In this post, we will explore the inside of, quite possibly, the most common drum pad trigger on the market today. The picture above is of a Medeli DD602 (DD602 manual, DD602 setup guide) drum pad. Many edrum companies have used parts and/or complete drum pads of this type from Medeli including:
• Alesis
• Borgi
• Hart Dynamics
• Ion (Alesis)
• Legacy
• OSP
• Pintech
• Yoki
Because of this, it is a drum trigger pad that found quite lot in the entry to mid level electronic drumming community. I know that this pad doesn’t get a lot of love by most, but the truth is, its a great DIY’ers platform. For as common as it is, there is no real good description of the workings of this pad. Of course, until now. Below is a video the documents the inner workings of this workhorse pad and how easy it would be to upgrade this pad as a DIY edrummer enthusiast. Also, attached to this post you will find a picture detailing the 1/4″ TRS input jack to this pad to make it easier when upgrading.
18 users commented in " Inside The Medeli DD602 Trigger Pads (Video) "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackHi Phil.
How would you say the triggering is after the change?
Is it optional to remove the foam and change the electrics, or can you just replace the heads with meshheads?
(just wondering)
// Hwasser
You can change the head to mesh if you want but, it will not change the feel of the pad. You don’t really have to change the electronics too much if you decide to update the pad. I’m hoping to do a video on that as well (maybe next week). I basically show you how to remove the resistors from the input jack, reorder the internal pieces, and add a piece of cardboard as a spacer. I then put a mesh head on it. It changes the feel to be more like a Roland style pad at a fraction of the cost of a Roland pad.
Ok, I see. Lucky for me my brother is an electrician! :p
How would you say the triggering is on those pads after the upgrade?
Well, I just got done updating the pads on my DM10 kit. I had to adjust the setting in the module a little, but they feel great now. I’m hoping to have a post up next week on how to update the internals of pads (and add a mesh head). If you have some basic soldering skills it is a really easy upgrade. Heck, I use about 99% of what already comes in the pad to make the upgrade. The only extra stuff that is need (for the 8 inch model) is the mesh head, and piece craft foam. Then we just change around some of the internals. You see soon!
Ok, sounds nice. Thanks Phil, people will sava a lot of money thanks to you.
Craft foam, I searched around a little through swedish forums to see what the material is called in swedish and found it is “Dekorgummi”. How thick Craft Foam do you need for this purpose?
Thickness would be 1/8″ (3-4mm) thick. BTW, an easy upgrade, if you are keeping the pads the same, would be to replace that Craft Foam with neoprene foam rubber (mouse pad) of the same thickness. I hope that helps.
I just picked-up the Alesis DM5 Pro Kit w/Surge Cymbals. It took me about 2 hours before I couldn’t help myself from disassembling a pad.
I really want to upgrade these pads and I was blown away to find this video. I’ve already (now) ordered from neoprene to try that out.
Please feel encouraged to continue documenting and suggesting upgrades for these pads. I’ll be anxiously watching the site.
I hoping to have a slightly more involved upgrade video coming out very soon. I hope you will like it as much as the first.
I’d prefer not to make my own mesh heads… where can you suggest I look online to get them? I just saw that Hart Dynamics is asking $50 or more for 8″ heads. That’s more than I’d like to be spending per head on a mesh upgrade. Thoughts?
Also: I think my real goal here is to get a much quieter drum set.
Keep in mind, there is more to it than just putting a mesh head on. Just putting a mesh head on the stock configuration isn’t going to sound to much different. With that said, I hoping to get a video together to show how easy it is to re-configure the guts of the pad and put a mesh head on it to make it very quiet. As far as cheap mesh heads go. I would go with Billy Blast Drums Ballistech (without the black patch, just state that when ordering) for your snare and toms. Order one with the patch for your bass drum trigger. They are $10.00 each and are very strong. Here’s a link:
8″ Ballistech Mesh Head
Cool link! I bought a set of heads from Billy. Quite a colorful site =D
Besides the Billy Blast mesh heads, would using the Billy Muffs (4 bux ea.) be good for the replacement foam just under the head to replace that cheap foam pad?
I don’t see why not. Of course the foam inside the trigger is only 1/8″ thick and most muffs are 1/4″ thick. You might have to just crank down the drum head a little more. Most muffs are made from the same type of foam that mouse pads are made from. If you want, give it a try and let us know how it turns out. Thanks for the heads up on the Billy Muffs.
Good intro to the Medeli pads. I bought a cheap set using these pads a couple of years ago and did the conversion to the roland mesh heads you described. It was really very easy — radio shack piezos, Roland cones (about $9 apiece if I remember), Roland mesh heads. To mount the cones, I glued a paint stirring stick from Home Depot (cost =$0)along one of the ridges at the bottom of the plastic base and attached the cone to that. The paint stick was just the right thickness and has held up very well. If you want photos of the project, let me know and I’ll send a few along.
Hi Phil, I just found your site here….how noticeable is the difference in feel of the pads if you switch to neoprene foam rubber? I found a half sheet of it (51′x 41′)for around $50 online, but dont want to spend $$ if it’s not a big difference……looking forward to your video for switching to mesh heads…..I found out the hard way just putting mesh heads on does nothing! Thanks for all the work you’ve put in here for everyone’s benefit!
I’m about 15 min away from putting up the video to convert to mesh. If you want to try the neoprene, just use a mouse pad. That way you can try one and see if you like it.
Hi. What is the purpose of the resistor across the socket? What value is it, and where – exactly – is it connected? Many thanks.
The purpose of the resistor is to regulate the signal coming from the piezo element. Unfortunately, I don’t recall what the value is because once I converted the pad to mesh, there was no need for it. I also, found that (at least with the Alesis DM10 module) the pad worked fine with or without the resistor. I just had to adjust the gain on the input. I hope that helps.
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