Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

eDrummers in London (UK) now have a new drum store to check out as the 
basement of the big Virgin record store in Oxford Street (London, UK) 
is now home to the London branch of the Birmingham based music store 
chain Sound Control. No big deal you might think except it also houses 
the first of the Roland Planet concept 'store within a store' stands 
with all the V-drum kits, a Handsonic, amps and Boss effects units, all 
set-up for hands-on exploration. And further to the back of the store 
is the Yamaha keyboard stand with a DTXpress II!

In terms of marketing Roland have totally eclipsed Yamaha in this new 
store. You can't miss the Roland display, it's big, all the kits are 
there, and it's the first thing you see as you walk down the stairs 
into the basement. When I was there yesterday the V-drums were in 
constant use, whereas the poor old DTXpress went largely unnoticed and 
was just ignored. Part of the reason for this was that all over the 
Yamaha area there were signs saying "Please don't touch" and the set-up 
of the DTXpress was awful, there were no sticks, and the snare was the 
same height as the stool! And if that wasn't bad enough the hi-hat had 
been set up as another bass drum pedal. And frankly the DTXpress just 
stuck there on its own just couldn't compete with the eye candy of the 
Roland extravaganza. So on presentation and playability (by this I mean 
being able to just sit down and play the kit) Roland won hands down, 
although to be fair there were only two pairs of sticks on offer on 
their stand too. I hope Yamaha make more of an effort when the DTXpress 
III is launched next year.

When I first heard of the Roland Planet concept back in the summer I 
understood that the Planet would be staffed by Roland. As far as I 
could see yesterday there were no staff at all dedicated to any 
specific area of the store, so while the Planet stand was very busy it 
was difficult to see how this enthusiasm was being translated into 
sales. To be fair they are advertising for staff so this situation 
might improve. Interestingly, there's nothing that I could see about 
this opening on the Roland UK web site.

The question is whether this new store offers anything not already on 
offer at Footes (in Golden Square). Difficult to say as I have no 
experience of the existing Sound Control stores so don't know what they 
are like regarding service, stock and backup, but I would say based on 
what I experienced yesterday that Footes being a dedicated drum store 
still has the edge, as you'd be able to swop out pedals etc, but the 
set-up there is far from perfect too. Where the Planet might win out is 
if Roland throw the weight of their advertising budget behind it and 
stage demonstrations - Michael Schack is an awesome demonstrator - 
although it is difficult to imagine how they'd do demonstrations in the 
present space unless they clear the old stage area. Oh, and Sound 
Control do have the advantage of a 0% interest deal available, which 
might be of interest as the DTXpress III is just around the corner!

So, if you're in London and want to get your hands on the latest eDrum 
gear then Sound Control is well worth checking out, and the bonus is 
that Footes is only 10 minutes away so you can check them out too. But 
don't forget your sticks!

pb

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Sound Control (London), 14-16 Oxford Street, London W1B 1AR
T_+44 (0207) 631 4200
F_+44 (0207) 361 4050
email: london@...

Sound Control web page:
<http://www.soundcontrol.co.uk/>
Interest free credit details:
<http://www.soundcontrol.co.uk/mod_1/pages/mod_1.19/pages/index.php>