How do you manage live situations and introducing true hybrid setups while retaining reliable triggering?

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Hey y’all!

I have a big release show coming up, and my whole drum setup is 75% SP2, and acoustic kick/snare/hat.

Now, preparing all the kits for the show has been a TON of fun, but I’m noticing a lot of problems when working the set in an actual rehearsal room with real drums, other musicians, and all other intricacies that are introduced when moving out of a very controlled studio situation :slight_smile:

Note that I’m constantly adjusting the thresholds/sensitivity etc. to combat initial false triggering. Also, I play all my other drums when I’m training a void zone for a specific drum, just to teach it not to listen to any of that.

Things I’m noticing,

  • It seems like SP gets a little confused by live sounds: even though when I retrain, when play acoustic hi-hat/snare (no sensors), some other zones stop triggering… especially when you’re hitting them at the same time (hitting a snare WITHOUT sensor + hitting a mesh floor tom center zone)…

  • Maybe the added overtones of the snare drum in the room confused the floor tom sensor, and now it doesn’t recognize the floor’s trained frequencies anymore?

  • Playing open hi-hat will just trigger all sorts of sensors, even with upping thresholds, and playing the hi hat when I’m training all the void zones

  • When hitting a loud crash cymbal, my kick sensor will usually miss its mark as well. So, my big 808 bass will usually not play on the downbeat if I hit a crash :stuck_out_tongue: a bit anti-climactic in my rehearsal yesterday hah. Again, taught the kick sensor to void all cymbol input…

anyway… Maybe I need to rethink how I’m approaching these live sets, and maybe be less reliant on wanting super accurate triggering when in a live setting, and allowing more for improvisatory kits instead? I moved all my essential one-shots back to the SPD-SX (as a MIDI controller inside of SP2) to trigger tracks and chokes etc.

Would LOVE your input/workflow/hacks

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I don’t have that much experience for live with SP
But the times I did, I re-trained all the surfaces during sound-check.

It also helps if everyone has in-ear monitoring.

And of course, if the PA is in front of you.

Anything to avoid sound going back into the skins.

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Thanks!

Yeah in-ears would generally be ideal for the whole band… keep the stage volume under control…

BTW absolutely LOVE your videos on youtube @MaySun !

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I should add that I did spend about 30 hours over 4 days with SP2 in a room with 94 speakers pointed towards me, including subs, and I didn’t have any false triggering or cross talk. So maybe that is something to consider as well.

(and thanks!)

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One big suggestion I have to add, is when you train your drums….have the sound person make your monitors and the PA active, this seems to help it better understand the nuances and set thresholds for a live situation. I play a lot of noise music and avante garde punk that had utilized SP and I’ve never had issues with false triggering.

Another thing that helps is to train/check each void zone with things aside from just your cymbals and other drums, like your bass player with your floor tom and kick etc. Just be careful not to overtrain the void zone because I’ve had that cause issues too!

I have used the V2 sensors live in everything from alleyway generator shows to a KEXP in-studio session. As long as I take the time to re-train at sound check I’ve been golden.

Couple other tips:
If you are mixing acoustic heads and mesh heads, consider cloth muffling or some other kind of significant muffling on your acoustic heads. You sacrifice some resonance but gain better cross talk control, in this case that ends up being to your benefit imho.

Secondly, if you don’t already: grab yourself a torque key and a TuneBot or DrumDial. Truly even pitch on the mesh heads and mylar heads will help a TON

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