Alesis Forge Kit - Adjusting Trigger Settings for Optimal Performance

The Alesis Forge Kit is a complete 8-piece electronic drum kit featuring the Forge Advanced Drum Module, packed with over 600 sounds and plenty of features to personalize your performance. This article will point out some of the most important settings and show you how and when to make adjustments to optimize the performance of your Forge Kit.

 

Contents

  1. Individual Trigger Settings
         - Sensitivity
         - Threshold
         - ReTrigger
  2. Cross-Talk Settings
  3. Pad Modes
  4. Factory Default Settings
  5. Further Technical Support

 

 

Individual Trigger Settings

If your style of playing is one where you strike the pads very, very quickly, or if you feel like some of the triggers are not picking up all of your hits during the roughs or flams, the individual trigger settings can be adjusted very easily in order to make sure no hits get dropped.  For increased accuracy, the Forge Kit offers the ability to adjust the individual trigger settings to make sure that each and every strike and dynamic you want to hear can be expressed exactly as you play it.

 

Sensitivity

By increasing the Sensitivity setting for a specific trigger, that trigger will respond to lighter hits more forcefully.  Higher values let you produce louder sounds with less force. Lower values require more force to produce quieter sounds.  

The Alesis mesh drum heads include an added physical knob to adjust the sensitivity of the piezo pickups inside of the head. The knob adjust how much the module will respond to the inner vs. outer pickups inside of the head.  Additionally, you can also adjust the Trigger sensitivity and many other settings within the Forge kit module as well.

To adjust this setting, follow these steps:

  1.  Press Kit to enter the Kit Selection page (if you are not already viewing it).
  2.  Press Menu to enter the Kit Menu.
  3.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select Trigger, and then press Enter.
  4.  Hit the pad whose settings you want to edit. The pad’s name will appear at the top of the display. Alternatively, use the Down and Up buttons to select the pad’s name at the top of  the display, and then use the Jog Wheel or Left (<) and Right (>) buttons to change it.
  5.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select SENSITIVITY or RIM SENS which will allow adjustment of the pads rim if applicable. 
  6.  Adjust the sensitivity value using the Jog Wheel.
  7.  Once adjusted press the Save button.
     
Threshold

The Threshold setting is similar to Sensitivity in that if it is set to a low value, a very light hit will trigger a sound.  However, the difference is this: If the Threshold setting is increased, there will be absolutely no sound until the pad is hit with a certain amount of force.  This allows for accidental unintentional hits to automatically be eliminated in real-time.

To adjust this setting, follow these steps:

  1.  Press Kit to enter the Kit Selection page (if you are not already viewing it).
  2.  Press Menu to enter the Kit Menu.
  3.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select Trigger, and then press Enter.
  4.  Hit the pad whose settings you want to edit. The pad’s name will appear at the top of the display. Alternatively, use the Down and Up buttons to select the pad’s name at the top of  the display, and then use the Jog Wheel or Left (<) and Right (>) buttons to change it.
  5.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select THRESHOLD.
  6.  Adjust the threshold value using the Jog Wheel.
  7.  Once adjusted press the Save button. 
     
ReTrigger

The ReTrigger setting focuses on how quickly one strike comes after another, rather than how much force a pad is being hit with.  By adjusting the ReTrigger setting higher, any accidental secondary hits that come immediately after the first intentional hit, will be eliminated.  The lower the setting, the more likely the second hit will be heard.

We've found that putting this around "2" is usually sufficient for most playing styles, even when using a double-kick pedal. 

To adjust this setting, follow these steps:

  1.  Press Kit to enter the Kit Selection page (if you are not already viewing it).
  2.  Press Menu to enter the Kit Menu.
  3.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select Trigger, and then press Enter.
  4.  Hit the pad whose settings you want to edit. The pad’s name will appear at the top of the display. Alternatively, use the Down and Up buttons to select the pad’s name at the top of  the display, and then use the Jog Wheel or Left (<) and Right (>) buttons to change it.
  5.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select RETRIG CANCEL.
  6.  Adjust the re-trigger value using the Jog Wheel.
  7.  Once adjusted press the Save button. 

 

 

Cross-talk Settings

Every time you strike a pad, the entire kit vibrates.  Vibrations travel through the rack and can sometimes trigger other pads.  This tendency is called 'cross-talk', and due to the physical nature of drums, it is unavoidable (even on an acoustic kit).

