Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

all,

just some ideas based on dtxpress & general edrum experience (your 
mileage may vary):

1)regarding an old thread on this board on sticks, I'd highly 
recommend nylon tipped sticks & NOT using anything heavy like 
marching tom sticks.  The latter will eventually damage the piezos, 
break internal solder joints, or knock the piezo from the backing 
plate.  I've repaired several pads in the past due to this.

2)alot of the problems i've seen you guys having w/ the midi note 
numbers is due to interference from the Universal Map.  Go into the 
Utility menu to edit this.  The way I operate, I like to set ALL 
midi/drum assignments in the kit, as I don't trigger the dtxpress 
from an external source.  I forget right now whether I killed all the 
assigments, or mapped everything from 0 to about 16, so that no 
future pad assignments would conflict.  I think you can zero it out 
to where it says "note assigned in kit" or something like that  (my 
drum kits are all midi'd like this:  kick 21, snare 22, closed hh 23, 
open hh 24, tom1 25, tom2 26, tom/perc/cym3 27, tom/perc/cym4 28, 
tom/perc/cym5 29.  this habit started because emax samplers start on 
note 21, & that way I can trigger keyboard voices on the lower 
octaves while a keyboardist can play different sounds on the rest of 
the board).  anyhoo, this universal map can be a big pain if you like 
to customize midi note numbers.

3)ditch the yamaha cymbal pads.  someone has already mentioned using 
a tp60 for the ride.  I'd use them for crash too

4)upgrade the kick to an inverted beater.  I have both the S&S & the 
pintech ergo kick.

5)this last tip isn't for everyone, but works well for me & may solve 
alot of you guys' hihat problems...ditch the pedal & use 2 pads...one 
for closed HH & one for open.  depending on how you play, put the 
closed more or less in the normal HH position (perhaps a little 
lower), then the open HH pad right above & to the right.  this will 
take some practice, but the "smearing" together of open & closed is 
much more realistic.

again, just some ideas from experience.  number 5 may not be 
advisable if you are only using edrums for practice & regularly play 
an acoustic kit.  however, whenever I hop on an acoustic (or edrums 
w/ pedal) kit, I can still play HH the normal way.