Help with hi-hat closure

[MisterE]

I think I'm converted. The hall sensor works as good as the FSR in my VH-13. And if I'm 100% honest, the TI sensor is better. Here's my effective voltage range after calibration and a few manual tweaks.
I'm going to fab up one of these and just stick it down under my pedal with some doubled sided foam tape.
image.png

Coming from you, that says a lot. I have a Drone Triggers optical hi hat controller, and it works extremely well. Is there any reason you might prefer your hall sensor to an optical sensor? My feeling is they should offer similar resolution and smoothness. Thoughts?

Thanks, Rob!

[Rob]

It's super easy to setup, and inexpensive. Is an optical sensor not affected by ambient light?

Having a look at the datasheet for TCRT5000 the operating range is a bit short 0.2mm to 15mm. Cost wise, it's probably cheaper than a hall sensor + magnet.

[MisterE]

It's super easy to setup, and inexpensive. Is an optical sensor not affected by ambient light?

The Drone trigger optical driver/sensor I have is set up on the base of my hi hat. The reflector is attached to the hi hat footboard.

Here's an image of the configuration from the seller:

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So far I've only connected it to my Pearl Mimic Pro and have had no issues with ambient light interference. It was extremely easy to set up. I happened to have the Iron Cobra hi hat that KitToys (aka Drone) used in his own setup. The offset for the reflector plate was perfect. I'm going to to connect it to my eDRUMin tomorrow. It seems to me either the optical sensor or a hall effect sensor would be about equivalent in performance, but the hall effect sensor does not require aux power which the optical sensor does to power the light source. So it's simpler. I think it's worth my trying a hall effect sensor for its simplicity, but I really appreciated the plug-and-play of the Drone optical kit i purchased on eBay.

To your point, I, too, was a bit surprised that the optical sensor worked so well, but I am only using it in my studio with static (mostly) lighting. I wonder how it might fare, for example, in an outdoor gig. The other two optical hi hats I have used (EFNOTE hi hats, EFNOTE pedal and an ATV hi hat) all have the optical sensor protected in an enclosure of sorts which I assumed was to protect (shade) them from ambient light. Perhaps that's not necessary.

[Rob]

A Hall effect sensor is also an active device (needs power). The eDRUMin pedal input supplies 3.3V (up to about 30mA) when it's set to 'expression pedal'. I suspect that would be enough to power your optical sensor (assuming it's 3.3V).

[MisterE]

Check out this DIY video which shows how easy it is to DIY an optical hi hat controller:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABTqpp5YiYo

This shows how broad the range is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbzGuadzXY8

[AKA Wayne]

I've been rocking a tcrt5000 sensor controller for a couple years now. It's a "hockey puck" design that I stick in between my hats. It runs power off of the edrumin. It's awesome.

[MisterE]

I've been rocking a tcrt5000 sensor controller for a couple years now. It's a "hockey puck" design that I stick in between my hats. It runs power off of the edrumin. It's awesome.

I rigged the Drone Optical Hihat controller to the eDRUMin this PM with a DIN MIDI connection into the Pearl Mimic. This combination does not disappoint. When I had the optical controller plugged directly into the PMP, the various controls didn't allow me to "broaden" (or "stretch out" so to speak) the tight region of the open/closed curve. However, with the eDRUMin I was able to shape the calibration end points to suit my desired open/closed range of motion. Then, I was able to shape the speed of the response, so to speak, up and down that range with the Bezier curves. I was able to get extremely satisfactory results, whereas the controls within the PMP had some limitation with regards to the hi hat control curve tools within the PMP.

Thanks, Rob and to Mike of Drone Triggers. I'm a happy camper.

[AKA Wayne]

Here are pics of my "hockey puck". I know one fellowber.ive shared this with found it successfull. Rob, I'd be happy to send you my spare for some r&d feedback. This is something I've been thinking about producing but have been to lazy/afraid to pursue. It can either run off of the edrumin power or a separate dc source.

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[Mr_Bluesguy]

AKA Wayne- nice design!
I've been looking at real world advantages/disadvantages of hall vs. optical viewed through my career experiences in electronics (retired now). I've dealt with both. In an e-drum situation, it appears to me that there's not a dimes worth of difference performance wise between the two. Optical may have the slightest disadvantage with ambient light interference and occlusion of the lens due to dirt,dust, environmental conditions, but in actuality that really is only a problem in harsh or extreme environments. Don't think anyone's going to be gigging at the astrodome on Mars any time soon. Careful packaging design can cover those issues. The other inconsequential issue is getting cables out from between the hat cymbals in an elegant manner, again, not really consequential. I think it just comes down to personal preference and/or if your pedal configuration allows for sensors to be located at the pedal instead of the hats.
Having said all that, I like your idea of commercializing your design, and I'd like to offer a suggestion. It should be possible to make your pcb design flexible enough to accommodate either a hall or optical sensor. For a hall effect version, mount a ring magnet to the plastic reflector disc under the top hat. A ring magnet will alleviate any magnet misalignment due to inevitable cymbal spin. So with minimal effort, you could cover both Hall and optical customers with essentially the same design and potentially double your sales. Just a thought....

[dsteinschneider]

Remember that TI sensor will not work with ED4R1, ED10R1.

Thanks for confirmation on that - Mine is one of the first ED10's you shipped.