Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hi Parke,
I think everyone will tell you that you are never going to get exactly the
acoustic feel and sensitivity that you are after unless maybe you do fork
out the $3500. That said though, if your reasons for getting e-drums are to
expand the range of sounds at your stick tips by several hundred fold, have
a quiet (at least to the outside world) kit to practice on that is a
reasonable simulation of your acoustic one, and to greatly simplify
recording your playing to a hard drive, the DTXpress will probably satisfy
you. It has most of us.

Since you don't really say why you are interested in the e-drums, it's tough
to say whether I think you will be happy with them. I do have a suggestion,
though. If sensitivity, subtle response, and dynamic range are of prime
importance to you, go back to the shop on a weekday when they're not busy
and mess around with the gain and minimum velocity settings on the snare
trigger with a good pair of studio headphones on (preferably plugged into an
amp that the module is running into). Set to kit #3 for a basic rock kit.
Just hit the trigger button and then the page down arrow and you have access
to these two parameters. Try a very high gain setting and a very low minimum
velocity (highest value available is 99 on gain, 127 on Min. Vel.) as a
starting point and see if the pad is allowing you to do something like the
subtle rolls and ghost fills that you are after.

If the shop gives you any grief about playing around with the settings, just
remind them that you are on the verge of dropping at least $1000 in their
store and service plays a big part in your decision on where to shop (or
something like that...). Usually they just go back up to the counter and
finish reading their magazine with that practiced disinterest that music
shop clerks have so well mastered.

Another thought is that some of the other, less financially painful mesh
head triggers (Pintech, D-drum) may provide more sensitivity than the
rubber. I really don't know. I think a few people on the list can comment on
the differences...

Hope this helps. Maybe let us know your motivation for wanting the e-drums
and we can better steer you in a direction.

Later,
Rick


-----Original Message-----
From: Parke Cochran <parrothd@...>
To: DTXpress@onelist.com <DTXpress@onelist.com>
Date: Saturday, February 19, 2000 9:09 PM
Subject: [DTXpress] New, with a VERY important question...


>From: "Parke  Cochran" <parrothd@...>
>
>Hey all.  I've been in the market for e-drums for a while now and
>have demoed the DTX, DTX2's and (omygosh) the Roland V-Pro's.  Though
>I'd love to buy the Vs, $3500 just doesn't cut it.  I'm sorry...I
>refuse to pay the price of a nice used Jeep for a drum kit.
>
>So now I am leaning to the DTXs.  My question is this:  Can you tune
>the DTXs sensitivity to the point where they respond more like an
>acoustic head and less like a triggered rubber pad?  The kit I played
>didn't allow for the subtle rolls and ghost-fills on the snare.  But
>I didn't play around with the settings at all.
>
>Bottom line, is the $1000 kit really the better buy (talking value
>here).  An acoustic kit is loud but they *are* real.
>
>Thanks for any help...And keep the good info coming, I love this
>group.
>
>Parke C.
>
>
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