Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

OK, yesterday I tried out the DTXPRESS III Special in the main Yamaha
store here in Nagoya. You'll have to remember that I've been playing a
DTX v2 for a long while and so comparisons on sounds etc are not going
to be easy to make. We are basically dealing with five years of
evolution. 

I checked out the cymbal sounds and they were nice, good even - but
not (to my ear) anything very special. I did the like the hardware of
the cymbals - especially the three zone ride cymbal. It felt quite
natural to play and had a good feel about it. The bass drum felt good
(I've been playing with the old hard design for a long while and the
warm thud that the new one produces is definately a big improvement -
I guess that was part of the DTXPRESS II as well. 

The snare I wasn't too impressed with but it may just have needed some
getting used to. I found it too easy to trigger the wrong sound (or
not to trigger the sound on the rim at all). Maybe something wrong
with their setup. I never played the stereo pad on my old kit as a
snare but used to have it to the left and slightly behind the hi-hat
where I would play it with a pair of conga sounds assigned to it. For
that reason I may just not be able to play it properly. 

The biggest disappointment for me was the new hi-hat. I could not get
that thing to behave itself and it didn't feel right. That's a dim
thing to say when I've been using a normal pad as a hihat for the last
five years but in that arrangement my brain knew it wasn't real and
kind of dealt with it. This one looks like a real hihat but doesn't
behave like one and it irked me. I also couldn't (not matter what I
adjusted) get the things to trigger in the closed position correctly
without really forcing my foot down hard. I played the standard set
which has the normal (simple pad) hihat and I have to say that it felt
a lot easier  to play for me. 

I've decided to go for the Roland TD-6KV-S instead. The specific
reasons are:

   a) The mesh snare feels a lot more natural and responsive
   b) The main pads are dual trigger for tom rim shots
   c) The cymbal sounds sound nicer to my ears and the kits
      generally seemed to have a more natural sound

On a more general note I found that playing the DTXPRESS seemed more
wearning to me. I'm not sure if that is down to the Roland snare of
the other pads as well but playing DTXPRESS certainly felt more like
hard work. With the Roland I just sort of gelled with it more (which
was surprising considering I've been playing a Yamaha set for five
years).  

Anyway, for the record those are my thoughts. It's all subjective but
in my mind I think I've made the right decision for me. Thanks to all
of you who gave me feedback and I'll still be using the DTX v2 at my
friends setup.

Ian