Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

I'm glad I found this wonderfull group. I recently purchased at 
dtxpressII after playing on Whitehall double bass set for the last 
thirty years, believe it or not. So this is kind of a change in 
scenery for me. It's especially strange hearing yourself coming out 
of speakers 10 feet away, but anyway. I have a couple questions.

1). The Hi Hat pedal seems to work inconsistantly. The open and 
splash effect don't always work. Any suggestions?
2). The manual says there are 128 keyboard sounds available. I have 
been unable to determine how to access these sounds. Is it possible 
or, is this a midi function? 

perry

Hi Perry,

Welcome aboard. From recent posts, I'm willing to bet that your 
double bass experience will prove very valuable in this group. If 
you're having trouble with controlling the hh open/close point, you 
might want to visit the hi hat offset page in the utility menu. Try 
a lower value for the offset(HH Offs)than you have now. To get an 
easier splash, try a higher value for the splash detect time (T). Hi 
hat sensitivity in the voice menu is also worth a twiddle one way or 
the other. The pedal itself has an adjustment via drum key for feel. 
The keyboard sounds are for external MIDI access, though they come 
into play in the songs as well as in some of the loops on the preset 
kits.

Ed

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "perry_norsworthy <psmperry@a...>" 
<psmperry@a...> wrote:
> I'm glad I found this wonderfull group. I recently purchased at 
> dtxpressII after playing on Whitehall double bass set for the last 
> thirty years, believe it or not. So this is kind of a change in 
> scenery for me. It's especially strange hearing yourself coming 
out 
> of speakers 10 feet away, but anyway. I have a couple questions.
> 
> 1). The Hi Hat pedal seems to work inconsistantly. The open and 
> splash effect don't always work. Any suggestions?
> 2). The manual says there are 128 keyboard sounds available. I 
have 
> been unable to determine how to access these sounds. Is it 
possible 

> or, is this a midi function? 
> 
> perry

Hi Perry,

You can access the keyboard sounds, making it possible
to play a keyboard sound by hitting a pad.  One of the
things MIDI has is something called channels.  Channel
10 is for drum sounds, while other channels are doe
other sounds.  I think the manual lists the channels
and MIDI note numbers that their keyboard sounds are
on - by changing the channel (and MIDI note numbers)
on your xpress, you can assign them to a pad.  Why you
would want to do this is a different issue... 
Walt
--- "perry_norsworthy <psmperry@...>"
<psmperry@...> wrote:
> I'm glad I found this wonderfull group. I recently
> purchased at 
> dtxpressII after playing on Whitehall double bass
> set for the last 
> thirty years, believe it or not. So this is kind of
> a change in 
> scenery for me. It's especially strange hearing
> yourself coming out 
> of speakers 10 feet away, but anyway. I have a
> couple questions.
> 
> 1). The Hi Hat pedal seems to work inconsistantly.
> The open and 
> splash effect don't always work. Any suggestions?
> 2). The manual says there are 128 keyboard sounds
> available. I have 
> been unable to determine how to access these sounds.
> Is it possible 
> or, is this a midi function? 
> 
> perry
> 
> 


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hi there,

I started to read the forum few day ago, and want to tell you that 
it's a excellent discussion forum ! I ordered saturday my DTXpress II 
drum kit, with Yamaha DFP8210 double pedal. Don't have to tell you 
that i'm very excited and hurry to receive it ! :) It will be my 
first electronic kit, so I'll certainly need some help to setup it ! 
I'll post pics of my kit as soon as I receive it. I would like to 
excuse me at this time for my english faults, cause i'm canadian 
french first, so don't care about it please and feel free to help me 
in my english training ! :)

Thanks you all, have a nice day...

- ASHMEU -

Ashmeu:
Welcome! You'll find this forum very helpful and entertaining. I did 
(and still do).
Stephen

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "ashmeu24 <info@l...>" <info@l...> 
wrote:
> hi there,
> 
> I started to read the forum few day ago, and want to tell you that 
> it's a excellent discussion forum ! I ordered saturday my DTXpress 
II 
> drum kit, with Yamaha DFP8210 double pedal. > I'll post pics of my 
kit as soon as I receive it. I would like to 
> excuse me at this time for my english faults, cause i'm canadian 
> french first, so don't care about it please and feel free to help 
me 
> in my english training ! :)
> 
> Thanks you all, have a nice day...
> 
> - ASHMEU -


Hey. Welcome to the group. Yep there is alot of great advice here and 
I know you won't be disappointed with the DTXPRESS. I am very pleased 
with it! 

Gary

Hello everyone,

Just saying a quick hello as I work my way through the archive.

I am a 37 year old 'born-again' drummer; stopped playing for about 9 
years due to family/work commitments. Jugding from some of the posts 
in the archive it seems like I am not the only one.

