Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "jtatsuoka" <jtatsuoka@y...> wrote:
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "liberatusvirus" 
<liberatusvirus@y...> wrote:
> The original poster mentioned compatibility with the Roland snare 
and kick.  For the mesh head portion of the snare and the kick you 
will 
> need a potentiometer.  The signal from the rim of the snare might 
not need it or is too weak because the rubber on the rim acts as an 
> attenuator.  Probably the same with the material on the Roland 
cymbals.  The fact that you were not able to use the Roland cymbal, 
> because of a weak signal,  proves that the DTXpress does NOT  have 
an input gain.  If it did you would have been able to turn the 
> sensitivity up. The DTXpress does have a 'gain' and 'mvel' but as 
you know decreasing the 'gain' does not affect the percentage that 
> shows up on the display. The  picture of the Yamaha pad by OGD 
depicts a surface mount potentiometer on the little circuit board. 
Try 
> turning that up and down. You will experience either too much or 
too little gai
> I believe Pintech had any module with a sensitivity knob in mind 
not just Roland.  Pintech used to advertise with Alesis modules until 
> Roland bought them out. Yamaha modules are the only modules on the 
market that lack an input sensitivity.  Even the lowly Alesis D4 
> has one.   
> 
> Ed, you use Pintech?  What values are your 'gain' and 'mvel' set 
at?  Are you experiencing a 'perfect percentage' response? If you are 
> reaching 99% before maximun velocity,  you should try spicing a 
cheap cable and inserting a 250k pot.  Set your 'gain=99' 
and 'mvel=1' 
> and adjust the pot until you achieve optimum performance.

Jun,

Thanks. Yes, I use Pintech meshes for the snare and all toms. I've 
come to an understanding with my setup, which includes flipped up DIP 
switches on the back of the module, toms with  moderate gain and min 
vel., and snare on separate stand with a low min. vel, and fairly 
high gain. Playing with what must pass for a relatively delicate 
touch from the likes of me has been getting satisfactory results, but 
I will experiment when I can and report back. Maybe we should prevail 
on Yamaha to change their strategy, which seems to be an attempt to 
dissuade the use of other company's pads, though the results don't 
seem definitive enough for that. 

Now I'm wondering whether the lack of input sensitivity on the module 
is responsible for Hart's spotty performance with Yamaha electronics. 
If so, why didn't Peter Hart say so when we told him about the 
problems, instead of claiming to look into them but remaining mute. 
This would not seem to be too difficult to figure out, if Yamaha 
differs from everyone else in this respect. 

Ed