Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

I bought som older sysnsonics drum pads and the stands from som kid for a hundred bucks.
I like the size of the pads but I don't know about the responsivness? I looked inside 
and the piezo unit is taped to a round peice of wood inside that makes up the shape of the drum...hmmmmm?????
also the pads are made out of extreemly brittle plastic that cracks easy.

I wanted to buy a drum brain to go with these pads but I realized that it would cost the same to just buy the whole dtxpress 
kit with every thing brand new.
900 bucks is pretty cheap for the whole kit with every thing.(price of a cheap computer)
somtimes I just get frusterated and want to buy new equiptment and at that price it seems phesable.

although I read on here that a lot of people recomend just geting the brain or replacing most of the factory componants
with better more reliable ones.
I know about logiztix pads but that is just my point.... are yamaha factory pads that lame that one would definatly 
want to look for other pad options????

what should I do????

and it dosn't help that I live in a one horse town where my local music store has no e-drums to demo before I buy.
duuhh...what are e-drums?

thanks guys...

the scottsman

I bought som older sysnsonics drum pads and the stands from som kid for a hundred bucks.
I like the size of the pads but I don't know about the responsivness? I looked inside 
and the piezo unit is taped to a round peice of wood inside that makes up the shape of the drum...hmmmmm?????
also the pads are made out of extreemly brittle plastic that cracks easy.

I wanted to buy a drum brain to go with these pads but I realized that it would cost the same to just buy the whole dtxpress 
kit with every thing brand new.
900 bucks is pretty cheap for the whole kit with every thing.(price of a cheap computer)
somtimes I just get frusterated and want to buy new equiptment and at that price it seems phesable.

although I read on here that a lot of people recomend just geting the brain or replacing most of the factory componants
with better more reliable ones.
I know about logiztix pads but that is just my point.... are yamaha factory pads that lame that one would definatly 
want to look for other pad options????

what should I do????

and it dosn't help that I live in a one horse town where my local music store has no e-drums to demo before I buy.
duuhh...what are e-drums?

thanks guys...

the scottsman

Yes, the Dtxpress is a bargain at $1000.

I bought mine about a month ago from http://www.americanmusical.com/
They will sell it with 5 $200 a month payments, and mine came
in 2 days. The instore demo stunk because the demo dtxpress
was really beat to death. btw: this group infuenced me to go for it.

I had built a kit 5 years ago using partical board pads and
plumbing fixtures. It used a modified Atart 1040 as the trigger to
midi converter and a Roland D110 as the sound brain.

costs: wood,sensors,plumbing hardware, wires - $150
D110: used $220
Atari: used $200

And I had to program the whole deal and build proto type interfaces.
( yech - wires all over the place !!! )

I've still got that kit, but the pads are
a bit heavy for the dtxpress frame, although they do trigger very well.

One feature I programmed into mine that I wish other developers would
add is the "rotational midi source" for each pad.

You'll notice when you hit the DTXPRESS crash twice quickly, the
retrigger causes a restart of the sound. What I did was
to make my pad transit 3 different midi notes in rotation
to the D110 - this resulted in 3 distinct sound loops being
triggered and eliminated the cutoff effect.

I've tried doing a sequence on the DTXPRESS, but
although I do get unique sound triggers, the velocity
doesn't carry over to songs.

Anyone else?


scottsman66@... wrote:

> 
> From: scottsman66@...
> 
> 
>   I bought som older sysnsonics drum pads and the stands from som kid for a hundred bucks.
> I like the size of the pads but I don't know about the responsivness? I looked inside
> and the piezo unit is taped to a round peice of wood inside that makes up the shape of the drum...hmmmmm?????
> also the pads are made out of extreemly brittle plastic that cracks easy.
> 
> I wanted to buy a drum brain to go with these pads but I realized that it would cost the same to just buy the whole dtxpress
> kit with every thing brand new.
> 900 bucks is pretty cheap for the whole kit with every thing.(price of a cheap computer)
> somtimes I just get frusterated and want to buy new equiptment and at that price it seems phesable.
> 
> although I read on here that a lot of people recomend just geting the brain or replacing most of the factory componants
> with better more reliable ones.
> I know about logiztix pads but that is just my point.... are yamaha factory pads that lame that one would definatly
> want to look for other pad options????
> 
> what should I do????
> 
> and it dosn't help that I live in a one horse town where my local music store has no e-drums to demo before I buy.
> duuhh...what are e-drums?
> 
> thanks guys...
> 
> the scottsman
> 
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Everyone,

Can anyone explain why this happens:  on some user kits I use layered
sounds. Most of the time when I scroll down to the "layer balance"
feature it only lets me adjust one instead of both layers?  What's more,
occasionally, on some layered sounds, it won't let me adjust either of
the layers.  When I select the "layer balance" (1 or 2) option and this
happens I see a dashed line like this: ---  Normally, based on previous
experience, I should be able to select this dashed line and raise or
lower its value.  Anyone seen this?  Why, if I'm using 2 layers, can't I
adjust them both?

Also, could someone explain the "Rim to Pad" feature.

