DRUMCOBRA™ Installation Guide
DRUMCOBRA™ is an amazing technology to enhance your drumming experience.
The following Videos provide examples of installing DRUMCOBRA™ on different types of drums with great sensing response and neat finishes.
Planning your kit upgrade with DRUMCOBRA™ is an important first step to achieving the look, feel and functions you want. There are three things to consider when upgrading your acoustic drum kit to play it All ways: Acoustic, Hybrid and Electronic. Ask yourself:
- What do I want to Detect on each drum? Head only, or Head and Shell?
- How will I Connect to my drum? Can i use the Air Port as is? Is the Air Port easy to adapt? If so, What size is the Air Port hole diameter and what is my shell thickness? Or, am i prepared to consider creating a new dedicated port hole? Or do i want an externally mounted connector?
- Where will I attach DRUMCOBRA™ on my drum?
*** Ensure you chose a Connector that will fit your drum shell thickness and port hole size ***
To Install DRUMCOBRA™ you'll need a Screwdriver, typically a small Phillip's head that fits your internal fittings such as lug screws to attach DRUMCOBRA™ , and a Drum Key for removing drumheads. The DRUMCOBRA™ Head and Shell sensors are designed to be attached to your drum using the existing internal fittings, e.g. by undoing a lug screw, inserting the lug screw through the DRUMCOBRA™ Sensor Support and re fastening the Lug screw in its original place. Adjust the location of the Head sensor so that it touches the drumhead and deflects during play, when installing without a drumhead in place this means the Head Sensor extends slightly above the top rim of the drum when viewed from the side.
If you intend to use the Air Port to locate your DRUMCOBRA™ Connector, you may need further tools for modifying this part of your drum, and will need to carefully consider how to do this as there are many different Air Port designs. In general, either insert the DRUMCOBRA™Connector into an Air Port, remove the Air Port grommet and insert the DRUMCOBRA™ Connector and fasten its nut, or create a new port hole, then insert the DRUMCOBRA™ Connector and fasten the nut.
To play DRUMCOBRA™ with a Drum Module or Trigger Interface may require you to adjust the Trigger settings as different Module makes have different circuitry and default settings, and drummers often have unique preferred sensitivity and response for any particular drum item. Please refer to your Module manual for parameter access and editing instructions.
*** Make a note of your settings before trying some experimentation ***
As DRUMCOBRA™ has a very fast voltage spike when installed well and excited by a drum head hit, and can have excellent Head and Shell separation, it can be helpful to increase the 'Sensitivity' setting of the Head Trigger parameters for each drum head to increase head sensitivity so you have a wide range of playing dynamics (soft 'piano' to hard 'forte'). The following settings work well on a Roland TD27 using a 'PAD2' type for a DRUMCOBRA™ Install of Head & Shell on a 14" Wood Snare and the 'Default' settings are provided for comparison:
| Parameter | DRUMCOBRA™ | Default |
| Trig Type | PAD2 | PAD2 |
| Sensitivity | 13.5 | 10 |
| Rim Gain | 1.0 | 1.5 |
| Threshold | 3 | 2 |
| Curve | EXP2 | Linear |
| Head/Rim Adjust | 27 | 20 |
| Scan Time | 1.3 | 2.0 |
| Mask Time | 6 | 10 |
| Retrigger Cancel | 5 | 1 |
