Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Would the average user want such an elaberate system?

Im a slave to technology, i love everything about it. I have a degree 
in cybernetic systems. However i dont see the real benefits of 
basically having a PC suck on a drum module. What we basically have 
now is "cut down" PC. If you wanted a CD writer then you simply plug 
one into the outputs of the module and write. A nice user interface 
would be fun, but not fun enough to justify the cost of implementing 
a good graphics system and the LCD screen to boot. 

Put bluntly I like the idea of a module that can do all the things 
that are listed but i like it for no other reason tha nit looks 
fancy. It wont automatically provide a better system.

Phil


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" <moosetication@y...> 
wrote:
> Having ranted fit to bust, I have a few thoughts to share. I shall 
> start with modules.
> 
> (Before anyone has a hissy fit about my subsequent being Intel and 
> Microsoft-centric, don't bother. I don't care. I will not debate 
the 
> technical merits of the outpourings of Bill's minions. I have my 
> views, none of which you can infer from my remarks here, and I'm 
> sure you have yours. And if yours are in the negative, I'm sure I 
> will give a damn about them just as soon as whatever you worship 
has 
> more than a tiny fraction of the marketplace.)
> 
> The year, in case Roland, Yamaha, ddrum, and any other company out 
> there hasn't noticed, is 2004. Two thousand and four. Twenty-three 
> years after the invention of the personal computer. Thirteen years 
> after Bill and another handful of people who look like they did all 
> their clothes shopping on a single trip to Target in 1972 ripped 
off 
> Apple and launched a thing called Windows. Nine years after Windows 
> finally sprang a decent user interface.
> 
> So why, oh why, are these companies, who employ some remarkable 
> smart people, producing drum modue user interfaces that would 
> embarass a calculator? My mobile phone has a better user interface. 
> Hell, MOTOROLA produces better user interfaces and what they know 
> about human-computer interface design could be written in 144-point 
> Gill Sans on an airmail stamp.
> 
> It's pathetic. It's embarassing.
> 
> And why are they continuing to design dedicated hardware? Why go to 
> all the trouble of designing and fabricating what are effectively 
> pathetically underpowered singe-board PCs with processing 
capability 
> that can be comfortably outclassed by my washing machine? Andy 
> Groves, his minions, and the endless hordes of his customers (PC 
> makers) do it in their sleep, all day, every day.
> 
> Basic PCs now cost pennies to make. Their form factors are tiny. 
> They have shedloads of memory, blisteringly fast processors, 32-bit 
> sound, sensible MIDI implementations, 32-bit colour, and fixed and 
> removable storage. Hell, you can get a DVD drive for pocket change. 
> And they support a user interface that 93% of anyone who has used a 
> personal computer can understand.
> 
> Why in this god-forsaken galaxy do we NOT have drum modules that 
are 
> basically PCs? With colour, graphical interfaces, touchscreens, CD 
> drives, USB ports, networking, firewire? And then spend ALL of 
their 
> time writing decent software, and providing decent sounds, all on 
CD 
> or DVD?
> 
> Stewart