With the advent of the Strata Prime, many improvements were made to the kit's setup from previous kits- the higher quality BFD sounds library being implemented, the addition of Air FX, and more. As such, it's important to understand the effect these improvements will have on your setup and what adjustments need to be made for using the kit successfully. In this guide we'll talk about ways to optimize your sound and playback for the greatest chance of success possible. 


The Four Stages of the Strata's Sound


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Stage 1. The Triggers.


Like most e-drum kits, the loudness of the Strata's sound is determined at 4 points, which work together as a balance to create the sound you hear while drumming. Each has different parameters that you control in crafting your sound through to the end. Let's begin at the beginning-


Your triggers are highly sensitive, taking in velocity and build along a curve as you play each pad. While in and of itself it isn't going to create problems on the kit if your settings are maxed out for powerful hits from soft playing, it's important to note that everything that plays out of the module is going to be amplified from the reading that the triggers offer. If you're maxing out at the trigger inputs, there's very little for every stage after this to do besides distort the raw signal, even at low volumes; and it's a lot easier to amplify a softer sound than it is to bottleneck a loud one.


These will mainly be adjusted by the Trigger Settings page, though physically it's good to make sure your cymbals have some movement so that vibrations can travel through them towards the pickups, and that the drum heads are tight enough that you cannot press your thumb into the center and create an impression.



From the trigger settings screen, individual drum zones should be tuned so that your drums are audible when hit, but do not need excessive force for standard beats or patterns. For most users, there should be no need to adjust this, and in many cases a reset of your preferences from the settings can improve your sound if you have changed anything; the actual parameters themselves should only be tweaked slightly to a player's individual playstyle as they are comfortable; for example using a different velocity curve on the snare if a player like having more build while rolling.


Stage 2. The Internal Mics and Preamps.


The next stage of the Strata's sound is the Preamp. These include FX, the Mixer Screen, the kit voices themselves, and the volume knobs



At this stage of the sound, processing is happening to the raw input of your hit- the hit data is being applied to a sample, that sample has volume, gain and effects applied, and that's being processed by the module. Most important is going to be the Mixer Page. The signal through your module processes from Left to Right along the tabs at the top of the mixer page>the individual drum and cymbal mic levels are amplifying the trigger inputs, which then are going to the Ambience and FX page, which then goes to the Ins and Outs.


At each stage, you want to make sure that nothing is peaking to the top of the gauge. You want to hit about 66-75% or below for each individual drum and cymbal, changing each slider so that it's balancing to the way you hit each drum and not getting beyond that. 


From there check out the Ins and Outs tab of the module. Inside here, you'll see your mix of how loud a full beat is on the Drums Mix meter, which you'll want to watch while playing a beat and filling. If this is going past 75% it would be good to adjust this down and see how that affects the Main L/R out, adjusting that as well.


As for the individual knobs at the face of the module, it's always good to start with the knob at 12 o'clock, facing straight up. This way you have some room to adjust upwards and downwards for your kit without changing the mixer levels inside.


Stage 3. The Cabling and Connections.


The third stage of the gain is the simplest one, it's the physical cables. While the kit has physical outputs for 1/4 and XLR cables, you're going to want to make sure you're using XLR and a specific type of 1/4 inch known as TRS. The outputs of this kit send out a Line Level signal, which is significantly stronger than instrument level, like what a straight connection from an electric guitar sends out. XLR or TRS cables both use thicker gauge wires that carry more signal than standard TS 1/4 cable, and so to get all the signal, using those cables is necessary. Using 3/4 with TS cables may result in the connectors of those cables getting warm- this is the excess signal coming off as heat.


Finally, if you are used to a kit that only has 1/4 connections and you have been using TS cables with it, the Strata prime will be louder.


Stage 4. The Output Setup/Speakers.


The final stage will be outputs beyond the module. These will be governed by the mixers and amplifiers that the cables plug into. Clip gates at this level will often apply to the inputs of these devices, but gain will be applied after them, meaning if the amp's or mixer's channel gain starts clipping or driving the signal despite the clip indication not going off, it will not be caught by the noise gate. In this case, it will be to your advantage to turn down the actual volume knob a little on the face of the module and let the speaker do more of the work. This is because this level carries the post amp as well, so the signal that it amplifies will open the sound up more.


In addition, it's also good to make sure you've got any kind of Mic/Line setting on the device set to Line and not Mic, as Mic will add +6db to your sound no matter what, potentially damaging the speakers. Please contact the device manufacturer if you have any questions.