Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hey guys, I'm heading out of here as I bought a Roland TD-20 and sold 
my DTXpress 3 kit. I appreciate the help that people have given to me 
over the years.

I thought I'd share my opinions in case anyone is considering 
switching to Roland. I had my DTX3 for almost 4 years, I bought it 
when I started taking lessons. Over the years I had many problems- 
bass drum dropping notes and not being sensitive enough with soft 
hits, PCY150 crash cymbal cutouts about 1 of every 10 hits, and 
overall sensitivity issues. I never felt like the hi-hat mimic'd a 
real high hat, either with the stock one, or the RHH130 I bought 
later. That said, I managed to get used to all the issues and it 
served me well. 

I played the Roland TD20 at Guitar Center and was amazed at the 
quality. I bought it in Feburary of this year was a little put off at 
first by how bouncy the pads were. I tamed them by tightening the 
heads more, and quickly grew used to it. I have had zero problems. 
Bass pedal works perfect, there are tons of sounds that can be 
altered in zillions of ways, and you can upload and download kits and 
sounds. By far the best part was the hi-hat. The VH12 in my opinion 
is very similar to a real hi hat, and feels extremely linear, as 
opposed to the DTX, which felt like it had 3 positions. The Roland 
kit just feels great. Sensitivity all across the board is good. With 
my DTX, I was always looking to upgrade and buy better pieces. With 
the Roland, I'm done, there's no more worrying about hardware and I 
can focus on learning and playing. 

I know people in here like the Yamaha kits, and so did I for many 
years. I'm not bashing it, I'm just being honest. I also know the 
price difference is big, $1200 (after my upgrades) vs $4000. I plan 
on playing drums the rest of my life and am very glad I made the 
decision to upgrade. 

Thanks again for helping me out,
Mike

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

From: "Mike" <mrstark1@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:08:50 -0000
To: <DTXpress@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [DTXpress] Leaving, just wanted to say thanks

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Mike" <mrstark1@...> wrote:
>
> Hey guys, I'm heading out of here as I bought a Roland TD-20 and sold 
> my DTXpress 3 kit. I appreciate the help that people have given to me 
> over the years.

Mike,

I'm pleased you like your Roland.  As you say though, a huge price
difference.  I guess a fairer comparison would be between the DTXtreme
and the TD20 rather than the DTXpress III.  The main thing is to keep
drumming and enjoy it, no matter what the kit is.

Keith.

I agree on all counts. The price difference is pretty big, but it's not 
Ferrari vs. Hyundai $169k big. Since I bought my TD20 used, the 
difference between the two was $2200. Guitar Center had the TD20 for 
$4500 a while back and you can get it at two US sites even cheaper than 
that. One of them was BPM music, I can't remember the other one. I not 
sure if the Roland is worth 5k new, but 3k used is more like it to me. 
My Pearl Masters cost that much, and there's not one piece of 
electronics in it. One negative of the Roland is that the cross 
sticking isn't as good as the DTX. You have to keep the stick on both 
sides of the rim to cross stick. If you put one on the drum, it will 
trigger the snare. I'm super happy that DTXmania still works with the 
Roland, it works like a champ. Again, my post was in no way set to 
demean the DTX, I just wanted to share an opinion between the two. 
Everything I know I learned on the DTX. Like you said, as long as 
you're drumming, who cares? I guess my overall point was that if you 
can afford it and you're sitting on the fence, DO IT! The guy in this 
video humiliates me, and he doesn't even have a kit: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBn5d4unE7s 

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Keith" <keith@...> wrote:
>
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "Mike" <mrstark1@> wrote:
> >
> > Hey guys, I'm heading out of here as I bought a Roland TD-20 and 
sold 
> > my DTXpress 3 kit. I appreciate the help that people have given to 
me 

> > over the years.
> 
> Mike,
> 
> I'm pleased you like your Roland.  As you say though, a huge price
> difference.  I guess a fairer comparison would be between the DTXtreme
> and the TD20 rather than the DTXpress III.  The main thing is to keep
> drumming and enjoy it, no matter what the kit is.
> 
> Keith.
>

Hi Mark,
 
Congrats on your new TD20. A little out of topic, I saw in your mail that you are using dtxmania, just wanted to check where can I get this and where can i download some songs.
 
I think I downloaded version 5 last time but I cant remember where I downloaded it as I lost interest because all the songs that I got during that time were Dream Theater songs, which are way to fast for me. :-)
 
Hope to hear from you, thanks, and again, enjoy that ney toy of yours! :-)


--- On Tue, 8/12/08, Mike <mrstark1@yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Mike <mrstark1@...>
Subject: [DTXpress] Re: Leaving, just wanted to say thanks
To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2008, 8:45 PM






I agree on all counts. The price difference is pretty big, but it's not 
Ferrari vs. Hyundai $169k big. Since I bought my TD20 used, the 
difference between the two was $2200. Guitar Center had the TD20 for 
$4500 a while back and you can get it at two US sites even cheaper than 
that. One of them was BPM music, I can't remember the other one. I not 
sure if the Roland is worth 5k new, but 3k used is more like it to me. 
My Pearl Masters cost that much, and there's not one piece of 
electronics in it. One negative of the Roland is that the cross 
sticking isn't as good as the DTX. You have to keep the stick on both 
sides of the rim to cross stick. If you put one on the drum, it will 
trigger the snare. I'm super happy that DTXmania still works with the 
Roland, it works like a champ. Again, my post was in no way set to 
demean the DTX, I just wanted to share an opinion between the two. 
Everything I know I learned on the DTX. Like you said, as long as 
you're drumming, who cares? I guess my overall point was that if you 
can afford it and you're sitting on the fence, DO IT! The guy in this 
video humiliates me, and he doesn't even have a kit: 
http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=gBn5d4unE7s 

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroup s.com, "Keith" <keith@...> wrote:
>
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroup s.com, "Mike" <mrstark1@> wrote:
> >
> > Hey guys, I'm heading out of here as I bought a Roland TD-20 and 
sold 
> > my DTXpress 3 kit. I appreciate the help that people have given to 
me 

> > over the years.
> 
> Mike,
> 
> I'm pleased you like your Roland. As you say though, a huge price
> difference. I guess a fairer comparison would be between the DTXtreme
> and the TD20 rather than the DTXpress III. The main thing is to keep
> drumming and enjoy it, no matter what the kit is.
> 
> Keith.
>

Hey, if you want the details on DTXmania, check out the post I had a 
while back with how to get going 
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/DTXpress/message/13456 . 
GDAmania.net that I reference in the post seems to be down. I'm not 
sure if it's coming back, but it has a lot of songs, definitely more 
than Dream Theater. AFI's Miss Murder is a fun one to play. 

Mike

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, DARKMOON <darkmoon__666@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Mark,
>  
> Congrats on your new TD20. A little out of topic, I saw in your 
mail that you are using dtxmania, just wanted to check where can I 
get this and where can i download some songs.
>  
> I think I downloaded version 5 last time but I cant remember where 
I downloaded it as I lost interest because all the songs that I got 
during that time were Dream Theater songs, which are way to fast for 
me. :-)
>  
> Hope to hear from you, thanks, and again, enjoy that ney toy of 
yours! :-)