Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

hi just bought the dtxpress brain for my custom drum kit, its sounds 
great but i really want to know is what the best soundcard to use to 
record the drums to cubase or cool edit? 

and what is the best way to record  the dtxpress i.e line in midi?

When i record via line in the drumms sound very tinny and the cymbals 
very disorted and awful, should i record in midi?

can some please tell me what i exactly need to record good sounding 
drums to my pc


thanks

any help to this would be greatly appreciated
>

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "jonjefford" <jonjefford@...> wrote:
>
> hi just bought the dtxpress brain for my custom drum kit, its sounds 
> great but i really want to know is what the best soundcard to use to 
> record the drums to cubase or cool edit? 
> 
> and what is the best way to record  the dtxpress i.e line in midi?
> 
> When i record via line in the drumms sound very tinny and the cymbals 
> very disorted and awful, should i record in midi?
> 
> can some please tell me what i exactly need to record good sounding 
> drums to my pc

I don't know much about recording but if you want the recording to
sound like what you are listening to, you need to record the line out,
not midi.  If the drums sound good and the recording rubbish then you
have a problem with the recording side.  Presumably you are using the
1/4" line out jacks (the front headphone socket should be ok as well)?
 I have recorded directly to the line-in on my mp3 player and it
sounds fine, so I think you have a problem with the settings of your
sound card.  It shouldn't need anything fancy to record.  The volume
of the recording will be affected by the DTXpress module volume
setting, so you could try turning that down if it is overloading. 
Also, are you sure you are plugged into the line-in, not the mic in?

Keith.

Hi thanks for the reply


ok have tried using line out (headphone socket on dtxpress via 
stereo 1/4jack to mini jack into line in on pc)  the drums dont 
sound good coming out of the pc speaksers very tinny and the cymbals 
are bad (although if i go through a clear amp the kit sounds fine)
i thought maybe it was just the speakers so i recorded the drums 
burnt cd and played it on stereo, but it sounds just as bad?  what 
sort of soundcard do you suggest i get? 

any other tips

also what is diff between recording line in or midi advantages 
disadvantages


thanks

-I have uploaded a track (Sylvia by Focus with me playing the drums 
on the DTxpress IV - look in Files about half way down page) ). This 
was recorded from the two outputs on the module then into the PC 
sound cards line in. It was recorded with Nero.. Have a listen, hope 
this helps... cheers

-- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "jonjefford" <jonjefford@...> wrote:
>
> Hi thanks for the reply
> 
> 
> ok have tried using line out (headphone socket on dtxpress via 
> stereo 1/4jack to mini jack into line in on pc)  the drums dont 
> sound good coming out of the pc speaksers very tinny and the 
cymbals 

> are bad (although if i go through a clear amp the kit sounds fine)
> i thought maybe it was just the speakers so i recorded the drums 
> burnt cd and played it on stereo, but it sounds just as bad?  what 
> sort of soundcard do you suggest i get? 
> 
> any other tips
> 
> also what is diff between recording line in or midi advantages 
> disadvantages
> 
> 
> thanks
>

Not sure if you still need help with this or not... but I was having the same issues you were, and found a respectable solution with only having cheap equipment.  I'm not big on recording, so I haven't researched the better PC hardware out there, but with a typical Creative Live 24-bit card I set my mic input at the max on the PC.  I go left & right out from the DTX III to the L & R inputs of a Presonus HP4, which is basically a multi port headphone amp with 1/4" input/output and individual volume control.  From one of the headphone outputs 1/4" cable to the PC mic input on the soundcard using a 1/4 to 1/8" adapter.  Volume on the DTX III is set to about 1/3 on the knob.  Vol on the headphone amp can be adjusted as needed.  I made a few recording using the basic Creative Wave Studio (.wma file format) and they came out pretty decent.  Cymbals we're still a bit tinney, but respectable  You can get away without the headphone amp, but then the DTX III output volume is crucial
 to good quality, and would likely need to be very low as not to distort the signal.  The amp seems to accept a strong input and distribute it gently. 
Keep in mind that your PC speakers are always going to sound degraded regardless.  You're bringing sound from 1/4" analog output to 1/8" inch so you're cutting a quality signal down by quite a bit.  In addition, the PC is turning the sound into digital- in my case, out a 5.1 surround system, so the volume drops considerably as well.

----- Original Message ----
From: jonjefford <jonjefford@...>
To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 11:00:11 AM
Subject: [DTXpress] Re: just bought dtxpress...getting a good recorded sound to pc

Hi thanks for the reply

ok have tried using line out (headphone socket on dtxpress via 
stereo 1/4jack to mini jack into line in on pc) the drums dont 
sound good coming out of the pc speaksers very tinny and the cymbals 
are bad (although if i go through a clear amp the kit sounds fine)
i thought maybe it was just the speakers so i recorded the drums 
burnt cd and played it on stereo, but it sounds just as bad? what 
sort of soundcard do you suggest i get? 

any other tips

also what is diff between recording line in or midi advantages 
disadvantages

thanks




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