Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hi Randall, and Welcome.

Based on our collective experiences I do have a couple
of initial suggestions for you, to ensure you continue
to have a good time with your kit.

There have been 2 things that we have found with the
way the xpress IIs are coming from the factory, so to
avoid them I would suggest that you first reset the
module to the factory settings.  This is due to some
members trying to trigger xpress sounds from external
devices.  It is done via a prompt in the Utilities
menu, and is much less painful if you do it now,
before you customize your settings. 

The other issue has to do with rejections between the
HH and snare.  For some reason the factory defaults
call for the two pads to hate each other - we have
reported the problem to Yamaha, but we also like to
tell new users about it.  What you need to do is look
at the Specific Rejection  (not Rejection or Self
Rejection, but Specific Rejection )settings in the
Trigger menu for both your snare and your HH trigger
settings.  The symptom you may notice is that when you
hit the snare and HH together, or or the other may not
produce a sound/  Normally for any of the rejection
parameters, you want the amount of rejection to be
zero (no rejection), unless you have cross triggering
(one pad sounding when you hit another) or false
triggers (one pad sounding more than once when you
only hit it once).  Then you only want to increase the
rejection value enough to eliminate your problem -
increasing rejection decreases sensitivity.

Now, on to your questions.  The base HH is an
open/closed type of pedal.  Many of us upgrade to a
pedal that not only does open and closed, but also has
a variable range in between.  The HH80A from Yamaha is
one such pedal.  

Your tom sounds can be almost anything you want them
to be.  There are many predefined kits, but you can
also customize your own.  If you scroll through the
voice menu, you can press the Voice button on the
front panel to hear nay sound you have displayed. 
Beyond selecting the sound, you can also alter its
pitch, decay, reverb - plus a whole bunch more.  I
suspect you will find many toms to your liking.  The
same applies to the other pads as well.

That is a lot to swallow for now, but feel free to ask
more questions.  We're open 7 x 24!  You can also
search the posts if you have a specific nugget of info
you're looking for.

Walt 
--- "dvaoa28 <dvaoa28@...>" <dvaoa28@...>
wrote:
> Hey everyone,
> 
> I just got my new DTXpress I set from Midwest
> percussion.  
> Initial reactions include,
> -I'm very impressed how authentic the
> snare-kick-cymbals & 
> hi-hat sound right out of the box.
> -The hi-hat controller seems kinda finnicky; is
> there supposed to 
> be a learning curve to using one compared to an
> acoustic hi-hat 
> pedal?
> -The toms, esp. in comparison to the other pads,
> sound 
> alarmingly synthetic (or as I call it,
> Flock-of-Seagull-ish).  I'm 
> hoping that I can tailor the sound closer to that of
> acoustic toms 
> with the module.....please tell me I can?!??!  My
> playing falls 
> along the lines of rock/hard blues.
> -I'm VERY impressed with triggering accuracy on the
> rubber 
> pads.  I tried a Roland woven mesh kit at my local
> Guitar Center, 
> and both the feel & triggering were horrible (for my
> taste, 
> anyhow).  I assume the triggering on those could be
> adjusted 
> through the module, but the feel will remain the
> same.  I guess 
> it's a personal taste issue, but I fail to see the
> appeal of the 
> woven heads.
> 
> Anyway, hope to tap you all for some help while
> going through 
> the growing pains of learning the ins & outs of the
> system.
> 
> Peace,
> 
> Randall
> 
> 


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