The Forge module comes prepared with a Crosstalk (or Xtalk) setting.  A more accurate description of this setting would be "crosstalk compensation", as there really isn't a way to prevent  the physical tendency for vibrations to travel.  This setting, however, uses an algorithm to separate intentional hits from unintentional crosstalk triggers; the result, when tweaked correctly, is that you only hear the sounds you want to hear.

Most often these settings do not need to be adjusted.  In most cases when these settings need to be adjusted, you may be experiencing pads that are cancelling each other out and missing hits.  This is where the Cross-talk settings become important.  Simply adjusting the Xtalk settings from 7 to somewhere in the middle will resolve the symptom.

To learn more about the Forge Module Crosstalk settings and how to adjust them, follow the steps suggested below.

  1. Press Kit to enter the Kit Selection page (if you are not already viewing it).
  2. Press Menu to enter the Kit Menu.
  3. Use the Down and Up buttons to select Trigger, and then press Enter.
  4. Hit the pad whose settings you want to edit. The pad’s name will appear at the top of the display. Alternatively, use the Down and Up buttons to select the pad’s name at the top of  the display, and then use the Jog Wheel or Left (<) and Right (>) buttons to change it.
  5. Use the Down and Up buttons to select XTALK.
  6. Since the setting is really 'Crosstalk Compensation', the higher the value, the less likely the pad is to send or receive any crosstalk.
    Try to find the right balance (usually somewhere in the middle) with any problem pads, as well as their surrounding pads that are sending crosstalk.  It may be tempting to simply turn this setting all the way up; however, remember that the module is already using a smart algorithm to try to compensate for normal crosstalk.  If you turn it all the way up, you may find that it mistakenly mutes some of your strikes, writing them off as cross-talk.
  7. Once you have adjusted the Crosstalk (XTALK) settings, don't forget to save your settings by pressing the SAVE button.

     

     

MONO/POLY Pad Modes

Another setting that will help with missed or "cut off" samples is the Mono/Poly pad modes.  These settings adjust what happens when you hit a given pad.  There are two common settings which allow you to choose how your pads react. 

MONO (monophonic): Each hit will trigger the sample and instantly silence any previous sample from the pad that is still playing.

POLY (polyphonic): Each hit will trigger the sample and allow the sample to “overlap” itself if you hit it several times.

  1.  Press Kit to enter the Kit Selection page (if you are not already viewing it).
  2.  Press Menu to enter the Kit Menu.
  3.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select VOICE, and then press Enter.
  4.  Hit the pad whose settings you want to edit. The pad’s name will appear at the top of the display. Alternatively, use the Down and Up buttons to select the pad’s name at the top of  the display, and then use the Jog Wheel or Left (<) and Right (>) buttons to change it.
         - The display will show the pad’s current voice and its parameters.
  5.  Use the Down and Up buttons to select MODE.
  6.  Adjust pad mode using the JOG WHEEL or Left (<) and Right (>) buttons .
  7.  Once adjusted press the Save button. 


     

Can I reset the module to its factory default settings? How?

Yes.  To return the drum module to its original default settings:

  1. Press Kit to enter the Kit Selection page (if you are not already viewing it).
  2. Press Menu to enter the Kit Menu.
  3. Use the Down and Up buttons to select Factory Reset, and then press Enter.
  4. Use the Down and Up buttons to select which settings you want to return to the defaults.
         - Kit (only the user kits)
         - Song (only the user songs)
         - Voice (only the user voices)
         - Trigger Settings (all trigger settings)
         - All (all of the above).
  5. When All data will be lost! Enter or Exit? appears in the display, press Enter to continue or Exit to cancel.
  6. Wait a minute while the module restores its default settings. After Reset OK! appears in the display, the default settings are restored.
  7. Press Exit to return to the previous page.

 

 

Further Technical Support

Whether you are a customer or dealer, if you already own a Alesis product, or if you just have pre-sales questions, the Alesis technical support team is available to help!

Each product has a dedicated support page on the website where you can find manuals, specifications, software updates, drivers and troubleshooting guides: www.alesis.com

Visit the link below to connect with any of the following support options: online community support, phone support, email support.