I had the same problem. There is a switch on the back of the module for whether you want the kick drum to be controlled by a pedal or a trigger pad. Easy to miss the switch but an easy fix!
Good job of troubleshooting... I assumed you have tried other triggers into the kick drum input and found it is dead. This leaves the problem in the "brain". Look in your manual for anything to do with sensitivity of the kick drum input. It is likely all the inouts are sampled and digitized by the same A-D convertor via a multiplexor switch. I was unable to find the schematic of your unit so I downloaded one for a Roland TD8. Often the different companies rob designs from eachother so one can glean methods from a different brand. As expected the inouts are conditioned and then go to a MUXX chip that samples the input. The signals are conditioned before going to the MUX by a limiter and before that there is an RF bypass cap on the input. IF you might have had a static discharge, that capcitor(s) may have shorted rendering those inouts dead. This is what I want you to try:with a suitable cable I would like you to pulse the kick input by momentarily connecting a 9 volt batery to it... try both polarities. If NEITHER polarity fires the kick, then I want you to take an ohmmeter and measure the resistance of the input. The Roland schematic has coupling capcitors and if your brand has similar circuits you should see infinite resistance... if you find it very low, say 100 ohms, probablly the RF bypass cap at the input is shorted. These will be surface mounted caps and you need to be a bit adept at electronic repair to replace them. Essentially I believe you will find a failure in teh interface ckt where those inputs come in.
Thanks for the time. I'm not sure I understand how to connect a battery to the input though. I may have left out some important info. The module only has one connection for all of the pads. There is a 25 pin connector on the back of the module into which you plug an adapter that spreads into a sort of octopus of cables on the other end. That means if there is a problem with any of the, I'd probably have to buy a whole new adapter. The other thing is I may not have been clear enough about the kick drum. When I plug that kick drum wire into any of the other pads and strike it, I can hear the kick drum. Same with any of the other drums, I tried a few. If I unplug a tom or a snare and pulg them into the foot pedal, no result. That's why I think the problem is the pedals and not a short in one of the inputs. If you still think that I should try the battery, I will, I'm just not sure how to connect it, if you wouldn't mind explaining. I'm not trained in anything electronic, but I'm a quick study.
The object is to aply a pulse from the battery into the wires the kick drum goes into. This might mean taking a cord that would fit the jack out of the octopus and putting the battery at the other end of that cable... however with the additional information of your last post I would prefer you do the part I suggested with an ohmmeter. Can you procure an ohmmeter? I don't know if you have a Harbor Freight tool where you are but they are usually under $5 there. I want to verify the contiuity of the wires in the octopus. You will need a short cable that will plug into the kick jack of the octopus. Measuring FIRST the resistance between the tip and the sleeve of the plug of the cord you have plugged into the kick input. Then the next is to unplug the octopus and verify the kick wire is connected to one of the pins of the 25 pin connector. I suspect that there may be a break in the wire from the jack to the 25 pin connector. You can also use a test light contiuity tester. If the tip DOES go to a pin of the 25 pin, then ALSO verify that the SLEEVE of the cord goes to a different pin. NEXT verify that there is NO continuity between the tip and sleeve of the cord both with it connected to the brain and disconnected.
These molded octopus cables are OFTEN at fault. If you are unfamiliar with continuity testing, try to find a friend that can help.
I think I get it. Thing is there is no jack for the kick drum. All of the plugs are permanently attached to the 25-pin adapter at that end.
Another thing i noticed, maybe this means something. The hi-hat controller doesn't work when plugged into any other pad, it seems to be designed for the foot pedal. I tried touching some of the 1/8 plugs to each other to see if they'd trigger a sound. The hi-hat controller is triggered when the tip of the plug touches the shaft of another plug. The kick drum (and all the others) are triggered only when the tip touches the tip of another plug. Again, dont know if that means anything. I'm a novice tinkering about. I emailed ION hopefully they'll have some insight.
If you determined that the kick jack or plug... I am not sure which type is on the octopus... for reference we call a female connector a jack and a male a plug... anyway if we found that the kick inout jack or plug did NOT connect to any of the pins on the 25 pin connector, I would have you cut the kick jack or plug of the octopus off, strip the wires and test for continuity to a pin of the 25 pin plug... If the wire was broken right nearthe kick jack hat would be an easy fix by replacing the connector. Due to static dischages, touching tips of connectors will give intermittent results so not a lot can be gleaned from that test... that is why I suggested a test with a battery where a known pulse could be generated.. Try to test if the octopus cable has continuity from teh kick input to a pin in the 25 pin connector. cHECK THAT YOU FIND BOTH THE HOT AND THE GROUND HAVE CONTIUITY. I hate molded octopus cables and one can hope the break is near the individual connectors. However, in some cases I have surgically opened the back of 25 pin connectors and soldered the connections to a new plug and put on a new backshell. One could remake the whole cable. One should document the existing connections. Consider just making a whole new cable... It is a bit tedious but you can make sure it is a quality job. Back shells, connectors, etc are all available from sources like DigiKey.com. I would use cable like RG174... one has to be careful when soldering as you can melt the insulation. I can coach you how to dress the new cables if you choose to make yourself a whole new one... You probably can buy a new one from the manufacturer. FIRST though is to find if the cable is bad... it still could be in the brain part... Do the ohmmeter test of the octopus cable first and let's go from there.
These switches they use can be VERY tiny... I have seen some that it takes a pencil point to slide them. I am glad it isworking now. You did a lot of good troubleshooting... do not beat yourself up over the switch... Try to find in the manual what it does for future reference.
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Hm. That's what I thought it meant. But there is no kick jack. There's no way to detach the cables from the 'octopus' adapter. They're all permanently connected to the 25 pin connection on one side, the other end being the 1/8 input for the pads. My guess is that it's to ensure you can't do repairs with third party stuff, only replace the entire connection system. I emailed ION last night, still waiting for response. Another thing I noticed, maybe this means something. I tried touching the tips of the 1/8 plugs together to trigger it. The hi-hat controller (the only one that still works with the pedals) was triggered when it touched the metal anywhere on another plug. The other drums and cymbals went off only when the very tips of 2 plugs touched. I also found that the hi-hat controller doesn't work in any of the other pads. Maybe the problem is the 1/8 plug on the kick drum. I think maybe it used to be more sensitive like the hi-hat plug is. But again, there's no way to remove that cable from the rest, the only way to change the 1/8 input would probably be to do surgery, cut off the plug and splice a new one on.
Wow, talk about easy solutions. Thanks so much for the help, but there apparently wasn't any problem at all. I was examining the 25 pin jack on the module when I noticed an unlabeled tiny switch, only about 3 or 4 mm in size. just above it. Apparently an errant manufacturing sticker had covered the label (which was poorly placed to begin with, about an inch above the switch), which said "kick drum- foot/pad" Sorry for the inconvenience, thanks for all the advice, I'll keep it in mind if there are any other problems. I'm going to go hide my shame now.
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