Quarter Mod For Under-sensitive ION Drum Rocker Cymbals!

[HunterXyron1134]

Everyone who has an Ion Drum Rocker has, at one point or another experienced how bad the cymbals are. They just aren't sensitive enough, they drop notes, etc.

You've adjusted the wing nut's, you've tighten this, you've loosened that...none of it's worked.

Well, I come to you with an adopted mod, the penny mod. Except this time, instead of for under-sensitive stock RB pads, this is for the Ion's cymbals.

Okay, first off, start by removing and disconnecting the cymbal, so all you have is just the cymbal, not the arm, or the wing nut screw thingy (i forget what its called.) You want just the cymbal for this.

Flip it over and unscrew everything, but BE CAREFUL!!! The wires aren't all that strong, so when you remove the assembly after unscrewing everything, they may pull loose if you jerk it. Go slow to avoid screwing your cymbals over.

When the assembly is popped loose, it should look something like this, with the piezo exposed.



Take a quarter, not a penny, and tape it to the piezo, like this:



To test if the quarter is secure enough, slightly tap the quarter, progressively getting harder, but not "im-gonna-break-the-cymbal-in-half hard." If there is a slight rattle when you start tapping harder, that's perfect. If there is a slight rattle when tapping very softly, or when there's a really loud and obnoxious rattle when tapping hard, its too loose. Secure it with more tape.

Be generous with the tape, don't be afraid to use too much. With this mod, there almost is no thing as too much.

Once you think you have enough tape, screw the assembly back in, but ever so slightly. 3 revolutions at the most. You don't want to screw it up completely until your absolutely satisfied with the sensitivity.

Once your done partially screwing everything up, re-attatch it to your Ion's and plug it in. Fire up Rock Band 2 or Lego Rock Band, and go to Freestyle Mode.

Once your in, give the cymbal a couple of taps, as light as possible, and graciously work your way up, little bits of force at a time. If your hearing an annoyingly loud rattle, your quarter isn't secure enough. Open it back up and tape it down some more.

If its even less sensitive than before, you have the quarter too tight. Get rid of some pieces of tape and loosen it up a bit.

Generally, you should be able to hit it fairly hard, with their only being a slight rattle from the quarter. Keep playing with it till you get it right.

With this mod, i have gone from dropping about 7 out of every 10 hits to being able to do rolls. I even passed This Calling using solely the cymbal!

Which for me is quite an achievement, seeing as how that's only the second time i ever passed it. :/ But anyway.

Please, leave comments on personal experiences or suggestions to make it better!
_________________

My Youtube | iPhone RockBand Customs Research | My Twitter, with my GH/RB updates!

SThorpe wrote:

so did anyone get to touch Matt's Banstick? O_o EviLize wrote: Yeah, while he was playing pop'n I was playing around with it for a little bit.

[HunterXyron1134]

Everyone who has an Ion Drum Rocker has, at one point or another experienced how bad the cymbals are. They just aren't sensitive enough, they drop notes, etc.

You've adjusted the wing nut's, you've tighten this, you've loosened that...none of it's worked.

Well, I come to you with an adopted mod, the penny mod. Except this time, instead of for under-sensitive stock RB pads, this is for the Ion's cymbals.

Okay, first off, start by removing and disconnecting the cymbal, so all you have is just the cymbal, not the arm, or the wing nut screw thingy (i forget what its called.) You want just the cymbal for this.

Flip it over and unscrew everything, but BE CAREFUL!!! The wires aren't all that strong, so when you remove the assembly after unscrewing everything, they may pull loose if you jerk it. Go slow to avoid screwing your cymbals over.

When the assembly is popped loose, it should look something like this, with the piezo exposed.



Take a quarter, not a penny, and tape it to the piezo, like this:



To test if the quarter is secure enough, slightly tap the quarter, progressively getting harder, but not "im-gonna-break-the-cymbal-in-half hard." If there is a slight rattle when you start tapping harder, that's perfect. If there is a slight rattle when tapping very softly, or when there's a really loud and obnoxious rattle when tapping hard, its too loose. Secure it with more tape.

Be generous with the tape, don't be afraid to use too much. With this mod, there almost is no thing as too much.

Once you think you have enough tape, screw the assembly back in, but ever so slightly. 3 revolutions at the most. You don't want to screw it up completely until your absolutely satisfied with the sensitivity.

Once your done partially screwing everything up, re-attatch it to your Ion's and plug it in. Fire up Rock Band 2 or Lego Rock Band, and go to Freestyle Mode.

Once your in, give the cymbal a couple of taps, as light as possible, and graciously work your way up, little bits of force at a time. If your hearing an annoyingly loud rattle, your quarter isn't secure enough. Open it back up and tape it down some more.

If its even less sensitive than before, you have the quarter too tight. Get rid of some pieces of tape and loosen it up a bit.

Generally, you should be able to hit it fairly hard, with their only being a slight rattle from the quarter. Keep playing with it till you get it right.

With this mod, i have gone from dropping about 7 out of every 10 hits to being able to do rolls. I even passed This Calling using solely the cymbal!

Which for me is quite an achievement, seeing as how that's only the second time i ever passed it. :/ But anyway.

Please, leave comments on personal experiences or suggestions to make it better!
_________________

My Youtube | iPhone RockBand Customs Research | My Twitter, with my GH/RB updates!

SThorpe wrote:

so did anyone get to touch Matt's Banstick? O_o EviLize wrote: Yeah, while he was playing pop'n I was playing around with it for a little bit.

[KirbySH]

I'm going to try this my cymbols seem like they aren't registering like they should be.
_________________

Band Fraggle Rock! - Kirby (Vocals) - S4VN01 (Drums) - Deschain (Guitar/Bass) - ccmoose (Guitar/Bass/Drums)

[KirbySH]

I'm going to try this my cymbols seem like they aren't registering like they should be.
_________________

Band Fraggle Rock! - Kirby (Vocals) - S4VN01 (Drums) - Deschain (Guitar/Bass) - ccmoose (Guitar/Bass/Drums)

[scorpion408rb]

I'm not gonna lie, when I first found this page I was like "Pfft... like that will ever work" After looking for other mods that required spending like $20 I decided to try this. After I finished I tried it on RB3 with the cymbals plugged in there ports. I went as light as I could adding more strength to it after every few hits and just by pushing the sticks lightly with my fingers was enough to make it go off fully. I then tried a run on Bat Country and got atleast 40,000 points more than my previous best. Thanks for posting this, it totally helped

[scorpion408rb]

I'm not gonna lie, when I first found this page I was like "Pfft... like that will ever work" After looking for other mods that required spending like $20 I decided to try this. After I finished I tried it on RB3 with the cymbals plugged in there ports. I went as light as I could adding more strength to it after every few hits and just by pushing the sticks lightly with my fingers was enough to make it go off fully. I then tried a run on Bat Country and got atleast 40,000 points more than my previous best. Thanks for posting this, it totally helped