Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "s_troop2" <s_troop2@v...> wrote:
> I have a rather large DTXpress 2.0 set.
> 
> Here's the scoop...
> 
> 5 single pads (65s) (HH, 3 mounted toms, 1 tom next to HH)
> 3 dual trigger pads (80S) (ride, 2 floor toms)
> 1 3 trigger pad - snare
> 
> 1 single trigger cymbal
> 2 dual trigger cymbals
> 
> 2 BPS80s (splashes, cowbells toerh fun stuf!!)
> 
> 1 kick & high hat pedal.
> 
> Okay...so I got all that out of the way. My deal is I only have one 
> module (DTX 2.0) I need another. One will control cymbals & BP80 
and 
> the other will control drums.

Ken,

Congratulations on all fronts. You have definitely entered the game 
with a flourish. Taste, necessity, and budget are the criteria for 
the second module or trigger device. Since you're going to be 
connecting stereo cymbals to it, you'll need a unit with at least a 
few inputs capable of voicing them--either another DTXpressII, an 
XpressI, some kind of Roland, or a long-disontinued DTX 2.0. I might 
have included Roland's TMC-6 trigger to MIDI device, or its dear-
departed counterparts, but since, as its name implies, it has only 
six inputs, you'd fall short of a full house. A new Roland module 
might be too expensive; a used one might be, too, or overkill. An 
XpressI, however, would cost you no more than $180-$200 on the used 
market, and it would allow you to use your bow/edge cymbals. An old 
DTX 2.0 would also fill the bill for not much more; the only drawback 
is that it's, well, old. If you've got money to burn, the XpressII is 
the ticket; it has what you need and has more re-sale value.

> 1. How will I be able to hear both modules through headphones? Is 
> there a device that combines both outputs to a single?

The way to integrate two modules is with something called a mixer. It 
will have inputs for the stereo outputs of both modules--and more, 
depending on which you get--as well as a headphone jack or two. It 
will have level/balance control, a panning spectrum, and possible 
effects--again, depending on what level of mixer you choose. If your 
needs are modest, the $80 small, well-built Rolls MX-28 will do the 
trick. It has stereo inputs for both modules, as well as another for, 
say, a CD player if you want to add it to the mix to play along. 
Behringer and other companies also have options that are very popular 
on this board, and elsewhere, for under $100 (I'm not a particular 
fan of this company, but many members have reported great success 
with the mixers). Mixers can be elaborate and expensive, but if 
you're not adding one for a band, with loads of busses, 
inputs/outputs, etc., they are easy to coordinate.

> 2. If I get a different module with different sounds can the two 
> modules "share" sounds via MIDI? (I am MIDI ignorant...very!)

Yes, they can connect to each other via MIDI, but one module would 
get shortchanged for the sounds of the other. Trigger to MIDI 
devices, like the TMC-6 that I mentioned above, work on this 
principle, but for them it makes sense. They have no sounds of their 
own; their inputs derive their voices solely rom the module to which 
they connect via MIDI; they have no embedded sounds of their own. 
They serve simply as extra inputs (with their own trigger 
parameters). So, you escape the MIDI quandary for now. The mixer is 
the answer to your double-module predicament. 
 
Ed