trapKAT 2.0 Guide

trapKAT 2.0 Guide
trapKAT 2.0 Guide
NEW FEATURES:
• Kit Names - name your kits
• Continuous Controller Curve - improves hi hat response
• Expanded KIT Choices - now includes KAT KITs
• Cymbal Choking "Exclusive 96" - for Alesis D4/DM5 drum machines
• Roll Mode - improves response of certain sound sources
• Hi Hat Settings - Splash, Chick, etc. can now be manually adjusted
• Pad Pressure Test - makes sure the rubber is seated evenly
1. Naming Your Kits
USES:
You can now assign a name to each of your User Kits, using up to 12 letters.
HOW TO SETUP:
1. Hit Pad #21 twice while holding down the KIT Edit footswitch and you will
see this screen.
2. To change the character of the letter that's flashing, use the following pads...
Pad1 assigns upper case letters
Pad11 assigns lower case letters
Pad2 assigns a Space between characters
Pad12 assigns a character
Pad3 advances the cursor
Pad13 reverses the cursor
Pad4 advances the characters
Pad14 reverses the characters
2. hatKAT/ Foot Control Curves
USES:
There are now 7 different foot control curves to choose from to personalize the
feel of your hi hat controller pedal. Choose the one that best suits your type
of controller pedal.
HOW TO SETUP:
1. Hold the KIT Edit footswitch down and press down once on your controller
pedal and you will see this screen.
Kit Number 001
Foot Cntrl Curv = 01
(01 - 07)
2. Each press on the pedal after your first one will rotate through the curves.
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trapKAT 2.0 Guide
3. Hi Hat Adjustments
USES:
New hi hat adjustments include HAT NOTE Mode and HAT NOTE OVERLAP .
HTA NOTE offers an 8 note hi hat feature to users with a hi hat controller
pedal and a sound module with multiple hi hat sounds. HAT NOTE OVERLAP lets you a set a specified time in which your hi hat notes will overlap
instead of abruptly cutting each other off, i.e. a more realistic hi hat sound.
HOW TO SETUP HAT NOTE:
1. First, assign a pad or pads to be hi hat pads using Pad #5 just like you always
have.
2. Hit Pad #18 with the Kit Edit footswitch held down and you will see this
screen.
Hi Hat Continuous
Cntrl = OFF
(OFF, CONTROLLER 01,
CONTROLLER 04, HAT NOTE)
3. If HAT NOTE does not appear in the display, hit Pad #18 until HAT NOTE is
selected, then release the footswitch.
4. To make it easy for you, we have preassigned note numbers 85 through 92 as
the 8 hi hat note numbers. All you have to do is to reassign up to 8 hi hat
sounds from closed (#85) to open (#92), in your sound source. *You must
assign hi hat sounds to all 8 note numbers in order for HAT NOTE to work.
Example: if you only have 3 hi hat sounds (not including the foot sound),
Closed, 1/2 Open and fully Open, you would assign the sounds to these note
numbers - #85 = Clos, #86 = Clos, #87 = 1/2 Open, #88 = 1/2 Open, #89 1/2
Open, #90 = Open, #91 = Open, #92 = Open.
5. Reassign your hi hat foot closed sound to note number 93 in your sound module (this is already preassigned in the trapKAT).
6. If you are using a Splash sound... In your sound module, assign the Splash
sound to #94. On the trapKAT, assign the Splash note number to #94 using
Pad #6 with the Kit Edit footswitch held down.
7. Retrain your hi hat pedal using Pad #17 with the Global Edit footswitch held
down.
HOW TO SETUP HAT NOTE OVERLAP:
1. Hit Pad #19 while holding down the KIT Edit footswitch and you will see this
screen.
Hat Note Overlap
1.000 sec
(.005 - 6.4 sec.,
Roll Mode, Infinite)
2. Continue to hit Pad #19 until you find the selection that gives you the best
performance for HAT NOTE mode, then release the footswitch.