I returned to playing about a year and half ago. I bought an 
acoustic set, started lessons and am now gigging/playing out. 

Over the last few months I have been looking at expanding my set-up. 
I was cruising the music store a couple of weeks back and, for the 
first time, looked at the electronic kits. After a half hour of 
incredible fun I knew how I was going to expand my set-up :-)

Along with the DTX II, I'll be keeping my acoustic bass drum, snare, 
hi-hat and a couple of cymbals. Some of the guys I play with are 
muttering uncertainties about my decision. It's mostly issues of 
aesthetics; without toms my kit won't "look right". I know I can 
easily generate a similar, if not better, tom sound (without the 
tuning hassles!), and the potential for creativity is incredible.

My DTXpress II should be here early next week. I am REALLY looking 
forward to it.

Adam

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "freakndrummer" <sumdrumguy@h...> 
wrote:
> Hello everyone,
> 
> Just saying a quick hello as I work my way through the archive.
> 
> I am a 37 year old 'born-again' drummer; stopped playing for about 
9 
> years due to family/work commitments. Jugding from some of the 
posts 
> in the archive it seems like I am not the only one.
> 
> I returned to playing about a year and half ago. I bought an 
> acoustic set, started lessons and am now gigging/playing out. 
> 
> Over the last few months I have been looking at expanding my set-
up. 
> I was cruising the music store a couple of weeks back and, for the 
> first time, looked at the electronic kits. After a half hour of 
> incredible fun I knew how I was going to expand my set-up :-)
> 
> Along with the DTX II, I'll be keeping my acoustic bass drum, 
snare, 
> hi-hat and a couple of cymbals. Some of the guys I play with are 
> muttering uncertainties about my decision. It's mostly issues of 
> aesthetics; without toms my kit won't "look right". I know I can 
> easily generate a similar, if not better, tom sound (without the 
> tuning hassles!), and the potential for creativity is incredible.
> 
> My DTXpress II should be here early next week. I am REALLY looking 
> forward to it.

Adam,

Welcome to our little brood. Electronic kits are certainly fun, but 
they can also be demanding. Vern (ilusionsysop) is currently putting 
together a checklist to help new members set up their DTXpress kits 
out of the box, as well as identify and eliminate a couple of minor 
bugs in the module. It will appear our sister site, which he runs, 
dtxpressions.com. It may be a complicated enterprise to complete. If 
he hasn't finished it by the time you're ready, and questions arise
(trust me; they will), just post; we'll be happy to help and 
participate vicariously in your excitement. We'll also be eager to 
find out about your adventures with the band--from aesthetic to 
musical. Thankfully, your work and family distractions seem to have 
dissipated; you are going to lose all track of time and place while 
you gleefully get acquainted with your new e-drums. Don't forget to 
take nourishment.

Ed

Hi all, added myself to the group last week and thought that it might 
be nice to introduce myself. 

Two weeks ago I finally received my drumset and I'm very pleased with 
it. Because I wanted to have the feeling of a acoustic drum I choose 
to ordered a acoustic drum with Pearl mufleheads and drumtriggers of 
DDrum. The acoustic is from Sonor that introduced a new entrymodel 
line with high quality and low price: the 503 series. I use a 
DTXpress II as my drum brain and am very pleased about how it 
sounds!  Besides brain and acoustic set I use a HiHat controller 
(HH65), a TP65 as Hihat and a PCY65S as Cymbal. 
If someone is interested in photo's of the set I'll add some to the 
photos section.

kind regards,
Hans 
(the Netherlands)

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "conny_coll" <ontwerper@h...> wrote:
> Hi all, added myself to the group last week and thought that it 
might 
> be nice to introduce myself. 
> 
> Two weeks ago I finally received my drumset and I'm very pleased 
with 
> it. Because I wanted to have the feeling of a acoustic drum I 
choose 
> to ordered a acoustic drum with Pearl mufleheads and drumtriggers 
of 
> DDrum. The acoustic is from Sonor that introduced a new entrymodel 
> line with high quality and low price: the 503 series. I use a 
> DTXpress II as my drum brain and am very pleased about how it 
> sounds!  Besides brain and acoustic set I use a HiHat controller 
> (HH65), a TP65 as Hihat and a PCY65S as Cymbal. 
> If someone is interested in photo's of the set I'll add some to the 
> photos section.
> 

Hans,

Welcome and congratulations on your new drums and electronics; please 
do send us pictures. I'm glad to hear that your ddrum triggers work 
well through the Yamaha module. Are they redshots?

Ed

> Hans,
> 
> Welcome and congratulations on your new drums and electronics; 
please 
> do send us pictures. I'm glad to hear that your ddrum triggers work 
> well through the Yamaha module. Are they redshots?
> 
> Ed

Ed,

The Ddrum triggers are indeed from the redshot serie. Until now they 
work fine together with the mufleheads and dtxpress. 
Will try to make some nice photo's of the set :)

Hans

Hiya.