Scottsman,

I've found the Yamaha pads to be fine.  Like using a normal rubber
practice pad only a bit softer.  Quite a bit of bounce compared to the
real thing, but that's the nature of rubber.  Also, the pads that come
with the DTXpress are 8" so portability, weight, and placement around the
kit are not issues.  If you do end up buying you should call
1.800.282.DRUM (Midwest Percussion).  Last I checked their price on the
DTXpress was $899.00 (US).

Hi Scottsman,
Most of us have the stock Yamaha pads (PCY60) and are quite happy with them.
We definitely have some tinkerers on the list who like to build gear (where
do they find the time?) but compared to hard plastic, the rubber pads are
going to be waaaaay better. Good feel, good rebound, good trigger response,
durable, relatively quiet. As others have said, the kick pad can be a bit
noisy, but I liked the idea of playing as loud as possible on an acoustic
kit in the days before getting the rubber pads, and having everyone thank
you profusely for being so quiet after. Excellent psychological tactics.

Don't just take my word for it, go back through the archives or Giles'
website. The DTXpress is definitely not a cheap toy. I recommend going for
it, especially after reading your description of the gear you got. Sounds
like you could use a couple of the Synsonics pads as additional triggers to
expand the DTXpress (toms, cymbals, effects...).

Have fun,
Rick
-----Original Message-----
From: scottsman66@... <scottsman66@...>
To: DTXpress@onelist.com <DTXpress@onelist.com>
Date: Saturday, February 12, 2000 1:58 PM
Subject: [DTXpress] I need some help!!!!!! aaahhhhhh!!!!!!


>From: scottsman66@...
>
>
>  I bought som older sysnsonics drum pads and the stands from som kid for a
hundred bucks.
>I like the size of the pads but I don't know about the responsivness? I
looked inside
>and the piezo unit is taped to a round peice of wood inside that makes up
the shape of the drum...hmmmmm?????
>also the pads are made out of extreemly brittle plastic that cracks easy.
>
>I wanted to buy a drum brain to go with these pads but I realized that it
would cost the same to just buy the whole dtxpress
>kit with every thing brand new.
>900 bucks is pretty cheap for the whole kit with every thing.(price of a
cheap computer)
>somtimes I just get frusterated and want to buy new equiptment and at that
price it seems phesable.
>
>although I read on here that a lot of people recomend just geting the brain
or replacing most of the factory componants
>with better more reliable ones.
>I know about logiztix pads but that is just my point.... are yamaha factory
pads that lame that one would definatly
>want to look for other pad options????
>
>what should I do????
>
>and it dosn't help that I live in a one horse town where my local music
store has no e-drums to demo before I buy.

>duuhh...what are e-drums?
>
>thanks guys...
>
>the scottsman
>
>--------------------------- ONElist Sponsor ----------------------------
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>Intro or 9.9 percent Fixed APR and no hidden fees.  Apply NOW!
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>
>Community email addresses:
>  Post message: DTXpress@onelist.com
>  Subscribe:    DTXpress-subscribe@onelist.com
>  Unsubscribe:  DTXpress-unsubscribe@onelist.com
>  List owner:   DTXpress-owner@onelist.com
>
>Shortcut URL to this page:
>  http://www.onelist.com/community/DTXpress
>
>

The Yamaha pads are pretty good, as rubber coated pads go...
I chose to build my own pads because I have played rubber coated pads before ( some years ago I admit ) and suffered from wrist pain after long sessions.
I realy liked the mesh head pads, but I couldn't justify the huuge price tag of the Rolands or the inconvenience of importing Pintech.  So I have built my own "drum head" pads.  Like the old Ddrum pads, they use real drum heads stretched over foam to give the feel of a real drum, but of course they don't.  Because I built my own pads, I don't mind that they feel alot harder than real drums.
You get what you pay for in the end, but you're not paying for the functional pads, most of the cost of electronic pads comes from development and packaging costs.
I would suggest that you should "try before you buy", it may be hard, but can you afford to blow cash on stuff you haven't played?


----------

From: 	scottsman66@...
Sent: 	12 February 2000 21:57
To: 	DTXpress@onelist.com
Subject: 	[DTXpress] I need some help!!!!!! aaahhhhhh!!!!!!

From: scottsman66@...

 
  I bought som older sysnsonics drum pads and the stands from som kid for a hundred bucks.
I like the size of the pads but I don't know about the responsivness? I looked inside 
and the piezo unit is taped to a round peice of wood inside that makes up the shape of the drum...hmmmmm?????
also the pads are made out of extreemly brittle plastic that cracks easy.

I wanted to buy a drum brain to go with these pads but I realized that it would cost the same to just buy the whole dtxpress 
kit with every thing brand new.
900 bucks is pretty cheap for the whole kit with every thing.(price of a cheap computer)
somtimes I just get frusterated and want to buy new equiptment and at that price it seems phesable.

although I read on here that a lot of people recomend just geting the brain or replacing most of the factory componants
with better more reliable ones.
I know about logiztix pads but that is just my point.... are yamaha factory pads that lame that one would definatly 
want to look for other pad options????

what should I do????

and it dosn't help that I live in a one horse town where my local music store has no e-drums to demo before I buy.
duuhh...what are e-drums?

thanks guys...

the scottsman

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