For anyone interested in building their own megadrum

[Russ15]

Hey guys I am currently helping a member out in the megadrum forums with his build, and thought I would share my own build with anyone interested putting one together. It is pretty much a step by step process on how to build a megadrum and you can get all the details here. Keep in mind this is an "outdated" version, however it is working great with my drop in cake pan a to e conversion so far, and you can get all the latest firmware updates. I plan to post all the settings, gear and pics of the drum build as well when all that is wrapped up. Have 3 more drums to go and 2 already done. It's been a slow but fun project.

[everson]

Look forward to seeing the settings, gear and maybe even videos. I expect to get my megadrum in a month ...

[hairmetal-81]

Thanks for the link, russ15.

Make sure you post it in the
'MegaDrum Compatibility/Mods/Links' thread aswell! It is here:

http://vdrums.com/forum/showthread.p...light=Megadrum

[fulrmr(Daniel)]

Hey Russ...just linked your thread to the MegaDrum Gear Compatibility and links thread....

http://vdrums.com/forum/showthread.p...Pads-and-Links

Great info BTW...thanks! This will help alot of folks.

Do you have any plans to upgrade your chip? I am thinking of doing it. Have any thoughts on this?

[Russ15]

Hey guys thanks for the compliments and for the link Daniel. No, as of now no plans to upgrade at the moment since everything is working fine for now. I am planning on finishing my other two toms today, so when those are done I will mess around with the settings. Once I get those dialed in I'll post my findings. What will be helpful is that all the components I purchased you can get online and I am using the drop in cake pan method as well as Racer52's no bolt cake pan design so everything is repeatable. I will also be using solar screen for the heads so everything is definitely at a DIY point of view here to be more user friendly for everyone else.

For those out there worried about having "hot" pads or who struggle with it now, I am using voltage dividers built in using a 100k pot as well and will provide that schematic when posting the build process. I have found however that with the current piezo's I am using (21mm) the pots don't even need to be adjusted and the pads are not too hot using a 21mm piezo ( I have messed with the pads briefly). However for the sake of safety I am using them on all the drums.

[Sabre]

For those out there worried about having "hot" pads or who struggle with it now, I am using voltage dividers built in using a 100k pot as well and will provide that schematic when posting the build process. I have found however that with the current piezo's I am using (21mm) the pots don't even need to be adjusted and the pads are not too hot using a 21mm piezo ( I have messed with the pads briefly). However for the sake of safety I am using them on all the drums.

I have an older Megadrum module that I'm sending back to Dmitri to have programmed so I can use the encrypted firmware. Kind of a pain, but I understand the need to protect his IP. I used it with DIY Roland style pads that were a little 'hot', which made it difficult to dial them in.

My current project is converting an acoustic set and I had been wondering if smaller piezo's would help so I was very interested to hear that it does. I will also be very interested to see your voltage dividers as I think I'd like to make some as well just to have that little bit of added flexibility.

Thanks for sharing your build so far.
I look forward to seeing where it goes from here.

[everson]

Anybody tried to mount a voltage divider / pot on the shell, so it can be adjusted when needed (changing the module / testing / ... )?

[fulrmr(Daniel)]

Hey guys thanks for the compliments and for the link Daniel. No, as of now no plans to upgrade at the moment since everything is working fine for now. I am planning on finishing my other two toms today, so when those are done I will mess around with the settings. Once I get those dialed in I'll post my findings. What will be helpful is that all the components I purchased you can get online and I am using the drop in cake pan method as well as Racer52's no bolt cake pan design so everything is repeatable. I will also be using solar screen for the heads so everything is definitely at a DIY point of view here to be more user friendly for everyone else.

For those out there worried about having "hot" pads or who struggle with it now, I am using voltage dividers built in using a 100k pot as well and will provide that schematic when posting the build process. I have found however that with the current piezo's I am using (21mm) the pots don't even need to be adjusted and the pads are not too hot using a 21mm piezo ( I have messed with the pads briefly). However for the sake of safety I am using them on all the drums.

Anybody tried to mount a voltage divider / pot on the shell, so it can be adjusted when needed (changing the module / testing / ... )?

Just a couple of posts previous.

[Russ15]

Hey fellas I have attached the schematic for voltage dividers for megadrum users. trimpot voltage divider for megadrum.JPG I also included a picture (for everson and others) of how they look in my setup. Basically the pot is wired and placed upside down through the pan and tightnend with a nut on the bottom. This way you can adjust the voltage from under the drum and it looks pretty stealthy. pot picture.jpg

[everson]

Thanks for the diagram, Russ.
So, that`s what I thought - it`s not on the shell. I plan to mount it on the shell, don`t care for stealthiness ...

[Russ15]

Oh I see, ya it is mounted in the pan. You could easily do it through a hole you would drill through the shell. As long as you have a nut to tighten down the pot you are in good shape.