Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Theguy Withnoeye said:
> would it be more or less of a problem to upgrade the
> new cymbal sounds?

This is a very open-ended question, and one that I don't know if can be
effectively answered (i.e. which variable is greater, "X" or "Y") other
than to say "It depends". Suffice to say it would be dependent upon how
the new cymbal sounds differ from the existing sounds.

A module like the DTXpressII is usually very finely tuned to work with
the firmware it has. By firmware I mean both the programs that operate
the unit, and the digital sound recordings contained within the unit.

If the new sounds were say 24bit samples, and the existing samples were
16 bit, then you would have to make wholesale changes in the D/A (Digital
to Analog) converters to allow them to play the different sample rate,
not to mention the BUS to carry the data and the horsepower of the
processor to process the new amount of data. Again, the answer is mostly
"It depends".

> should the sounds be stored somewhere in the ROM's
> firmware, where to 'clean up' the sound just some
> parameters were modified?

If the "new sounds" were recorded in the same way as the "old" ones, it
might be technically possible for Yamaha to just replace some parts in
the existing DTXPress II with sounds that were destined for the
DTXPressIII, however, what would be the benefit to them (Yamaha) in doing
so? This would have a demonstrable impact on sales of the new units since
the old units could be retrofitted with the benefits of the new module,
you wouldn't need to purchase the new one.

> I really don't have a clue do I?

Thats really not the point! :) Asking questions is how we *all* "get a
clue" about anything we do not understand. It's only frustrating for me
when I have to provide a giant answer to a seemingly small question, only
because the answer would make no sense outside the context of an
explanation.

I would rather give short, clear answers, but sometimes the question
itself precludes doing so when it demonstrates a lack of detailed
knowledge necessary to understand the asnwer. Please don't hesistate to
ask questions here, we are happy to respond and this is one of the few
forums I'm aware of where you have very little risk of getting flamed! :)

Lets see if I can summarize for anyone who is interested:

1) The sounds contained inside the DTXpressII ROM are NOT easily
replaced, and are not designed to be replaced.

2) There is no motivation for Yamaha to do this, nor to provide
assistance to anyone doing this.

3) If you are dissatisfied with the sounds in the DTXpressII module, then
it would be a good idea to take a look at the new offerings and consider
selling your old system to offset the cost. You may also consider asking
for kit settings from others to see if you can use a parameter change to
get closer to the sound you are seeking.

4) So far, no one I know of has found a way to replace the sounds, and I
would imagine it would be much more difficult than it would be worth.

5) The only case I have heard of where Yamaha sent a replace ROM to a
user, was to add some pad abilities to some of the inputs that were not
there before (search the archives for details on this).  This new ROM did
not change ANY of the *sounds* in the module, it only changed the
parameters you could set for a pad.

Does this help answer your questions? :)

Vern

--
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
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