How do I safely remove drumheads from DM official controller?

[LouieT]

I can't take DM at home seriously anymore because of the cramped space that all of the drumheads are fitted on the controller. I want to spread out the pads since I keep hitting air or hard plastic whenever I reach for the hi-hat or cymbal.

I opened up the controller and noticed that the wires connecting the sensors in the hi-hat and cymbal is rolled up a litte bit inside, making it possible to pull out the side pads even farther without much tension on the wires.

I wanted to pull out both, but something won't let go of the drumheads. I don't see any screws attaching the drumheads to the controllers. There are three tabs poking out under each drumhead, with one tab opened for the sensors. I pulled down and pushed up on the other 2 solid tabs, but nothing changes. I want to pull them out, but not break anything.

I checked the specs on the controller from its patent page and it said that the drumheads are only held on by foam with adhesive on both sides. I don't see anything about those tabs though.

Is it really just adhesive on foam keeping the pads on the controller?
Or, is there some hidden one-way clip keeping it from pulling out?
Or is it something else?

[chocori]

I pulled mine off and they were held in by adhesive. No real damage done to the drum heads and they also became a bit more sensitive.

edit: It probably should be noted that my KOC was from the generation that didn't come with stands. If yours came with a stand, it might be different :<

[LouieT]

Yeah, I got it last year as well with no stand.

So it just peels off? I'll try it out later tonight.

[Saber-san]

Wait, so if I remove the pads will it become less noisy when I hit them? Sorry for asking a dumb question.

[Deca]

Man I don't know what you people are talking about. Someone wants to remove the sensors to spread them out, someone else talks abotu taking off the rubber to make them more sensitive, and someone else talks about removing the rubber to make them quieter, yet you all seem to think youre on the same topic as each other.

I'm genuinely confused.

[LouieT]

We are on the same topic. It's just that all three might happen when you move the drumhead around.

After some help with a spare car key, I got them peeled off


Looks like I over-estimated the amount of slack of the wire for the hi-hat, while the slack of the wire for the cymbal is just about right. The wires for the snare have a lot of slack. I think it's enough to go in the original hi-hat position. But, I'll leave that alone for now.

Now I need to figure out the best positions and how to keep them steady while out of their original places during play.

If you look closely, you can see the vibration sensor in the middle of the head under the foam.

[Opethian]

determined to have arcade spacing on drums? heh i actually got used to the KOC i bet i would be horrible at an arcade tho hahah

[chocori]

Originally Posted by Louie826

Now I need to figure out the best positions and how to keep them steady while out of their original places during play.

Pipes (so you get that authentic "I missed and hit the metal pipe" noise) and duct tape.

Plenty of duct tape.

Or you could just take them out of the casing entirely and build a new case. People would like to see that...

[LouieT]

I just realized that arcade spacing isn't that helpful if the drumheads themselves aren't arcade-sized. Looks like I'll need something on top to increase the size.

Originally Posted by chocori

Pipes (so you get that authentic "I missed and hit the metal pipe" noise) and duct tape.

Plenty of duct tape.

Or you could just take them out of the casing entirely and build a new case. People would like to see that...

If I knew how to pop the wires off of the main board, I might do this. From how the controller is made, it's possible to make a custom drumset using the main controller board as the "brain" and a bit more wire and soldering for the long distances between the board and the sensors under each drumhead. Until then, I might have to stick some thick board on top with slots for the new positions of the heads. Playing with the heads moving all over the place is not a good challenge.

[jubrany]

Thanks for being brave enough to try this, Louie. I paid too much for my 1st gen Drummania set w/ stand to hack it (280 cad from pac mall about 5 or 6 years ago).

If you can invent something that works I might bite your idea.

[Saber-san]

Oh man, thanks for being brave enough to open your dm controller and showing us louie. The way it's positioned now is much better but I'm afraid if I did that myself, I'd end up breaking the thing and that's a risk I can't take.

[LouieT]

I went ahead and disconnected everything.

The small board inside of the controller, and one of the drumheads for size comparison. I had to snip the wires. I hope that wasn't a big mistake.


Closer look at the controller board.


Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make something playable out of all this and how to connect some extra wire between the board and the drumhead. I hope they make wire strippers for those small wires. They have to be AWG 22 - 30.

edit, later in the night.

I found some cheap adjustable wire strippers at Radio Shack along with a roll of 24-gauge speaker wire.

I tried the connection out with the speaker wire in between.


Close up:


It all works as is.
However, sensitivity goes down if I put hard plastic like a CD on top it. :/ What can I put on top that will increase the size but won't warp and won't make the drumhead lose sensitivity?
If nothing, I may have to make my own drumheads.

Also, I found out that if I brush the exposed wires for the other inputs, it'll trigger. No shocks either.

[jubrany]

I know this idea is too expensive to try, but is it possible to solder Yamaha DTX pads to the KOC PCB?

I was thinking of that, but by that point you may as well buy a DTX in order to get a proper rack, pedal, etc.

[LouieT]

If the pads have the same simple construction as the drumheads on the DM controller, yes. It'd be better to connect it like this to avoid cutting up the cords:

jack from pad -> 1/4 " jack to RCA male jack converter -> RCA female jack -> wires soldered on the female jack and connected to the input wires of the DM controller board.

HEY GUYS LEAKED SHOTS OF DRUM HERO CONTROLLER



I decided to use the box from the Guitar Hero 2 bundle as a prototype box. It worked well until some of the pads jumped out of their positions and the connection of the cymbal went away. Invisible packing tape is horrible for connecting two stripped wires.

Size comparison to the original controller.


Underneath each pad, showing the tabs of the drumheads going in the holes of the box.
Those two small holes with gray are the start and select buttons. The plastic buttons wouldn't stay put so it's just the rubber bottom. You can also see the slots on the side for the cord and the bass pad.


Inside of the controller. You can see all of the connections quickly done with invisible tape. More 24-gauge speaker wire was needed for the cymbal and hi-hat.


A closer look at an embarrassing wire job.


There are lots of cleanup to do to get it to be much durable. At least I got it to work 100% for a bit.

[BobbyS]

Sexy work, my friend. You should be proud.