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trapKAT 2.0 Guide
4. Kit Choices
USES:
A third Kit selection is now available in the trapKAT...KAT KITS . For those of
you who own an AKAI S1000, 2000 or 3000 series sampler and own the KAT
KIT CD Rom (from the Alternate Mode sound library), this kit selection
arranges the sounds on the trapKAT pads without the need for additional
programming.
HOW TO SETUP:
1. Hit Pad #1 once while holding down the Global Edit footswitch and you will
see this screen.
(KAT Kits, FACTORY Kits,
USER Kits)
Hit Pad Again to
Select - KAT Kits
2. If you don't see KAT Kits as your selection, continue to hold down the Global
Edit footswitch and hit Pad #1 until KAT Kits is selected. Release the
footswitch.
5. Cymbal Choke - Exclusive 96 Mode
USES:
If you own an Alesis D4 or DM5 sound module, you can now get a more realistic
cymbal performance with the ability to choke cymbals. This feature was
previously only available to owners of Roland TD7/TD5's and EMU
Procussion sound modules.
HOW TO SETUP:
1. In the D4 / DM5, you must first assign any cymbal sound(s) you wish to choke
to the same GROUP # *Don't use the same GROUP # as your hi hat sounds.
**If you assign more than one cymbal sound to the same GROUP #, playing
one of those cymbals after another will cause the first to cut off.
2. In the D4 / DM5, assign Note Number 96 to the EFX #80 = SILENCE sound.
Also, assign this to the same GROUP # as your cymbal sound.
3. On the trapKAT, hit pad #8 with the Global Edit footswitch held down and
you will see the cymbal choke screen.
(ENABLED, DISABLED or
Exclusive Choke 96 ENABLED)
ExclusiveChoke96
ENABLED
2. If Exclusive Choke 96 ENABLED is not shown in the display, continue to hit
Pad #8 until Exclusive Choke 96 ENABLED is selected and release the
footswitch. You can now choke a cymbal pad by simply grabbing it.
6. Roll Mode
USES:
ROLL MODE was designed to be used with sound modules and samplers that
respond to note off commands. This feature helps to eliminate the "machine
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trapKAT 2.0 Guide
gun" drum roll effect by delaying a note off command until after 6 seconds
has elapsed from the time the pad was last hit. ROLL MODE is a selection in
the Gate Time settings.
HOW TO SETUP:
1. To set the entire Kit to ROLL MODE, hit Pad #10 once while holding down the
Kit Edit footswitch and you will see this screen. If ROLL MODE is not
shown as the selection, continue to hit the pad until ROLL MODE is in the
display and release the footswitch.
Kit Number 001
Gate = ROLL MODE
(ROLL MODE, INFINITE,
.005 - 6.4 sec.)
1. If you want to set just one or a few pads to ROLL MODE, hit Pad #24 once
while holding down the Kit Edit footswitch and you will see this screen.
Hit Pad Again
for Pad Gate
1. Hit the pad again and you will see...
Change Gate on
Which Pad?
2. Hit whichever pad you want to adjust and set it to ROLL MODE.
Pad 01
Gate = ROLL MODE
(ROLL MODE, INFINITE,
.005 - 6.4 sec.)
7. Pad Pressure Adjustments
USES:
Important... these adjustments should only be made if you are having pad problems and have already tried the software adjustments, i.e.. Pad threshold.
If your rubber playing surface is not laying suitably flat (causing triggering
problems), you may need to adjust your rubber surface. Please read this
entire information sheet before performing any adjustments.
Before you adjust the allen-head tension screws on the frame to adjust the tension on your
trapKAT rubber, there are several things you should try first. Adjusting the allenscrews is the last thing you should try and is rarely necessary.
First, a little explanation of how an FSR sensor system works will be helpful. Over such a
large expanse on a surface whose first and foremost goal is to feel and respond great,
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trapKAT 2.0 Guide
the rubber (and to some extent the FSR sensor) needs to “breathe” and be able to
shift and adjust to changes in temperature, humidity, and pressure. The rubber can’t
be tightly clamped down or adhered in one place. The rubber must be a bit free to
move and adjust - to be able to stay flat and in close contact with the FSR sensor
system underneath it even with the repeated intense impacts that a drum controller
experiences. The rubber is designed to self-adjust and be able to shift and move a
bit.
