Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "emf" <liberatusvirus@y...> wrote:
> 
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "swanseadrummer" 
> <aeron.kirczey@n...> wrote:
> > 
> > Hi all, purchased a DTxpress III recently and used it live for 
the 
> > first time on Saturday.  Had a problem with the occasional hit of 
> the 
> > snare pad not triggering.  There was no particular pattern to 
this 
> > but was disappointed with this happening.  Has anyone else had 
this 
> > problem?  Is it possible to hit the pad too hard?  or maybe I 
> wasn't 
> > striking the pad acurately enough?
> 
> Hi Aeron,
> 
> Welcome. Let's keep it simple for a moment. Barring any internal 
> damage to the pad, which is highly unlikely, the main reason why 
the 
> snare fails to sound is that something is stopping its signal from 
> having the desired effect. Although live playing can involve other 
> complications, the most common cause for dropouts is that rejection 
> is set too high. A pad's rejection settings in the Trigger Edit 
Mode 
> prevent hits on another pad from creating vibrations that cause it 
to 
> fire accidentally. Essentially, a pad's rejection setting stops it 
> from making any noise unless the triggering event--its own or 
> anything else's--exceeds the numerical threshold of the setting. 
The 
> higher a pad's rejection number, the more force it requires to do 
its 
> job. Rampant rejection counteracts the very purpose of the kit. 
> Reduce the numbers to balance efficient triggering with insulation 
> from accidental triggering as best you can. The plain "rejection" 
> number provides general protection from other pads; "specific 
> rejection" concentrates protection against a particular pad; 
> and "self-rejection" keeps a pad from echoing on itself (double 
> triggers). They all should only be high enough to minimize the 
> problem; otherwise the pads may go on strike. 
> 
> Two other settings that impact a pad's triggering are gain and 
> minimum velocity. Too high a gain will make a pad more susceptible 
to 
> events on other pads, causing it either to fire accidentally or, if 
> rejection rears its ugly head too much above the horizon, to shut 
> down. Too low a minimum velocity will also make a pad more 
> susceptible to vibrations along the rack. It's also possible that 
> pads run at excessive sensitivities, regardless of rejection 
> settings, will not be able to recover quickly enough after a first 
> strike to process a second. Keep the trigger numbers at moderate 
> levels unless experience dictates otherwise. 
> 
> The rejection settings apply only to components connected to the 
> module. The module has no effect on interference from outside. When 
> you play live, keep everyone off your riser, if you have one, and 
if 
> your floor is shaky, keep dancers a safe distance away. Also be 
aware 
> that the bass amp, or just its signals, can resonate enough to 
damage 
> your kit's response.  Many people do extra work on their kits to 
> isolate them as much as possible from interference external, as 
well 
> as internal, to the rack.
> 
> As bad as the manual is, read about the trigger settings to get a 
> feel for what is happening inside the module. Then, if we need to 
> troubleshoot further, we won't have to retrace old ground from 
> scratch.
> 
> Ed

Ed,

Many thanks for your quick response.  I have all trigger settings as 
per factory set and all has worked well in practise at home and also 
with the rest of the band.  I will do some experimenting with the 
trigger settings as you suggest but this is going to take some time 
as we do not play every week, so don't be surprised if I don't come 
back for a while.  Interesting your comment about the bass amp as 
this is located next to my left side quite near to the snare, so who 
knows - maybe that was having some influence as you suggested.

Coupled with the snare miss fire was that the second crash cymbal 
that I have added was again occasionally being cut very short so I 
don't know if this all points to something in particular.

I would hope that the kit is suitable for live performance and not 
just  
used 'in the home' for messing about on as seems to be the case with 
quite a few users (or so it seems).  All in all though I must say 
that the drum sounds are very good and I am glad that I purchased.

Thanks again for your comments.

Aeron