Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- "liberatusvirus" wrote:
> Furthermore, rumor has it that the next wave of module 
> technology from Yamaha, as well as Roland, will incorporate
> sampling capability as a major component. I, for one, am
> going to wait for it...

I'm very keen to see what Yamaha produce here. If they do it as well 
as they do on their high-end digital pianos, it will be jaw-
droppingly good.

It's worth a few words on it (even though it's not e-drums) to whet 
your appetites. We have a Clavinova CLP990 (top end of "last year's 
model" of Clavinovas). Now, on "cheap" piano samplers, they sample 
every few notes (up to an octave sometimes) and then digitally 
interpolate. Moreover, they only sample a "simple" key stroke. 
Yamaha samples the entire keyboard. The grand piano sample alone is 
80Mb. Not only do they sample both key on and key off, but they also 
sample interactions with other keys (for example, hold down a key to 
sustain it and then strike another - the sustained note will be 
modified by the effect of the new one) but also with the soundboard 
and the sustain pedals. It really is truly, truly remarkable and to 
most ears indistinguishable from the concert grand from which it's 
sampled.

Now, mentally extend that to acoustic drum samples. If it works as 
above, we could really start to hear something remarkable. The way a 
crash/ride interacts between the crash and the ride. The resonance 
interaction between toms. The subtle effect of kick-mounted toms 
through the kick itself. Snare buzz. Real cross-stick vs side-stick 
differences.

Damn, I'm now drooling.

The downside? It is, shall we say, far from inexpensive.

Stewart