Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

As an alternative approach for the stereo randomised cymbal track, 
why not record your standard drum track as MIDI into protools but 
leave out the cymbal crashes.  Then set up a new kit on the dtxpress 
with all the pads assigned to different cymbal sounds and record 
this, either as MIDI (if you'd like to be able to quantise/edit it 
later!) or as stereo audio.

I was reading about some of the James Brown sessions recently and 
sometimes they used multiple drummers, one to lay down the groove, 
and the other(s) to add fills, cymbals etc. You'd be following in a 
fine tradition. :)


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "emf" <liberatusvirus@y...> wrote:
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "gollywillickers" 
> <gollywillickers@y...> wrote:
> > if anyone has any info or ideas on a "RANDOMIZING" effect - 
please 
> let me 
> > know.
> 
> Judicious use of reverb can somewhat mitigate the need for a 
> randomizing effect, since it tends to level the playing field, and 
> ensemble playing in general has a masking effect on some of the 
> machine gunning that e-drums can produce. The two most popular 
> methods used by drum modules to tackle the problem are positional 
> sensing--whereby striking different areas of a pad creates 
different 
> sounds--and velocity crossfading--whereby varying levels of force 
> create varying tones. The DTXpress has no positional sensing and 
its 
> crossfading is limited to two voices. You can double-crossfade in 
> such a way, however, that the two sounds can approximate broad or 
> close differences in how two areas/hits can sound on an acoustic 
drum 
> or cymbal. In the case of a ride cymbal, a voice at one velocity 
can 
> be given a relatively quick attack and high frequency, as it might 
> sound nearer the bell, and at a second velocity it might sound more 
> sustained, lowered in pitch, and altered in frequency cutoff to 
> resemble what would happen if the cymbal were struck closer to the 
> edge. For a snare, you could similarly crossfade to emphasize, 
> alternatively, center and edge tonality, adding rim voices and the 
> rim-to-pad feature to produce even greater variation. 
> 
> Sounds run through samplers like Reason or Battery, however, can be 
> quite realistic when triggered from the DTXpress. Reason's 
> Alternating Zones feature is in fact a randomizing algorithm. I'm 
> sure that somebody here knows more about it than I do.
> 
> Ed
> 
> Ed