TD8 trigger inputs

[rocksld]

We recently have moved from a DM5 to the Roland TD8 to trigger acoustic drums for live sound. The Drum module is ran at the mixing board by the soundman. Kick, snare, & toms assigned to their own outputs (toms all assigned to one output) so that the mixing of the kit can be done as if it was a mic'ed kit. No internal mixing of the drums occur within the module except for the toms which are only set up internally so that all of the toms are at least the same volume. The triggers are DDrum acoustical XLR triggers. Drums triggered: Kick, snare, tom 1, tom 2, tom 3, floor tom. The triggers are connected into our 100' snake to make it back to the board. When we used the DM5, we would use High Z transformers to interface the XLR connectors of the snake into the 1/4" trigger inputs--we had much success with this approach.

 

NEW dilemma:

 

Since we've switched to the TD8 (mostly for the better sounding drum sounds) we found that our previous method of using the High Z transformers is not as easy. The TD8's trigger inputs are too close together and two transformers cannot plug directly next to each other. The temporary fix was to plug the transformers into every other input. This works fine but now we lose the use of 1/2 of the trigger inputs. Currently we are only using 6 inputs but with this approach there's no room for larger kits that require an extra trigger or two. We could throw a few mic's on the drums without triggers, but this defeats the purpose of why we decided to go with a drum module in the first place.

 

This is the question:

 

If we eliminate the transformers and replace it with a standard mic cord that is XLR to 1/4" and plug this into the snake at the board into our module. Will this work? By adjusting the trigger parameters, will we get acceptable results without the length of the snake causing triggering problems? Does anyone already do this?

 

Any brainstorming on this would be greatly appreciated.

[Prague]

I wouldn't eliminate the xfmrs. Those are giving you the distance.

 

If possible I would use xfmrs with female 1/4" jacks and then short cables to the TD8. You could then do the alternating input setup you had.

 

Otherwise, I would make (or buy) short 1/4" male to 1/4" female extension cables for the alternating TD8 inputs.

 

Paul