Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "eclipse9917042" <ewitters@c...> 
wrote:
> Hello,  I am sure this may have been asked befor but with all the 
> stuff coming out, I will ask again.  I want to get into drumming 
and 
> (because I live in an apartment) e-drums seem to be the way to go.  
> I think I have narrowed my selection to the DTXPRESS III and the 
> Roland V-Tour.  I would love to hear some of your thoughts on the 
> two (or others in that price range)  Thanks in advance, Ed W.

Hi Ed,

You know what they say about fools rushing in where wisemen fear to 
tread. Well, here goes.  Since neither of these kits is available to 
audition yet, definitive judgment will have to wait. However, we know 
enough about the DTXpressIII kits from our familiarity with their 
predecessors and its literature to make a pretty good call, and 
Roland's V-Tour is not much more of a mystery. What we don't know 
about either of them is exactly how their new voices sound. I've 
always thought that anyone who buys a Roland kit or a Yamaha kit at a 
particular price point is going to be happy with it. Whether you like 
the sounds in one module better than those in the other is largely a 
personal matter. 

Many people thought the old TD-6 was Roland's best module in many 
respects. It didn't have the COSM feature (not necessarily a terrible 
loss), but it was the newest in the line and perhaps the most 
intuitive. The TD-6s is probably every bit as attractive. So far as e-
drums are concerned, Yamaha has veritably made a living on the 
DTXpress, which became a hugely popular kit. One reason is that the 
Roland "equivalent," like all the Rolands, is too expensive for what 
it is. Yamaha easily wins the bang for the buck award. The V-tour has 
some nice things going for it, however, besides the module--the round 
CY-8 cymbals and the mesh snare, to name two. But rather than spend 
$1300 or so on it, I'd rather have the DTXpressIIISTD for $900+; it 
doesn't suffer by comparison in components (except for the piece-
slice cymbals) and adds a three-sound snare and collapsible curved 
rack to the mix. For a couple of hundred bucks more, I'd rather even 
spring for the DTXpressIIISP, which adds its own round cymbals--one 
of them bell/bow/and edge--and a hi hat on an actual stand. But it's 
good to know that the STD version can be upgraded a piece at a time 
to include anything that ships with the SP. 

One more thing not to be ignored. Yamaha has the best customer 
service that you can imagine. It is not uncommon for members of this 
group to make deep contact with the people who design, market, and 
otherwise provide Yamaha e-drum products. 

So when these kits get to your local store, let the chips fall where 
they may. Once you've made your choice, if you make it carefully, you 
won't be likely to regret it, regardless of what you buy. On my 
ledger, both Yamaha options come out on top at this point. You may 
have an altogether different reaction.

Ed