Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Chris" <bigal@k...> wrote:
> 
> Hi Ed.  Thanks for the fast response.  SO, hmmmmm....if I were to 
go 
> with the Yamaha DTXT2U, would I be able to use the same PCMCIA card 
I 
> am using with the DMPro?  If not, do you have any info on where to 
> get one, or any helpful websites on the Extreme?  

The DTXtremeIIS uses 3.3V (3V) memory cards, not 5V; I don't recall 
what the DM Pro uses. For a while, Yamaha was giving away free 
SmartMedia cards with kits purchased from brick and mortar stores 
(not web stores). Even if that offer has dried up, any dealer should 
be able to get you what you need, even if you only buy the module. 
One problem, however, is that the module is available separately on a 
limited basis only at this point, since Yamaha is still bundling it 
mainly with the pads. Drumbalaya is one of the few webstores to 
advertise it a la carte. You should ask Ed Morin there about its 
availability, or try your local Guitar Center.

I do like the 
> Yamaha interface and if it would allow me to burn my own and has 
just 
> as many voices and drumkits, that would be perfect.  As far as the 
> latest technology, I was leaning more towards hooking up the unit 
to 
> my computer via USB or something and just throwing all my wavs, 
> etc... into the module.  I don't absolutely need that.  I would be 
> fine with the expansion csrd capability.  

I think that you can load wav. samples into the module via any input, 
including the USB one, but you have to store them on memory cards. 

I'm just emotional right 
> now because because my Alesis is about to die and I want something 
> new NOW!!!!  : )  Have a new equipment bug.  A dedicated sampler is 
> probably overkill for what I need it for.  Other than a handfull of 
> songs, it's more of an effects toy.  Also, is the Extreme pretty 
much 
> universaly accomodating as far as triggers go? 

I feel for you about the DM PRO, but the Motif voices on the DTXtreme 
module probably won't disappoint you, and the sampling capability 
seems just right for you (I recall that the kit comes with a CD-ROM 
of samples that you can download as well). I wish that I could give 
you complete assurance about its ability to accommodate all triggers, 
but we don't have enough data. I can tell you that it is backward-
compatible with all of Yamaha's other pads. Although Yamaha's modules 
have traditionally been relatively fussy with pads from other makers, 
I only know of only a couple of components that flat-out refused to 
work satisfactorily through them (all of them Harts). The fact that 
the module lists the RHP pads--the mylar DTXtremeI pads--in its 
trigger database bodes well, since the RHPs were capable of 
conversion to woven heads. Pintech meshes (and Rolands by extension) 
have always been popular alternatives for Yamaha's rubber pads, 
though not necessarily without a tweak or two, depending on users' 
tolerance level out of the box. Various people have been making noise 
about using the module with their Hart kits, and I plan to get the 
module to use, alongside my ddrum4, with a hybrid Pintech, Visu-lite, 
and Drum Tech kit.

Hope that helps,
Ed