Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "to0ni" <tgoedeme@e...> wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I have an urgent problem, it will be nice if someone can give me
> advice on this! Thanks in advance already.
> 
> Friday, our symphonic orchestra has a small concert in a school. 
Since
> I am playing the timpani, and we are not able to move real timpani 
to
> tnat school, I thought I can use my DTXpressIII. Indeed, it has two
> nice timpani sounds on it, so I can bring it together with two pads
> and emulate timpani with an amplifier.
> 
> So far the good part :-) The problem is the tuning. The DTXpress has
> two sounds, "Timpani H" and "Timpani L". Off course I have to tune
> them according to the key of the music piece to C-G, E-A, or so. I
> know you can change the pitch of a sound by using the C(oarse) and
> F(ine) settings, but it does not seem to work out very easy. My
> electronic tuner doesn't pick up the sound. So I don't know which
> pitch settings C and F belong to which note.
> 
> Did anyone do such a thing once? Does somebody has a chart which
> relates tuning settings to tones? Or does someone have a suggestion
> how to get my electronic tuner 'hearing' the sound?

Tooni,

Instead of using the timpani in the percussion list, why not use the 
timpani from the GM Keyboard Voice List at the back of manual. What 
follows is a step by step procedure of how to program the GM timpani 
to a kit and then to tune it:

1. Select a drum kit and enter the Drum Kit Voice Edit Mode.

2. Page down to Channel, Gate Time (1-7). On the second line of the 
display, change the "Ch=" to any number 1-16, except 10 (lets say Ch= 
11). That's all you change here.

3. Now page down to Program Change, Bank Select (4-1 in manual). On 
the top line you will see Kit PC Ch "x"="on." Change the Ch to the 
same number you selected in 2 above and select ="on" (not "off"). In 
other words, if you chose channel 11, it would read Ch 11=on. On the 
same page, move the cursor to the second line, PC= "x"; this is the 
place to select the GM keyboard voice 1-128 listed on page 42 of the 
manual. Timpani is PC=48. 

4. At this point striking the edited pad should sound the timpani. 
But you still need to tune it.

5. Page up to Note Number (1-6).  On the second line, Note#= "x", 
select a midi note # from 0-127 (C-2, the lowest note on the piano, 
to G8, the highest note on the piano) that matches your tuning.

6. Repeat these steps for each pad and then save the kit. 

So far as finetuning is concerned, I would think that you'd use an 
electronic tuner that can connect to the output on the front or the 
back of the module, depending on whether you're listening to tones 
through an amp or headphones. 

Ed