets pricey, if you want it to sound good. And sometimes it scares less-than-competent soundguys~

chances are if you're not playing venues that require miking your kit yet, you don't really need to worry too much about triggering. The one thing triggering definitely requires is good PA for reproducing the tones from your laptop/module/sampler, etc.








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