Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- "b3n1981" wrote:
> also whats a good price to pay for another crash pad
> (can be single zone)

Single-zone Pintech cymbals come in reasonably cheap, especially if 
you get them from eBay... but most US eBay-ers won't mail to the UK 
(for obvious reasons) so you really need friends / relatives / 
colleagues in the US to act as a mail relay. In the UK check out 
Koby (www.koby.co.uk) ... all their cymbals are currently single 
zone, but Colin told me he plans to do dual-zone based on demand. So 
demand some! His prices aren't bad (but I have left my price list in 
the office so don't have them off-hand). His are more realistic 
looking round cymbals with 1/3 diameter triggers, a bit like the 
single zone Zenbals or the Harts. If he did a dual-zone, I would 
have one.

Less than one week in to my new DTXpressII, and...

What I have done so far is to swap the PCY65 and 65S over, so the 
dual-zone is a crash/ride (crash on the edge, ride layered) and the 
single zone crash only, which is a more natural arrangement in my 
view. I will get another dual-zone cymbal, set up both zones as 
crashes, and move the single zone one to the other half of 9/10. I 
have obtained a TP80s from eBay which I have swapped in as the hi-
hat, and moved the TP65 thus liberated to 9 to use as a fourth tom. 
Finally I'm going to try to split in a simple switch to the "kick 
Rim" side of input 1 to use as a kit inc/dec (or perhaps a foot-
operated cowbell or something).

I've also set up two new kits based on the Maple sounds, with some 
layering to round them out. I've also layered the hi-hat (vital, in 
my view). I'll upload them soon when I'm happy. Only current problem 
is that the edge trigger on the TP80s is a bit suspect so I can't 
get the hat edge sound consistently.

Well, not the only problem. When I last drummed (25 years ago... 
yes, another old guy drummer) I only used a single kick. My double 
kick technique currently seems to be ... suboptimal, shall we say. 
Mr Portnoy need not look over his shoulder *just* yet.

Stewart