Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hi everyone,

This is a first time post for me as i only got my dtxpress last month 
so here goes.

I have a wierd problem that only occurs say 3 to 4 times in a 3 
minute song. Sometimes when i hit the crash cymbal pad the sound is 
cut short i.e. normally the crash cymbal sound fades out naturally 
but sometimes it just cuts out totally. I have tried changing the 
sample but that makes no difference and this problem only occurs on 
the crash cymbal pad, none of the others.

I hope someone can help me.

Many thanks

Ritchie (lincolnshire UK)

--- ritchiechappell wrote:
> Sometimes when i hit the crash cymbal pad the
> sound is cut short...

This sometimes goes by the rather unfortunate moniker of "self-
choking". You are inadvertently activating the choke function on the 
edge switch due to the way you're striking it. It's quite sensitive, 
and anything other than a momentary impact will make the module 
think a choke has been requested and close off the sound. It's a 
technique issue, I'm afraid. You need to ensure you glance the 
cymbal - hitting it straight down with the shank of the stick is 
guaranteed to make this happen more often. The only other option is 
that if you normally don't use cymbal chokes, set the pad type to a 
non-rim-switch type.

Stewart

--- ritchiechappell wrote:
> Sometimes when i hit the crash cymbal pad the
> sound is cut short ...

Sorry, I was being dense ... there is another option. If by "song" 
you mean that you're playing along with the module's built-in songs, 
then this may be a polyphony issue. The brain only has a limited 
number of voices that can be used simultaneously. When a song is 
playing, depending on its complexity, it's using a lot of the 
available voices which doesn't leave many for your pads. The brain 
may just be grabbing the voice used by your cymbal because it needs 
it for something else. There is absolutely nothing you can do about 
this, I'm afraid.

Stewart

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" <moosetication@y...> 
wrote:
> Sorry, I was being dense ... there is another option. If by "song" 
> you mean that you're playing along with the module's built-in 
songs, 
> then this may be a polyphony issue. The brain only has a limited 
> number of voices that can be used simultaneously. When a song is 
> playing, depending on its complexity, it's using a lot of the 
> available voices which doesn't leave many for your pads. The brain 
> may just be grabbing the voice used by your cymbal because it needs 
> it for something else. There is absolutely nothing you can do about 
> this, I'm afraid.

If Stewart's right about the polyphony issue (and I think he is), all 
is not necessarily lost. Doesn't the DTXpress have a setting 
somewhere that allows the user to choose just what should drop out in 
the event that maximum polyphony is exceeded?  If so, you might be 
able to trade having your cymbals saved for losing a note from some 
other MIDI instrument in the song--whatever you deem the lesser of 
two evils.

Ed

---"moosetication" : ...When a song is playing, depending on its 
complexity, it's using a lot of the available voices which doesn't 
leave many for your pads. The brain may just be grabbing the voice 
used by your cymbal because it needs it for something else.
===================
Does this happen a lot?    TomBk

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Tom" <tombrook11232@y...> wrote:
> ---"moosetication" : ...When a song is playing, depending on its 
> complexity, it's using a lot of the available voices which doesn't 
> leave many for your pads. The brain may just be grabbing the voice 
> used by your cymbal because it needs it for something else.
> ===================
> Does this happen a lot?    TomBk

Right "out-of-the-box" not that often. If you start to assign 
multiple layer voices to each pad or start triggering sounds in the 
module through an external midi device, the number of simultaneous 
voices being used can add up. For example a PCY65S pad bow surface at 
it's basic level could just trigger one voice. At the other end of 
the extreme, if you assign two voices to the pad and two voices to 
the rim switch and you turn on the "Rim-to-Pad" option, four voices 
would be triggered at one time. Do this with several cymbal pads and 
it adds up real quick, especially when you playing along to song.

OGD

Hi everyone

Many thanks for your ideas. 
Just to let you know this problem occurs with any song not just the 
built in ones. I could be playing along with my favorite CD. And my 
kit is only a DTXpress 1 so im not sure if the cymbal has a choke 
facility or not. I will try and take the pad to pieces and clean all 
the connections.

Many thanks to you all

Ritchie