ALL Soft Pad Discussion goes HERE

[Falco98]

For anyone trying to find a pair of good DX pads:
I just bought a pair from an e-bay retailer last week. The e-bay seller's name is "discount-auction", and i gradually figured out the pad he's selling is from "ddrNation" (a dotcom i haven't even seen mentioned on this site). The deal was 'buy it now' for like $26 plus $25 shipping, which is for a pair of pads and a pair of extension cables. I did this, and about 4 days later they had arrived. The pads in question actually shipped from the manufacturer (the return address said 'ddrnation.com', nothing to do with the e-bay guy.. hmm). They have the black "dense" foam insert (i believe) and *very* nice feeling articulated buttons. I played on both of them for over an hour on some medium-fast songs, and had NO mis-reads. FYI, the pads are standard 10-button, with LED lights. I must say i recommend them.. Anyone else tried these?

[DDRPLYR]

Tommy Gun's mod looks really good because i'm new at DDR and i just ordered two crap pads. Anyone know though what the clear covers are?????????????? (this is what he says: Stuck down the pads, put the clear covers over them, and used black duct-tape all around the edges to secure the whole thing. ) If you wanna look at the mod it's on the first page of the subject, and click on the link that says Tommygun....thanks

[pathos]

okay, an update: i went to home depot and got some extruded polystyrene insulation (read: a 1/2" thick sheet of solid pink foam stuff.) i cut out an 11" x 11" square (the size of the center square on the ignition 2s) and lined the edges with electrical tape to keep it from crumbling, and slid it in, all in the hopes that it would make my dead zone a little deader.

it totally failed. it's impossible to use the pads with the center elevated, and furthermore it just didn't work, it still trips the arrows when you stand in the center.

the sensors seem too broad on the ignition 2s; there's that dead-zone circle drawn right on the pad but it feels like towards the edges of that there's some circuitry and there are portions of that dead zone circle where, if you reach a hand inside the pad and press the surface material together gently, trip actual button presses.

it seems to me that that dead zone circle should be totally dead, no circuitry, no sensors -- it's weird that the sensors bleed into the dead zone.

so that just seems like a hardware bug with the pads; RO needs to ensure that the sensors only trip when you actually step on the raised arrows. seems like it shouldn't be *that* hard to build sensors that work that way, esp. when you're getting $100 per pad.

[ChefGhost]

[dvdashot]

I bought 4' of a plastic sheet material (almost feels like a shower curtain) $1.49 CAD per foot. The width of it was 6' so 6' x 4' was enough to do two pads. Bought another pad today that I plan on modding immediately.
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"A shark on whiskey is might risky. A shark on beer is a beer engineer." - Space Ghost

[jimmy jr.]

Woo hoo! First post!

Anyway, I got a couple Cyphergames DX pads about 2 months ago, and they worked fine unmodded for a week or two. Then I was starting to have some ghost step and constant contact problems on both the pads, so I tried doing the chairmat mod with the cheapo $16 Office Max chairmats.

This seemed to fix the problems, but now they're both back. Ghost steps and sticky arrows a-plenty again. Is there anything else I can/should be doing to allieviate these problems. It sounds like the chairmat mod makes most of the DX-style pads work very well, but mine still have problems. They weren't really used too much at all before they were modded, either. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

p.s.: I read through the whole thread to see if this had already been addressed, but I didn't catch anything. Sorry if it's already been answered....

[Sleepydrakos]

Have you tried using a flat board made of either wood or masonite to support the bottom of the mat. Just strap down with tape. I have done this with my cheap ignition pad which works excellent and a cheap MadCat which works better- but still not good.


Dave

[ChefGhost]

[DDRPLYR]

I just bought these really cheap pads off of Cypher games... They were like 25 bucks for two of em on sale, but unfortunately I have no job so i used all the money i have on those . I wanna mod my pads, but i also wanna play.. Should i wait to mod the pads, or should i play until i have enough money to mod them? In other words would it still be effective to mod a semi-new pad that i've only used a few times. The pad im using is one of the cheap non-stick mats. THANKS

[ChefGhost]

[DDRPLYR]

ah thanks, i was just about to play on them and then i thought i better wait....only about 2 more weeks for a mod

[bio retard]

If you're just learning to play, easy songs for 2 weeks shouldn't hurt your pads. I used my crappy Topways for about a month before I modded them. (only did 4-footers)

[DDRPLYR]

well i'm not exactly new i normally can do about 6-7 feet...would that be ok?

[Boogery_Boy]

Went to Lowes a week ago and purchased a 35" by 37" peice of 1/4'' thick plywood, some ductape (black, just to look cooler), some 2, 2 foot peices of Vinyl Floor covering, and some of that non-skid rubber matting used under area rugs and stuff.

First, i just put the cheap Konami soft pad of top, followed by the floor covering i had to tape together to fit over the pad right, than i duct taped them together. After that i put that no-skid material of the bottom of the plywood with some more duct tape. viola!

After i first tried it i knew that i would never play without modding again.

This baby plays like a dream, i can do any level song and it never slids, it is very responsive, never missing a step, and it is firm but not to firm to the point of achy feet after you try to Full Combo that 3 Song nonstop

I purchased all these materials for about 15.00 US Dollars, the plywood was 2.00 cause it was on teh cutting board and it was a "scrap" peice that someone had cut off their peice they purchased and even though it was as good as the stuff on the shelf, they probably would have threw it away. So i got a deal.

[ChefGhost]

[shaggyspeedy]

This may sound like a dumb question... but how should I be putting my pad away? I was placing it against the wall behind a chair, but gravity is bending the foam/chair mat. I really don't have the room to keep it laying flat... could I pin something against it, such as a desk?
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BLAH BLAH BLAH TASTY CHIPS

[Ke6dRRtY]

[Fireboma]

I'm thinking of buying one of those Cypher Games Ignition pad 2.0. Now I read about that review on the 1.0, but does anyone have one of those 2.0 pads off Cypher Games?

[Ke6dRRtY]

[Cintifizzo]

[quote="Falco98"]For anyone trying to find a pair of good DX pads:
I just bought a pair from an e-bay retailer last week. The e-bay seller's name is "discount-auction", and i gradually figured out the pad he's selling is from "ddrNation" (a dotcom i haven't even seen mentioned on this site). The deal was 'buy it now' for like $26 plus $25 shipping, which is for a pair of pads and a pair of extension cables. I did this, and about 4 days later they had arrived. The pads in question actually shipped from the manufacturer (the return address said 'ddrnation.com', nothing to do with the e-bay guy.. hmm). They have the black "dense" foam insert (i believe) and *very* nice feeling articulated buttons. I played on both of them for over an hour on some medium-fast songs, and had NO mis-reads. FYI, the pads are standard 10-button, with LED lights. I must say i recommend them.. Anyone else tried these?[/quote]

i got that exact same deal, except at the actual website www.ddrnation.com and they are really nice for the price.. i got two pads for about 70 bucks and they came 2 days later.. they are really good for the price, now i have 3 pads.. my old pad is totally ripped up, so i like these two new pads.
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I would probably list some great accomplishments... If i had any.

Updated: Passed So Deep October 2, 2003