Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

I suffer from your same ailment it seems.  I got my TP120 from 
Drumbalaya along with a 12 inch snare stand and incorporated it into 
a DTXIIISP.  I love it.  The feel of the pad is great and it made the 
set a whole lot more comfortable for me to play.  One of the problems 
I had when I first got my set was that I just couldn't find a good 
arrangement with double base pedals where I wasn't banging my leg on 
the snare support tube.  Now I just pushed the tube out of the way 
and put the 120 on the stand.  IMHO it's the way the Special should 
come out of the factory.  If you're going to have a "real" hi-hat 
stand and function, why not do the same with the snare?  Anyway, it 
works out great.


After I added the 120, I was left with the extra 65s which I 
incorporated into the set as a 4th tom.  First I put the 120 on input 
2 and moved the extra 65s to input 7 and programmed it as my 4th tom. 
Then I rearranged the rest of the pads.  This is what it looks like:

Input    Pad      Sound
1        KP65     Bass
2        TP120S   Snare
3        TP65     Tom 1
4        TP65     Tom 2
5        PCY130s  Crash 1
6        PCY150s  Ride
7        TP65s    Tom 4
8        RHH130   HiHat
9        PCY130   Crash 2
10       TP65     Tom 3

I found this arrangement gives me the best maximization of inputs for 
the Special.  The only catch is that you will have to program all 
your kits as user kits to make them compatible with the new 
arrangement as I haven't found a way the reprogram the pad/sound 
relationships to make the standard kits work.  Anyway, with this 
arrangment I get 6 sounds out of my "front" pads which is great if 
you are trying to simulate timbales.  

The only problem is that apparently Yamaha doesn't take latin sound 
sampling very seriously.  All the latin sounds in their module really 
suck.  Obviously they don't have anybody in their staff that is a 
latin percussion connoiseur.   The closest thing you'll find to a 
cascara is one of the jamblock/tick sounds and in terms of a rim shot 
you are SOL.  I tried tunning the timbale sound up and down and all I 
got was cartoonish sounds out of it.  In other words, just don't get 
rid of your acoustic Latin percussion instruments yet.

By the way, I have to give kudos to Ed at Drumbalaya since he was 
very helpful and very patient answering my questions when I was 
getting ready to "upgrade" my setup.  And that was even before I new 
about this group, so he wasn't under any pressure to help.  Thanks Ed.

Hope that helps,

Jaime

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, Charles Baer <charlie@i...> wrote:
> So, being into minimizing waste and easily lured into buying groovy
> new stuff by you bad influence types.... ;-)
> 
> I am now lusting after the TP120S and believe I can keep the 
existing snare
> pad in a fully functional configuration.
> 
>  From the documentation available, it seems I can move a tom pad to 
input
> 9/10, the PC130S to the ex-tom jack, and the TP65S to the ex-cymbal 
jack.
> The single, dual and triple outputs of the pads in question will 
still 
> be on inputs
> that support their full function while opening up the snare input 
for 
> the TP120S.
> That or just put the TP120S into the newly open cymbal input...plus 
the 
> whole
> theory rides on 2,6,7 being interchangeable on the programming side.
> 
> Now all I need to find is a timbale mapping that supports rim shots 
one 
> one edge
> and cascara on the other.  I can't see one in either of the two 
manuals, 
> is there no
> such sound in the DTX3 ?
> 
> Charlie
> 
> rdamon@m... wrote:
> 
> >Thanks Ed.
> > 
> >They should start flowing a little better now. I understand that 
the
> >folks for Yamaha Japan will be coming to the US, and delivery will 
be
> >one of the issues of discussion. There are setup instructions for 
using
> >the RHH130 with all the Yamaha modules, in the box. The new TP's 
and
> >PCY's also work fine with the Dtxpress II modules, as well. Just 
don't
> >forget the TP120s will need a separate snare stand, as it does not 
have
> >an internal clamp. 
> > 
> >OGD
> >
> >
> > " And, best of all, we just got a bunch of RHH130's IN STOCK!  We 
had 
> >an order waiting since FEBRUARY for these!!  They seem to work 
fine 
> >with all DTXPRESS units as far as we can tell.
> >
> >(FYI, the TP120SD works great with the DTXPRESSIII in 3-zone 
mode.  
> >It's a GREAT upgrade for the snare...  Yes, we finally have those 
> >too!  I better stop before I get accused of sp*mming, but it's 
> >exciting to finally see this stuff show up...  :-)
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >Ed
> >