Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hi Martin,

No one can tell you to like one better than the other. Stores will 
tend to recommend Roland because of its massive presence as the 
industry standard, which is also its greatest advantage. In addition 
to the always stocked line of Roland products, nearly every good 
aftermarket cottage industry producing electronic drum equipment 
manufactures with Roland electronics in mind. Yamaha, at the moment, 
is down to one module and kit, whereas Roland has a huge current 
line at various prices. Yamaha just doesn't have the hardware or the 
image to compete with the monster on that level. (Just to be clear, 
many of these aftermarket products also work with Yamaha, and Yamaha 
will be issuing new gear this summer).

But leaving aside for the moment the difficult question of sound 
quality, Roland also has disadvantages--the worst, in my opinion, 
being its prices. I, for one, can rarely justify paying Roland 
prices for Roland gear (Pintech, Hart, and Visu-lite, for example, 
offer less expensive Roland-compatible components that perform 
almost as well, if not better in some cases, than Roland's own). I 
would hardly deny Roland's quality, relative to anyone else's, 
especially at the upper end (the V-Session), but even then, cost is 
a factor that gives me serious pause. Again, holding sound/feel 
quality constant, Roland as a monolith company is remote from 
consumers. That, in itself, isn't rare, but in comparison to 
Yamaha's exceptional accessibility to its electronic-percussion 
consumers, it is an immense disadvantage. This board alone has had 
significant contact with Yamaha's personnel concerning all sorts of 
issues; nothing like that happens at Roland.

That said, the sound quality issue between the TD6 and the DTXpress 
II packages boils down to taste. Neither choice will ever strike you 
as a major mistake. Obviously, this is a Yamaha group; we like our 
Yamaha equipment, probably for many reasons. But both modules have 
their strengths and weaknesses. Yamaha gives you more for your 
money. You won't get any stacking with the Roland, nor the three-
sound snare. It would be nice if you could get a relative sense of 
each module by trying them out in stores, but I, and others, have 
found that the obstacles are too great--from equipment poorly 
maintained or programmed to not enough time/space/help/comfort/ 
volume etc. So far as feel is concerned, a rubber pad is a rubber 
pad is a rubber pad. Though some e-drummers are content with them, 
others eventually get into woven heads. The Yamaha gum rubber pads, 
with sidestick and rimshot capabiities, are more versatile than 
Roland's. I don't think that the Roland cymbals at this level are 
anything special, except for being round. I found the Yamaha wedges 
to perform slightly better, despite their lower price, though I do 
prefer round, all other things being equal. To me, the hi hat cymbal 
situation on both kits leaves much to be desired.

On the rack, I don't own the DTXpress II, but I know that the rack  
collapses conveniently into a lightweight, manageable package. I'd 
be surprised, if like most racks, it couldn't be broken down further 
into its component parts. The DTXpress I rack, which I did own, did 
not fold up whole like its successor, but it did break down into 
small parts if necessary.

People with Yamaha modules use all manner of MIDI, sequencing, and 
recording software. I recall someone talking about Reason not long 
ago. But if I were you, I wouldn't be so quick to sell the DTXpress 
sounds short. It takes some time to get acquainted with them well 
enough to know what works for you and what doesn't. Some of them, at 
least, are great, and your ability to sculpt and alter them to your 
specifications can often make a world of difference. 

Ed 

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "fls23" <olebakk@s...> wrote:
> I'm about to venture into the world of electronic drums... Choices 
> are between the cheap Roland set (TD6-K) and DTXpressII for now. 
> Most music stores recommend Roland sets for some reason...
> 
> One of my "problems" is that the whole thing has to be transport-
> friendly (airplane)... Can anyone tell me if the DTX rack (and/or 
> maybe the Roland) can be fully split into small pieces?
> 
> Also; I see almost nothing here about people using programs like 
> Reason for their electronic drums - isn't there any program that 
can 
> compensate for a cheap head like the DTXpress one, in some way?
> 
> Ole-Martin