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9:4 Other settings related to hihat control
Preferences
Hihat reopen threshold
Most drum brains constantly send out hihat pedal movement MIDI CC messages while the pedal is moved. One of the few brains
that does not operate in this manner is the Roland TD20, which only sends out hihat pedal CC messages during and very close
to a hihat trigger.
When brains constantly send out the hihat pedal CC, potential problems are created with BFD2’s transmuting features, such as
turning a closed hat into an open hat when the pedal is moved up very shortly after a closed hat trigger. If CC messages are sent
continuously, the transmuting would always be active, which is not desirable.
The ‘HH reopen thresh’ parameter sets a time limit (defined in musical notes) after a hihat trigger for transmuting to occur if the
pedal is moved.
It is set at 1/64-note by default, which is optimal for most situations. However, if you need to adjust this response, you can de-
crease it to 1/128-note, or increase it up to a maximum of 1/16-note.
Retrigger threshold
As mentioned in section 9:1, the Retrig Threshold setting exists to combat double-triggering problems. Hihats can be especially
prone to spewing out lots of notes, especially dual zone triggers.
Increasing the Retrig threshold may help in overcoming such problems.
Hihat transition fade time
The ‘Hihat trans time’ parameter defines the speed of the transition between sounds during the transmuting process. If you set
this value too high, you may suffer from ‘swishy’-sounding hihat transitions.
Hihat tightening controls
The tightening controls simulate the act of pressing down hard on a real hihat pedal, which makes the hat sound ‘tighter’, with a
reduced decay.
These controls, located in the BFD2 Engine preferences. can be set to gradually make the closed hat tighter over the MIDI CC
range of the closed tip and shank articulations.
Tighten (default)
The default Tighten control sets the amount of tightening applied at the lowest point of the closed zone.
Tighten (amount)
This control sets the maximum possible tightening amount. This is the amount of tightening applied when the MIDI CC value is at
the highest point of the closed zone.
There is a proportional increase in the tightening applied as the MIDI CC is increased.
