Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" <moosetication@y...> 
wrote:
> --- 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

Now that's an interesting and fun question. Stewart appears to have 
covered the bases pretty well. An important part of this test is 
placing the two kinds of percussion in a musical context, at least so 
far as listeners in the b and c categories are concerned, so that 
disguise can enter the picture. Struck individually side by side, on 
a level playing field without processing, an acoustic snare and an 
electronic one will not sound the same. External processing, however, 
makes the call more difficult (not the processing on the modules 
themselves, which is generally not good enough to fool the ear). 
Experienced listeners will know what to listen for--attack, natural 
decay, buzz, harmonics. Successive hits are a dead giveaway on most e-
drum modules, especially with cymbals. Granted, this gets harder when 
high end modules like the TD-20, ddrum3 or 4, or DTXtremeIIS are 
involved. 

In recorded songs, not only does the level of complexity in the 
playing and recording tend to mask differences; so does the what the 
recording is played on. A typical boombox would obscure subtleties 
that a Meridian system would not; a typical CD would obscure the 
sound in a way that a DVD-Audio mastering would not. When Mutt Lange 
produced bands like the Cars during the 80s, he preferred using drum 
machines rather than real drums (the poor drummer had to learn to 
program or sit out the sessions). Back then, you could tell the 
difference, especially if you were privy to his modus operandi. The 
success of the results didn't always turn on how good the illusion 
was, bringing up another point. Whether the intention of a particular 
recording is to make e-drums sound as much like acoustics or not 
doesn't necessarily matter. Even something that falls short can sound 
good, and sometimes producers don't want them to sound like acoustics 
at all--an obvious advantage of electronics when carving out unique 
territory is important. 

Okay, back to the story. I've taken that very test a few times. In 
the most recent one, a member of this group sent me two CDs that were 
well produced; both featured him playing an electronic kit through a 
DTXpressI module. I listened to the first CD and could clearly hear 
the DTXpress in action. It was played and recorded well, fitting in 
with the music beautifully. The second CD was a different group, 
backing a female singer, but with the same drummer. On the first cut, 
I knew without question that I was listening to an acoustic kit (it 
was a different drummer, too, though I didn't know). The remaining 
cuts went back to the DTXpress. I believe that any experienced member 
of this group could have noticed the switch.

The upshot is that a skilled program or engineer can probably fool 
anybody if he has a mind, and the equipment, to do so. If he fails, 
not much is lost from an aesthetic perspective. Good e-drums can 
sound cool, effective, powerful, subtle, etc. even if they are 
clearly in evidence. 

I didn't add much to Stewart, but at this moment, when all this new 
equipment is poised to enter the market, it's a good time for us to 
take stock of where we are. 

Ed