Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hey there! I would like to add a pad to my kit specifically for 
INCREASE KIT NUMBER, and one for DECREASE KIT NUMBER, but I'm max'd 
out of trigger inputs.  Is it possible to buy some sort of MIDI box 
which will accept 2 1/4" plugs from my pads, and hooks directly up to 
my DTXpress' MIDI input?  This may be a silly question - MIDI is 
obviously a big mystery to me.

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "militantdrummer2003" 
<lewishome@s...> wrote:
> Hey there! I would like to add a pad to my kit specifically for 
> INCREASE KIT NUMBER, and one for DECREASE KIT NUMBER, but I'm max'd 
> out of trigger inputs.  Is it possible to buy some sort of MIDI box 
> which will accept 2 1/4" plugs from my pads, and hooks directly up 
to 
> my DTXpress' MIDI input?  This may be a silly question - MIDI is 
> obviously a big mystery to me.

You can buy an external MIDI device that will do any number of things 
for you, including transmission of the kind of program change that 
you're looking for. If I were going to spend that kind of money to 
supplement an e-drum module, however, I'd get a MIDI trigger device 
like Roland's TMC-6, which would allow you to add six triggers to the 
DTXpress module. Then you could devote pads on the DTXpress to 
increment and decrement as you please while also expanding the size 
of your kit (you're aware that any pad set to increase the current 
kit number by one when hit can be set to decrease the resulting kit 
number by one as well). If you have no other MIDI needs besides 
program change, including no need for extra inputs, you could look 
into the Rolls MP128, a footswitch devoted mainly to sending MIDI 
program changes. Like most of Rolls products (God bless'em), the MIDI 
Buddy comes in under $100. 

Ed

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, Chris/Trudy Lewis <lewishome@s...> 
wrote:
> Hello Ed,
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions.  I went to the Roland site to read up 
on the TMC-6, and it looks like it was specifically designed for the 
Roland pads.  Since Yamaha and Roland pads operate a little 
differently, will it work just as well?  And is it fairly easy to 
program?

Hi Chris,

Roland always seems to imply that its products are Roland-compatible 
only, and there is an element of truth to it, especially so far as 
Roland pads through Yamaha modules are concerned. But despite a 
Roland-specific feature or two--like the three-way triggering for 
certain of its cymbals--the TMC-6 should send a fine signal to the 
DTXpress module. Many people on this board used its predecessor (the 
PM-16, which is still available under $100 from time to time on 
ebay), and I wouldn't be surprised if many used the TMC-6 as well. 
Anyone want to testify? If you can figure out the DTXpress module, 
which isn't the most user-friendly in the world, you probably won't 
have trouble with the TMC-6. Run a search on it in our archives, or 
the PM-16, for some ideas of what's involved. But remember that one 
long, exasperating string on the board earlier this year, involving 
use of the MIDIkiti and PM-16, was due to a unknown bug in the then-
new DTXpress II, which required a factory reset of the module before 
any external MIDI equipment would work with it. We found out the hard 
way. You might plan on the reset, too.

Ed