Go to the UNIT-MIX page ( first page in UNIT mode ). There are 8 different volume levels which can be adjusted. You can select 3 at the time with the Group buttons.

The first 6 volume levels are actually group levels representing one or more drum channels each. Those groups with more than one channel assigned are the Toms group, Cymbs group and the Perc group. The Perc group adjusts the 5 rim channel volumes in case they have individual sounds. The channel to group assignment can be changed on the UNIT-NODE page.

Make sure the Save parameter ( write-protect ) on the UNIT-PREF page is set to On.

• Step 1: Select the Hihat by pressing the HIHAT button. Then press the UNIT button and browse with PAGE-DOWN to the TRIG page. On the display you will now see the trigger settings for the Hihat. Press the DATA button above Pedal to start the calibration. Calib PedDn appears.
• Step 2: Loosen the Hihat cymbal pad and let it slide down and rest on the Hihat receiver without applying any pressure. Press the DATA button once more. Calib PedUp appears.
• Step 3: Now fix the Hihat cymbal at a comfortable playing height. Press the DATA button to finalise the calibration. Calib Done appears if an acceptable open to closed range is detected. Otherwise Calib Void appears indicating that no changes have been made. If this message appears please start over from Step 1 again.
• Step 4: Press the UNIT button and then the DATA button above Save to store the new settings. If save is disabled ( the ? after Save remains ), browse to the PREF page with PAGE-DOWN and set the Save parameter to On. Then press the UNIT button and the DATA button above Save. Press the KIT button to return to kit mode.
• Please be aware that the calibrated pedal up position should be the point where the sound just becomes the open Hihat sound. You might want to mount the Hihat cymbal pad even higher after calibration, depending on your playing style.

The Hihat is a delicate instrument because there are as many opinions as there are drummers on the response and feel of a Hihat. There are several things to consider.

• The Hihat stand - The 2box Hihat stand is pretty straight forward with no particular hardware adjustments. It might be so that you like to be able to adjust the Hihat pedal more, like the angle of the Hihat pedal or the tension of the Hihat spring. Then you might consider using another Hihat stand with more options.
• The range from open to closed - You might experience this as different from the way your acoustic Hihat behaves. A Hihat is a very complex instrument with a wide range of sounds depending on the open / closed position when being hit. Also the movement of the pedal after the Hihat has been hit will change the sound characteristics. All of these aspects are not ( yet ) fully reproducable in an electronic Hihat. However, a good approximation can be achieved.
• The first step is the Hihat calibration. This should always be done the first time the Hihat is connected to the unit. Even after time things can change. There might be another unit, another Hihat pad or the Hihat receiver might have been exchanged. So this might be something to check from time to time. Please refer to How do I calibrate the Hihat?
• The trigger settings - Maybe you need to change the trigger settings to achieve better response. These settings can be located in the UNIT-TRIG page ( see How do I adjust the trigger settings? ).
• The sound - You will find different types of Hihat sounds in the DrumIt unit, select them on the KIT-DRUM page, here you can also tune the sound. To adjust the envelope of the sound, go to the KIT-ENV page to tweak those parameters. Still, these sounds might not suit all your needs. Then it is good to know that you are able to download other Hihat sounds. Here at 2box we continue to record and sample more sounds and thanks to the unique open sound architecture you will be able to download new sounds into DrumIt Five. Later we will offer a separate PC / Mac program to make your own samples for downloading into the unit too.

It might be difficult to avoid crosstalk triggering completely without making the kit less sensitive. Sometimes it can even add some atmosphere to the overall sound of the kit. When you play acoustic drums, hitting one drum might result in another drum sounding too, this is part of the overall acoustic drum sound. Of course in our digital world these things are not working the same way. Depending on the sounds you have chosen this might not work so well. Here are some tips on reducing crosstalk.

