Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- jjcorley0000 wrote:
> Say someone recorded five songs and played "real" 
> drums on four of them and eDrums on one.  Then ...
> people could try to pick which was was the eDrum track.
> What if the responses were grouped based on:
>     a)  General Music Listening Public
>     b)  Musicians
>     c)  Experienced Drummers

The inevitable and inescapable problem is that once you're either in 
your (b) or (c) categories, it's impossible to shake the "baggage" 
and think like someone in a "lower" category. Learned behaviours are 
very strong indeed.

It also depends on the gear, and on what's being played. Assuming a 
song that required something more expressive than a straight 4/4 
backbeat, for example, I am confident that I would spot something in 
the "DTXpress class" (say) six times out of ten. I would guess that 
would drop to no better than three times out of ten with Roland TD-20 
class. With ddrum, I would be working on pure dumb luck - if I listen 
to the samples on the Clavia site, to me they're indistinguishable 
from the "real thing".

I agree with you in that most of the criticism is not actually in how 
they sound, but the combination of how they sound AND BEHAVE from the 
player's point of view (in other words, the group with the most 
learned behaviours). For example, cymbal swells. They just can't be 
done on a DTXpress, and they're only in this last week really 
possible on the flagship Roland product.

But you see that's just the group the manufacturers are after! Anyone 
who considers themselves competent (no matter how competent they 
really are) are going to be persuaded by a marketing argument that 
basically says "don't worry what you think they feel like, but in 
taste tests 90% of listeners can't tell the difference between 
margarine and butter."

Stewart