Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

First of all, drummers aren't mature, no matter how long they stay 
away from a kit (I'll bet your legs have black and blue marks, and 
various family members have complained about noise that you're not 
even aware that you make) or how old they are. Assuming that you've 
taken all the obvious steps in the trigger menu, another kick pad 
may be the answer (first, though, is the KP60's sensitivity knob 
turned too high? Come to think of it, if you don't have the little 
manual that comes with the KP60, you may not even know that it has a 
sensitivity knob next to the polarity switch). 

I've heard of a few people going to the Ergokik, but the most 
popular Pintech kick by far in this group has been the Vertikik. 
I've never heard a bad word said about it, and many a good one. But 
it's not dirt cheap like its sibling. A search on each one in the 
archives should get you some information, and you can ask the group 
a specific question about them. Other have stepped up to the KP80, 
and you read Walt's endorsement of the KP120. But neither is cheap--
on the contrary. 

For the record, the two upgrades that people seem to make first and 
most are the snare and the kick. If your aim is pretty good, you 
should be all right with the snare for the foreseeable future. Keep 
us informed.

Ed

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Creighton Higgins" 
<creighton@l...> wrote:
> I was hoping to be mature and not blame the tool, (i.e. kp60) but 
I was
> wondering if it wasn't the pad.
> I also have had trouble with the little second hit and have 
adjusted pretty
> well, but I really don't believe I should hear a beat when the 
beater is
> traveling away from the head.
> This is my 1st experience with electronic percussion- just 
returning to
> playing after almost 30 years away (lonnnnnng story) and I just 
want to be
> playing- not constantly spending $ on constant upgrades. But...
> Any advice on "best bang for buck" . Has anyone tried the Pintech 
Ergokik
> Compact Kick with Inverted Beater? It's way cheap ($35.00) and 
seems
> sensible, but also is another hard rubber pad.
> 
> Thanks all for thoughtful responses. More info is invited.
> 
>   -----Original Message-----
>   From: liberatusvirus <liberatusvirus@y...>
> [mailto:liberatusvirus@y...]
>   Sent: Monday, January 13, 2003 12:26 PM
>   To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
>   Subject: [DTXpress] Re: Kick pad and double triggers
> 
> 
>   Hi Creighton,
> 
>   When I got my version of the DTXpress back in the 14th century, I
>   had a terrible time with the kick pad. I won't bore you with the
>   details, but one of the problems was double-triggering. I got so
>   flustered with the inconisistencies that I stopped tinkering and
>   bought one from another company. You'll notice that the archives 
of
>   2001/2 are littered with complaints about the KP60. The fact that
>   the latest version, which seems to have been redesigned--at least
>   cosmetically--hasn't attracted much grumbling seems to suggest 
that
>   it works better. I don't think that the piezo is overly 
sensitive to
>   temperature; mine double-triggered in a nice cozy room that 
didn't
>   vary much. But I wouldn't be surprised if the rubber pad got 
stiffer
>   in the cold. And the hardness of the rubber may well have 
something
>   to do with the double-triggering--notwithstanding the issues of 
self-
>   rejection, gain, and minimum velocity. I began to notice that my
>   beater almost imperceptively struck the hard pad twice. I could
>   eventually control it a little by concentrating on my technique, 
but
>   not enough to eliminate the problem. If this is what's happening 
to
>   you, you might glue part of an old mouse pad to it, and/or 
increase
>   the min. vel. setting, decrease the gain, and find a comfortable
>   self-rejection point. Unfortunately, however, these measures may
>   also further deaden the dynamic range, which, I agree, is not 
good
>   in the first place. It's hard to get a light hit no matter how 
you
>   set the parameters.
> 
>   Maybe Walt or someone else can bear me out on this point, but the
>   polarity switch mainly permits the trigger to be used with 
equipment
>   that reverses polarity. Yamaha's modules make polarity 
adjustments
>   on the fly, rendering the issue irrelevant with its own triggers;
>   switching it shouldn't make any difference in your case.
> 
>   Let us know how you make out. If you go the DIY route, or find an
>   alternate explanation for the difficulty, your experience wiil
>   certainly be valuable.
> 
>   Ed
> 
> 
>   --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "creighton_higgins
>   <creighton@l...>" <creighton@l...> wrote:
>   > anyone here have any issues with stability of settings? Having
>   gotten
>   > my kick pad working ok- suddenly last night it starts double
>   > triggering- severely. Went to trigger settings and changed 
self-
>   > reject settings and saw some improvement, but if you pick too 
high
>   a
>   > setting you cannot trigger fast enough. I'm wondering if piezos
>   are
>   > sensitive to temperature changes or if there is some inherent
>   > instability. All along I have had no success setting the kick 
pad
>   so
>   > I have a semblance of dynamic range- it has acted more like a
>   > switch:just 1 loudness no matter how hard or soft I whack the
>   thing.
>   >
>   > Since I have no manual for the kick tower- who can tell me the
>   > purpose of the polarity switch?
>   >
>   > Thanks.
> 
> 
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