Alesis DPC

It just occurred to me that I neglected to describe the most important part of my MIDI timpani setup: My Alesis drum pad controller. It's really easy to program. The only problem with it is that during a live performance, say at a place in a song that calls for a quiet timpani roll, you can hear the sticks hitting the drum pad. (I have a DVD of one of the Oliver! performances, and when I wear headphones, I can hear these noises. Of course, only an electronic percussion geek would care.) One way around this is to turn up the volume on the amp. Timpani mallets may work too, but that defeats the purpose of having the Alesis, since I want to use sticks for everything. Sorta like Neal Peart and his MIDI marimba setup, but in his case, the volume is cranked up!