Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

On Saturday, February 21, 2004, at 04:56  PM, emf wrote:

> I took a bit of a jaunt today to my closest GC to make a pitch for
> the DTXpress SP and DTXtreme IIS. The guy who ran the drum section
> heard me out politely and even agreed that the decision to stock the
> Xpress STD instead of the other kits might not have been the best
> idea. Not surprisingly, he justified the relative scarcity of Yamaha
> (and Pintech) on the floor by the many Roland kits on display and was
> happy to report that the TD-20 would be arriving soon. He may not
> have got my point. I have no illusions.
>

official reason is, according to my region's regional division manager, 
the Xpress Special kit is too close to the Roland V-Club/V-Tour price 
point, and they don't want to piss the big R off. Ah well, can't say I 
agree with that thinking, but that's probably why I'm only a department 
manager and not a buyer.


> At any rate, the STD was on the floor against the wall where the e-
> kits usually are. I would have tested the new sounds if the place had
> not been in such unbearably noisy chaos. People were pounding on the
> acoustic drums that occupied the middle of the room--the wrong
> people, I might add. If I were king, I'd have crammed a bunch of
> acoustic kits into one of the smaller side rooms, kept the doors
> shut, and let the hordes beat on each others' eardrums until the cows
> came home. I would also have placed mesh heads on all of the acoustic
> drums that remained in the area where people do business and discuss
> equipment. The e-drummers could keep playing through headphones in
> the main area to their hearts' content (I don't doubt that McConaghy
> has good reasons why my royal prerogratives might not work).
>

Yep, story of our lives. Management wants all acoustic kits demo-ready, 
and, at least in our store, we salespeople try to limit the amount of 
sticks on the floor at all times to 2 pairs. For a while we wouldn't 
let people play our acoustics, especially if they gave us the feeling 
that they were only in to bash, instead we'd put them behind a 
V-Session and plug in the 'phones (worked like a charm, they'd play for 
2 minutes while their mates laughed at their de-masculization, and 
they'd leave to go play guitar instead)
I've been lobbying for separate acoustic rooms with some Auralex on the 
walls for dampening for the longest time, as is common with many 
European drum stores, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. 
Shame, would have kept me from switching to the keyboard department as 
soon as the opportunity arose.

> As it was, I hightailed it out of there and went to the keyboard
> section to listen to some of the Motif percussion sounds. I can't say
> that my ability to navigate the Yamahas did anything like justice to
> the drum sounds, but some of them were quite rich to my ears.
>
> Ed
>
The Motif is probably the best sounding module on the market right now, 
especially the ES sounds have a great quality to them. I'm suspecting 
that the Xpress III and the Xtreme IIs will be based on the Motif Rack 
soundset, which is not too shabby, either.

Stuart McConaghy
Canopus Drums
Meinl Cymbals
SilverFox Sticks