• Go to the UNIT-TRIG page. Is the Threshold too low? Maybe the Gain is set too high? Is the right trigger Type set? Maybe another trig Curve would work better?
• If this doesn't help, it might help to check the hardware. Are all nuts and tension rods securely fastened? Are the drum heads well tightened? Maybe the pads / cymbals are touching each other? Is there a loudspeaker close to the pads? It might induce false triggers.
• Check the trigger settings on the UNIT-TRIG page. Is the Gain set too high? Is the Threshold set too low? Do you have the right trigger Type?

After you have put the kit together and played it through for the first time you might need to adjust the trigger parameters to match your playing style. First, please make sure the tension of the drumheads is even and rather tight. If the head tension is too loose you might experience inconsistent trigger response and even double triggering can occur. Fine tune the heads and make sure to get an even tension around the edge of the pad. To adjust the trigger settings, go to the UNIT-TRIG page and select the appropriate channel ( see How do I select a specific channel for editing? ).

First make sure that the trigger Type corresponds to the pad you are playing. Then adjust the Gain ( sensitivity ) so your hardest hit will be at 0 dB ( lighting up the full trigger indicator under the View parameter ). The View setting lets you choose between 1 large horizontal indicator or 5 smaller vertical ones indicating the 5 most recent hits ( this last view is useful to check for double triggering ).

The Gain settings are in dB ( deciBel ), 6 dB gain is twice as sensitive and 12 dB four times. If you get crosstalk ( the currently selected channel is triggered by another pad ), you will need to adjust the Threshold value. The lowest value is -48 dB. The higher the Threshold, the harder you need to hit to get a trigger.

If you would like to change the dynamics of the trigger ( the way low and high velocity hits relate to the trigger levels ), you can change the Curve value. For example if you would like to even out the dynamic range set the Curve to Max1 or Max2. Continue with all channels to adjust the trigger settings so they fit your playing style. When done, go to the UNIT-MIX page and press Save.

Go to the KIT-DRUM page. Hold MORE and press the SNARE or TOM button. If there is no particular sound assigned, the rim sound will come from the drum sound selected for the associated snare or tom channel ( the same channel selected without MORE ). Otherwise you can dial in another sound by turning the left DATA dial. This will override the default rim sound of the associated drum channel and the audio output will now be routed via the Percussion group.

If this occurs, first check the hardware. Is the tension of the drum head ok? If the drum head is too loose you need to tighten it more. Is the drum head tightened evenly? Check that the head is evenly mounted on the pad.

If you play the kit while the display shows a page with dynamic information ( like a VU meter or a trigger level indicator ), the system uses a little extra time to update the display. This might result in slightly delayed trigger processing ( this will be fixed in a future update ). To achieve optimal response, play the kit with the KIT-PROG or UNIT-MIX page being shown.

If you want the kick sound to be more even, that is less dynamic, then you have a couple of options. On the UNIT-TRIG page you can either change the Trig curve to a less dynamic setting like Max1 or Max2, and / or you can adjust the Gain to a higher value ( making it more sensitive ) so even weak hits will produce high trigger levels. You might have to raise the Threshold as well to avoid crosstalk and double triggering.

Mount the kick pedal in the same way you would mount your pedal on an acoustic kick.

NOTE: the beater should not hit the trigger sensor located just below the center of the kick drum.

First make sure outputs 1 and 2 are set as direct outputs. The Out12 parameter on the UNIT-OUT page should be set to 1+2, otherwise the mix is on these outputs. Be careful with the volume on the receiving device ( speakers, mixers etc ) as outputs 1 and 2 are changed to line level without additional volume control. ( Outputs 3 to 6 are always at line level. )

Then choose the output you want each drum channel to be assigned to. This is done on the UNIT-NODE page for each drum channel separately. Select the Out values from 1 to 6 for mono or 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 for stereo. If a mono output is selected, the left and right channel of a stereo sound will be mixed to mono. The volume of the sounds on these outputs is only affected by the channel volume ( KIT-DRUM page ), not by the mix volume. So you can make a monitor or recording mix by taking outputs 1 to 6 to an external mixer with the volumes as set in KIT mode, and a separate personal mix with an additional volume setting as set on the MIX page.

