It seems that my rig gets more complicated with each show and preparing for the PYT production of Legally Blonde was no exception. We did not have a percussionist for the show, so in addition to drums, I doubled the percussion part where possible. This involved adding parts for triangle, tambourine, crotale, mark tree (a.k.a. the “broken glass” patch), bodhran and timpani in various tunings throughout the show.
Custom Kits
Covering the additional percussion parts resulted in 82 program changes throughout the show and over 50 custom kits that needed to be programmed.
The bulk of the program changes were to bring timpani of different tuning in and out on the two low toms. However, there were many other changes to swap the percussion instruments that appeared on my auxiliary triggers (more on that below).
Sampler Instruments
In addition to the custom shakers that I described in this post, I discovered that the TD-30 does not include a bodhran patch, which was essential to deliver the sound of Ireland. Luckily, I found suitable bodhran samples online at FMJ Software and used these to create a velocity-sensitive EXS24 instrument hosted in MainStage.
The TD-30 can only trigger one sample per pad and, as a result, I found that I was short a limb when it came to providing all the sounds for Whipped Into Shape. This was easily solved by sampling the TD-30 itself and setting up a pad to trigger a MainStage instrument via MIDI (sampled TD-30 “Clap”) in addition to its assigned TD-30 sound (“Snare”).
BT1 Trigger, Redux
The BT-1 trigger that I piloted in my Pirates Rig shows up again in the Legally Blonde rig x2. Since these are single trigger pads, I was able to use a single input with an inexpensive splitter that I purchased from DrumSplitters.com. The latest TD-30 firmware (v1.12) includes two BT-1 specific trigger settings and I chose BT1 Sens as it gave greater control and a better feel.
Kit Layout
Here is the layout I used for the show:
The patch selections are based on a modified TD-30 “User Kit”. I spent most of my time fine-tuning the Snare and Kick patches to sound good over the PA system but the rest received minor tweaks as well.
In particular, the Kick has “Kit Resonance” on by default. This is a nice simulation of a real kit, but also adds uncontrollable ambience to the sound. I preferred turning this off and muting the kick heavily and adding reverb as needed.
| Name | Type | Usage | Base TD-30 Patches |
| Kick (not shown) | KD-120 | Kick Drum | #1 – 22″ HallCut K |
| Snare (SNR) | PD-128S | Snare Drum | #158 – Stainless |
| Hi Hat | VH-13 | Hi Hat | #597 – Custom HB |
| Left Snare (SNR) | PD-85 | Snare Drum Timbale Tambourine |
#158 – Stainless #817 – Timbale2 Hi #838 – Tambourine2 |
| Tom 1 | PD-105 | High Tom | #345 – 10″Custom T1 |
| Tom 2 | PD-105 | Mid Tom | #349 – 14″Custom T3 |
| Tom 3 | PD-125 | High Floor Tom High Timpani |
#351 – 16″Custom T4 #930 – Timpani2 C |
| Tom 4 | PD-125 | Low Floor Tom Low Timpani |
#353 – 18″Custom T5 #931 – Timpani2 G |
| Cym 1 | CY-14C | Crash 1 | #667 – 16″ Paper Crash |
| Cym 2 | CY-8 | Splash Triangle Crotale Tamborine |
#687 – 6″SplazhSp #938 – Triangle #942 – Crotale #838 – Tambourine2 |
| Cym 3 | CY-14C | Crash 2 | #657 – 17″ Dark Crash |
| Cym 4 | CY-8 | China Tamborine Crotale |
#713 – 20″CB Low #838 – Tambourine2 #942 – Crotale |
| Ride Cym | CY-15R | Ride Cymbal | #725 – 20″CustmRd |
| Bar 1 | BT-1 | Mark Tree WoodBlock Crotale TD-30 Claps (via MainStage) Vibes Single Note |
#945 – Tree Chimes #927 – Woodblock #942 – Crotale #1102 – Off #960 – Vibes |
| Bar 2 | BT-1 | Sleigh Bells Sticks Xylophone Single Note Cowbell Shaker (TD-30) Shaker (via MainStage) Clap Bodhran (via MainStage) |
#944 – Sleigh Bells #1028 – Sticks #959 – Xylophone #828 – Cowbell Mute #836 – Shaker #1102 – Off #1060 – Clap #1102 – Off |
Equipment Used
- Roland TD-30 Sound Module
- Roland KD-120 Kick Drum
- Roland PD-128S Snare Drum
- Roland VH-13 Hi Hat
- Roland PD-105 10″ V-Pad
x2
- Roland PD-125 12″ V-Pad x2
- Roland CY-15R Ride Cymbal
- Roland CY-14 Crash Cymbal x2
- Roland PD-85 8″ V-Pad
- Roland CY-8 Cymbal Trigger
x2
- Roland BT-1 Bar Trigger Pad x2
- MainStage 3
- MacBook Pro
- KSC Q12 Monitor
- Vic Firth 7AN Sticks
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