Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "rdarby1st" <richard.darby@l...> 
wrote:
> I have a standard DTXpress III setup with an additional crash 
cymbal 
> on input 9/10. I have noticed that if I play leg strokes (heel 
down, 
> beater ends up well off the pad surface) as opposed to foot strokes 
> (toe down, beater ends up in contact with the pad surface)the kick 
> drum sound doesn't trigger - i.e. the harder, more positive stroke 
> which should be less liable to cause false triggers doesn't trigger 
> a sound whereas the lighter stroke does. 

Here's a bit of a longshot: When you play the heavier leg strokes (I 
don't know how hard heavy is for you), you are more likely to be 
using more force on the rest of the kit as well. Even though the kick 
would seem to be immune to activity on the rack because it isn't 
directly attached to it, sympathetic vibrations are still possible 
across a bare floor, at least theoretically. If any of upper pads 
have high rejection or specific rejection numbers, the kick might 
fail to fire intermittently. You can further mitigate any such 
interference by lowering your gain and raising your minimum velocity 
to de-sensitize the kick. 

Another possibility is that, regardless of trigger values, you may 
have a loose wire or faulty soldering in the guts of the kick 
trigger, which causes it to cut out at a certain threshold of force. 
If fiddling with gain/rejection, or stabilizing the kit on a less 
wobbly surface, doesn't pay dividends, you might open up the kick 
trigger and look for damage. Usually you can't see it unless it's a 
loose wire. You might have to resolder everything in sight. Ugghh.

> Also when I play in a "live" situation with external amplification, 
the kick drum sound 
> occasionally fails to trigger if I play either of the crash cymbals 
> in combination with the kick using either of the above kick stroke 
> techniques. I have looked in the archives & it would appear that 
> others have discovered similar anomalies with DTXpress kick 
> triggering. What I would like to know is: has anyone managed to 
> solve this riddle & if so is there anything I can adjust to resolve 
> this issue?

Again, assuming that the electronics of the trigger aren't at fault, 
you'll have to find trigger numbers that prevent dropouts while 
guarding against serious crosstalk, or set up on as a more solid 
platform. 

Here's something more speculative. The module sometimes seems to have 
limitations in recovery time after a pad is struck. I seem to 
remember that changing pad type in the trigger setup often helped to 
alleviate missed triggers, but this remedy was more relevant to non-
Yamaha components. If you set up the proper pad type for your stock 
Yamahas, dropouts due to improper pad-type setting shouldn't 
happen.   

Ed