Certain pages in both UNIT and KIT mode have separate parameter values for each drum channel. When these pages are selected, the label above the corresponding CHANNEL button will be lit. The channel selection follows the pads being played. However, once a CHANNEL button is pressed, the channel selection will be fixed. To return to pad selection, press the UNIT or KIT button and select the previous page again. To select the rim by means of the CHANNEL buttons, press MORE and the corresponding SNARE or TOM button.

If you want to use two pads on one input, you can choose to connect them to either Tom 1 - Tom 4 or the Snare input by means of a ¼ inch stereo jack cable split to two ¼ inch mono jacks. One pad will trigger the sound assigned to the head of that channel and the other one will trigger the sound assigned to the rim. To change the respective sounds go to the KIT-DRUM page and press the TOM1 - TOM4 or SNARE button ( hold down MORE for the rim channel ), then turn the left DATA dial to select another sound.

Go to the UNIT-MODE page and change the Note number value for each trigger channel. To select the rim, hold down MORE while you select the respective channel. The cymbal channels have one note number you can assign starting with the cup. The bow, edge and choke will have the adjacent note numbers assigned automatically. The hihat starts with the bow note number. The edge and foot splash will have the next note numbers. The hihat pedal can be assigned to CC1 or CC4 ( CC means continuous controller ).

It depends on the MIDI Local mode setting ( see the UNIT-MIDI page ). If Local mode is On, the trigger data from the MIDI input and the trigger data from the pads is combined to play the sounds. However, if Local mode is Off the pads only send trigger data to the MIDI output ( no sounds are played ), this is to avoid double triggering in case the sequencer echos received note data back to the unit.

You can use any kind of standard heads on the pads. You might need to change the trigger settings depending on the head type. You will get a half acoustic sound, if you remove the damper on the head you will get more acoustic overtones which consequently will make consistent trigger detection more difficult.

This is basically the same as described for DrumIt sounds or standard wave files, except that the operating system file ( DrumItXYZ.bin with XYZ being the version number ) should only be copied to the top level folder ( root folder ) of the DrumIt device. After restart the latest OS version will automatically be loaded. You might remove earlier versions to save some space.

All pad cables for the DrumIt Five sytem are standard ¼ inch stereo jack cables.

We have tested the DrumIt Five with two major trigger manufacturers and they work very well with the unit. Please note that you will need to change the trigger Type on the UNIT-TRIG page. Change the value for Type to either AcTr1 AcTr2 or AcTr3 depending on the size and tension of the head. You might also need to change the Threshold and Gain values.

To ensure a long and durable life for your DrumIt kit there are some things to consider.

• Do not hit the cymbals on the edge with a right angle stroke, slice them instead. If you hit right on the outer edge you might destroy the rubber surface or the switch below.
• Play the kit with light drum sticks like type 5A. If you need more power, raise the volume.
• Always use a good monitor system offering a clean and straight frequency curve. But foremost be sure to use an amplifier with a fast transient response. A guitar amplifier is not a good monitor as it will colour the sound. A good home stereo can work pretty well, however transients on drums sounds can be very pronounced so be careful with the volume.
• We recommend to always turn on the DrumIt unit before you turn on any other devices connected. Although the outputs have click and pop protection during power on or off, you might experience some unexpected noise.
• Never play the drumheads with warped drum stick tips as this will damage the head surface.
• Avoid strong sunlight on the mesh heads as this will weaken its material.
• Don’t use any solvents or abrasive materials on any surfaces. Use a soft cloth (microfiber) or handwash detergent instead to remove stains.
• Always make sure to pack your gear securely in good cases to avoid damaging them during transportation.
• Tighten all screws securely, but never use any excessive force.
• Never use a power supply other than the 2box original adaptor if possible. If you loose it or need to exchange the adaptor, be sure to obtain one with 18 V AC, 9 VA (500 mA) specification.