Seriously considering purchasing a set of DTXpress 2. Wondering where 
the cheapest place I can get them in the UK is (online preferably or 
mail order etc etc).

Lowest I've gotten so far is £745 inc. delivery + VAT for the full 
kit.

Thanks for any help.

DP

and for those of you who had the URL get mangled by the word wrap, here:

http://tinyurl.com/3xaxj [netzmarkt.de]

Remember, http://www.tinyurl.com is your friend when posting long links
to the mailing list! ;)

Vern

-- 
Vern Graner CNE/CNA/SSE    | "If the network is down, then you're
Senior Systems Engineer    | obviously incompetent so why are we
Texas Information Services | paying you? Of course, if the network
http://www.txis.com        | is up, then we obviously don't need
Austin Office 512 328-8947 | you, so why are we paying you?" VLG




optimax said:

> Look at :
> http://www.netzmarkt.de/thomann/thoiw9_yamaha_dtxpressseta_ii_prodinfo.h
> tml?sn=62d48552c99bcbf38e548d6c7a5204fa
> 990 \ufffd
> I bought one, should arrive tomorrow
>
> Bruno Dupont
>  <mailto:Optimax@...> Optimax@...
>
> -----Message d'origine-----
> De : gsdavideuk [mailto:tias_dp@...]
> Envoy\ufffd : mardi 23 d\ufffdcembre 2003 07:04
> \ufffd : DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
> Objet : [DTXpress] New member
>
> Hiya.
>
> Seriously considering purchasing a set of DTXpress 2. Wondering where
> the cheapest place I can get them in the UK is (online preferably or
> mail order etc etc).
>
> Lowest I've gotten so far is \ufffd745 inc. delivery + VAT for the full
> kit.
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> DP
>
>
>
>
> Community email addresses:
>   Post message: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
>   Subscribe:    DTXpress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
>   Unsubscribe:  DTXpress-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>   List owner:   DTXpress-owner@yahoogroups.com
>
> Shortcut URL to this page:
>   http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DTXpress
>
> Alternate DTXpress site:
>   http://www.dtxpressions.com
>
>
>   _____
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
> *         To visit your group on the web, go to:
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>

I may have a service manual but won't be able to check until Tuesday. A simple bad connection could give you the symptoms you describe if it has a microprocessor with external program memory - it depends on what is inside the box. If there is a socketed EPROM, try removing and reinserting it. Check voltages - I would guess it is 5V inside, the DTXpress is.

What diagnostic equipment do you have?

Regards 

Keith

No signal generators/oscilloscopes but several multimeters one of which has limited ability to measure frequencies but not like a good scope. I see 2 eproms seated very firmly doesn't look like anyone ever touched this inside. Main cpu and ram/rom is surface mount not socketed. I've also tried my own coldboot technique-connecting the internal battery + to ground without ac power to see if this might clear any jumbled memory reading writing. This worked on an ancient general music keyboard but not here. There are 3 mainboards one of which I haven't checked. The original owner maintained something happened during shipping but I've seen no documentation that UPS, FedEx or post office uses any scanning that might effect memory chips or cpus. This was sent UPS. It does look like something has messed the basic os, the unit itself looks well taken care of not abused. I'm getting no sounds at all as well. I'll implement your suggestions and thanks for the trigger schematics, very nice!

My thoughts are a disturbed connection in transit. It happened to me with a spectrum analyser once. Also, an old CRT monitor I dug out wouldn't work but started to do so when I was checking connections. I was once sent to Dubai to fault find a brand new broadcast transmitter which started working when I put my multimeter on one of the connectors. Connections are a PITA.

So pull off any connectors and re-connect them, using contact cleaner if you have some. The same applies to any socketed parts although pushing them firmly in their sockets often does the trick.

Regards

Keith

OK, thanks much Keith. Sounds like you've had some interesting 
challenges as have I! I will have at it Monday-weekend commitments take 
me over.  I use the pro contact cleaners, sparingly if at all. I've had 
unfortunate experiences cleaning carbon conductive parts with anything 
but water and an air duster. And this module will be a nice step up from 
the DTX 2.0 which has been as steady as a rock for at least 10 years I 
can remember. Have a good weekend.

