Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "leehunwick" <lhunwick@t...> wrote:
> but my question is hart mesh heads and cymbals what works best with 
> the dtx2 and can people recommend alternatives Pintech etc.

Lee,

Hart Dynamic makes absolutely wonderful equipment. The only problem 
is that not all of it may not mate well with Yamaha electronics. A 
little community of us (not all members of this board, except for me 
and Walt) has had trouble with various Hart components--the snare, 
the hat, and the ECII ride. Contact with Peter Hart has won an 
acknowledgemnt of the problem but no action on it as yet. To be fair, 
Matt uses the Xtreme module with the Hart ECII and hat (I think) and 
reports that he's made progress with them. But even he admits that 
integration shouldn't take so long. That said, the caveat does not 
include the crashes, which seem to thrive through Yamaha's modules. 
Fortunately, Hart favors Alesis, as well as Roland. If you bought the 
ECII 16" metal ride, you could run it through the Alesis. The hat 
through the Alesis, howver, would get only open and closed sounds 
(not the middle position that Xpress gives you); through the Yamaha, 
the Hart hat may undergo poor tracking and an attenuated signal. 

Just in case you are considering the Hart hat, using it with the 
Yamaha hat controller through the DM5 might require a polarity 
adaptor. The Hart hat controller would be fine through the Alesis--if 
it's lack of variable control is acceptable--but need an adaptor with 
the Yamaha. 

The entire Pintech line is compatible with both modules; the Rolands 
will work, too, though you may have to tweak, and pay, more than you 
like. Pintech's ever-increasing Zenbal cymbal line (14" gum rubber) 
is wonderful (ask Stephen and others here), but the stereo ones will 
be limited to mono through the Alesis. The Pintech ConcertCasts are a 
great way to add woven head pads to your kit. Visu-lite cymbals are 
another option. The Yamaha BP80, Pintech Dingbat and Nimrod, and Drum 
Tech Pole Pad (which you're unlikely to find in Europe) are also 
available; they can serve as all kinds of percussion and usually fit 
easily on a rack because of their shape.

I hope that you're getting the idea that there are an abundance of 
good products, if you can find them. Trying them out first is always 
the best route, but if you can't, a cross-section of recommendations 
from the experienced members of this board can't hurt. Based on 
considerations of price, quality, and ease of use, I'd go with 
Pintech and Visu-lite, as well as Hart with the caveats offered above.

Ed