Rubber not laying flat? After transporting your trapKAT from one place to another, your
rubber may not lay as flat as it normally does. If your frame is properly adjusted so
that the rubber isn’t compressed by the frame, the rubber will generally self-adjust
after a half-hour or so on its own if you place it in playing position.
To speed up the process, use your drumstick as a rolling pin to coax the edge of the rubber
back under the frame. In addition, you may try grabbing one or more rimPads and
pulling it outward toward the outside edge (in the area where your rubber isn’t
laying flat). Don’t pull up, pull horizontally - parallel to the main pad surface. This
should push the rubber back under the frame so that the pads will be pulled flat
again.
If this isn’t providing satisfactory results, you should loosen the allen screws in the area
and repeat the above steps to position the rubber back under the frame. After
you have repositioned the rubber to your liking, you need to retighten the
allen-screws.
When tightening the allen-screws it is important to avoid two problems:
1) Overtightening the screws will damage the sensor plate underneath the rubber if
they are tightened too far. This will void your warranty. You can tell when
you have gone too far, the rubber will start to bulge as you clamp down on
the rubber. The rubber must be free to move a bit under the frame, so you
don’t want the frame to actually compress the rubber. Call us if you are in
doubt (413-594-5190).
2) Overtightening the screws may cause extra pressure on the FSR sensor system ,
cause a pad to false trigger and play by itself and could also damage the sensor
plate. (False triggering can also be caused by your thresholds being too low - see
manual p.26). In the unlikely event that you will actually need to adjust your
rubber with the allen wrench, we have provided a new screen to help you see
what your actions are doing to your FSR idle levels. You’ll probably find this
interesting as well as fun!
To get to this new screen:
1) Hold down the Kit Edit footswitch
2) While the Kit Edit footswitch is depressed, hit rimPad 20 (the rimPad to the
immediate right of the display) three times. On the first hit it says “No Function” - ignore that and keep going. With the second hit you see the actual
settings for your hi hat pedal. On the third hit you see the idle level of Pad1
(if you keep hitting the rimPad 20 you will walk through the idle levels for all
the pads). If you release the Kit Edit footswitch when on this idle level screen
the display will change to something like:
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trapKAT 2.0 Guide
0010300012 0010
0001002000
This screen shows you the “idle level” of all 24 of your pads. This “idle level” is a
measure of what the internal computer sees from your pads when you are not
playing - when they are “idle”. As you know, FSR is sensitive to very light
playing or pressure. Therefore, even the pressure of the rubber itself can
show up. That is OK - the software is designed to take care of small constant
pressures. This is what we call the “idle levels” of your pads.
The top row has all 14 rimPads. The first 10 are rimPads 15 to 24. These are the rims
that start on the left corner and curve around the back to the right corner.
The last four on the top line are the four front rimPads 11 to 14. The bottom
line has pads 1 through 10. To identify which pad is which, pick a pad and
press on it and watch which number on the screen rises when you press it.
(It is normal for there to be some jitter or fluctuation in the numbers around
some specific value - from 1 to 0 to 1 to 2 to 1 etc.)
As you adjust the tension on the rubber with the allen-screws, make sure you are not
raising the idle level of your pads too far. Any idle level of 5 or lower can
generally be handled by the internal trapKAT software without false-triggering. If you have a 6 or higher you should loosen the allen-screws by that pad.
To exit this screen and return to Play Mode, press the Kit Edit footswitch and release it.
When adjusting the tension of your rubber with the allen-screws you need a balance
between making the rubber lay flat and keeping the “idle level” of the pads
low.
If you would like help from us when you feel a need to make this kind of adjustment to your trapKAT, feel free to call us at 413-594-5190. We will be glad to
help you get the most from your investment.
Alternate Mode Inc.
53 First Ave. • Chicopee, MA 01020
Tel. 413-594-5190 • Fax. 413-592-7987
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