             Joe

On 12/12/2015 11:39 AM, Keith Raper keith@... [DTXpress] wrote:
>
> My thoughts are a disturbed connection in transit.  It happened to me 
> with a spectrum analyser once. Also, an old CRT monitor I dug out 
> wouldn't work but started to do so when I was checking connections. I 
> was once sent to Dubai to fault find a brand new broadcast transmitter 
> which started working when I put my multimeter on one of the 
> connectors. Connections are a PITA.
>
> So pull off any connectors and re-connect them, using contact cleaner 
> if you have some. The same applies to any socketed parts although 
> pushing them firmly in their sockets often does the trick.
>
> Regards
>
> Keith
>
> On 12 Dec 2015 16:05, "JDBlackhawk jdblackhawk@... 
> <mailto:jdblackhawk@...> [DTXpress]" <DTXpress@yahoogroups.com 
> <mailto:DTXpress@yahoogroups.com>> wrote:
>
>     No signal generators/oscilloscopes but several multimeters one of
>     which has limited ability to measure frequencies but not like a
>     good scope. I see 2 eproms seated very firmly doesn't look like
>     anyone ever touched this inside. Main cpu and ram/rom is surface
>     mount not socketed. I've also tried my own coldboot
>     technique-connecting the internal battery + to ground without ac
>     power to see if this might clear any jumbled memory reading
>     writing. This worked on an ancient general music keyboard but not
>     here. There are 3 mainboards one of which I haven't checked. The
>     original owner maintained something happened during shipping but
>     I've seen no documentation that UPS, FedEx or post office uses any
>     scanning that might effect memory chips or cpus. This was sent
>     UPS.  It does look like something has messed the basic os, the
>     unit itself looks well taken care of not abused. I'm getting no
>     sounds at all as well. I'll implement your suggestions and thanks
>     for the trigger schematics, very nice!
>
>     On Dec 12, 2015 10:39 AM, "keith@...
>     <mailto:keith@...> [DTXpress]" <DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
>     <mailto:DTXpress@yahoogroups.com>> wrote:
>
>         I may have a service manual but won't be able to check until
>         Tuesday. A simple bad connection could give you the symptoms
>         you describe if it has a microprocessor with external program
>         memory - it depends on what is inside the box. If there is a
>         socketed EPROM, try removing and reinserting it. Check
>         voltages - I would guess it is 5V inside, the DTXpress is.
>
>         What diagnostic equipment do you have?
>
>         Regards
>
>         Keith
>
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OK, thanks for going to the trouble. Sounds like Yamaha service is my 
only option. I'll see if there is a service manual I can download 
somewhere. I found a link that claims to have it for 11.95 but I'm not 
sure this is a trusted website. I will talk to tech support at 
Yamaha-this is too good a module to sit unused and non-functioning.
                                             Joe

On 12/15/2015 9:30 AM, keith@... [DTXpress] wrote:
>
> I had a look at the service manuals I  have - most are for pads but I 
> have a couple for modules bu they are DTX900 and DTXIII.  They are 
> unlikely to be anything like the old DTXtreme as they have some big 
> BGA chips in them.
>
> Sorry,
>
> Keith.
>
>

Downloaded service manual but diagnostic test mode isn't working either. Spoke to Yamaha tech support and they charge 100 bucks per hour, a 60 dollar fee for just looking at it and they can't guarantee getting parts for it. Not very hopeful. Guess I'll tear it down again and look deeper to last circuit board. At least now I have schematic and parts diagrams.

All the clock crystals look intact so far, I am digging into the last 
board (control board) today or tomorrow. I also have another repair tech 
who might be willing to check it with a scope if all else fails. I 
worked on one of my first SY77 synths years back that had a similar (at 
least appearance wise) problem, looking like the operating system 
corrupted through power surge. Was able to restore though through 
factory initializing procedure, but not this. It would be nice to find a 
loose ribbon or other connector at fault although everything looks so 
tight, can't imagine that could be but I'll keep looking. Thanks again 
Keith.
                                             Joe

On 12/17/2015 4:20 AM, keith@... [DTXpress] wrote:
>
> With limited equipment, even with the schematics, it will be tricky.  
> If you can beg/borrow an oscilloscope you would stand a chance.  I 
> still think bad connections are the most likely possibility.  Having 
> done a lot of MIL-HDBK-217 calculations in the past you realise how 
> they are the weak link.  Another item to check is the oscillator - 
> crystals are susceptible to shock.  I have seen them also break off 
> boards during vibration tests.
>
> Now you have the schematics, the things to check are the voltages 
> everywhere.  If you get hold of an oscilloscope then you can look at 
> the microprocessor clock and the address, data and control lines to 
> external memory.
>
> Keith.
>
>

Got ya. Took las board out today-nothing visible, looks like next level 
will be needed. Crystal by cpu looks a little shaky-and someone dropped 
this once-I see a small chunk out of the bottom case. This might be what 
caused something to break-I know component failure is definitely not 
always visible.

                 Joe

On 12/17/2015 11:11 AM, keith@... [DTXpress] wrote:
>
> You need to check the clocks with an oscilloscope - crystals can break 
> internally (sometimes with an accompanying rattle!).
>
> Good luck.
>
> Keith
>
>