Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Fantastic response. You've given me a few more things to consider. 

Thanks again.

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "emf" <liberatusvirus@y...> wrote:
> 
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Thomas" <kveldalf@h...> wrote:
> 
> > RE: DTXpress III Special
> >
> > I have recently rekindled an old flame with drumming, and due to 
> noise levels must 
> > consider electronic drums instead of acoustic.  After watching demo 
> videos of Roland V12 
> > and the DTXpress III Special, there's  strong reason why I am 
> considering Roland instead of 
> > Yamaha.  
> > Questions:
> > Can you add snare buzz to the toms? 
> > I've listened to the member samples, and unfortunately cannot say 
> this helps clarify the 
> > concerns I have.   The voices seem to be "cut short" that is, for 
> example, the wash/ring of 
> > the cymbal crashes don't sound quite right--same with the snare 
> sounds.   Are there any 
> > jazz drummers who can post and example of this kit?
> 
> Thomas,
> 
> You sound like a man who's made up his mind, and I'd be very 
> surprised if anyone on this board felt obligated to change it. 
> There's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't buy a Roland kit. In 
> fact, your reasons for being so inclined are the usual ones: Roland 
> certainly scores high points on presentation. Yamaha e-drums don't 
> have the support of the company that you might imagine, though the 
> situation is apparently is about to get better. Roland's commerial 
> dominance obscures other worthy players in this litte game. The 
> reasons are complicated.
> 
> I'm not quite sure which Roland kit you mean to reference, but 
> judging from your remark about snare buzz, I'd suspect that it's the 
> TD-20, which is really an unfair comparison with the much-less 
> expensive DTXpress Special, as good as it is. The DTXPSP should go 
> head to head with the Roland TD-6 kits and possibly TD-8s, and the 
> new DTXtemeIIS with the TD-8s, though many people (like me) also 
> regard it as a good, cost-effective alternative to the TD-20. 
> 
> Most of the differences kits at similar price points come down to 
> subjective impressions of sounds and feel. There are no slam dunks of 
> the kind that you mention, such as having to hit the Yamahas too hard 
> or the cymbals/snare not having enough sustain. It is incredibly 
> difficult to rely on computer samples to evaluate e-drums. It's hard 
> enough finding a kit at your local GC or drum shop to audition, let 
> alone one that hasn't been beaten into submission by the conquering 
> hordes. It's regrettable, but unavoidable at this point, that unless 
> you have the wherewithal to check out e-drums firsthand, somewhere 
> along the line you're going to have to trust the information on 
> websites, stores, magazines, etc. The fact that Roland owns the 
> market is no indication of what a Yamaha product, or any other, can 
> do, but you'll have to solve that problem to your own satisfaction. 
> To my mind, snare buzzes are a nice gimmick but not much to hang your 
> hat on in the long view. Price, feature sets, playability, sounds, 
> versatility, et al. are the variables that will matter most. 
> Personally, I'm a big fan of Yamaha as an e-drum company, but I am 
> also a Clavia ddrum owner. Researching ddrum is much harder than 
> researching Yamaha. 
> 
> 
> Here's a web address where you can find a sound video of the DTXpress 
> SP: http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM04/Index/. Go down the page 
> until you hit Yamaha's videos from Winter NAMM. It's probably better 
> than the one you saw from Yamaha Europe, though it still doesn't 
> measure up to Roland's. We've been expecting a high-quality DTXtreme 
> IIS video by Tony Verderosa for some time. We'll see. Anyway, I hope 
> that you view my post as an invitation to ask whatever questions you 
> might have.
> 
> Ed