Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Having ranted fit to bust, I have a few thoughts to share. I shall 
start with modules.

(Before anyone has a hissy fit about my subsequent being Intel and 
Microsoft-centric, don't bother. I don't care. I will not debate the 
technical merits of the outpourings of Bill's minions. I have my 
views, none of which you can infer from my remarks here, and I'm 
sure you have yours. And if yours are in the negative, I'm sure I 
will give a damn about them just as soon as whatever you worship has 
more than a tiny fraction of the marketplace.)

The year, in case Roland, Yamaha, ddrum, and any other company out 
there hasn't noticed, is 2004. Two thousand and four. Twenty-three 
years after the invention of the personal computer. Thirteen years 
after Bill and another handful of people who look like they did all 
their clothes shopping on a single trip to Target in 1972 ripped off 
Apple and launched a thing called Windows. Nine years after Windows 
finally sprang a decent user interface.

So why, oh why, are these companies, who employ some remarkable 
smart people, producing drum modue user interfaces that would 
embarass a calculator? My mobile phone has a better user interface. 
Hell, MOTOROLA produces better user interfaces and what they know 
about human-computer interface design could be written in 144-point 
Gill Sans on an airmail stamp.

It's pathetic. It's embarassing.

And why are they continuing to design dedicated hardware? Why go to 
all the trouble of designing and fabricating what are effectively 
pathetically underpowered singe-board PCs with processing capability 
that can be comfortably outclassed by my washing machine? Andy 
Groves, his minions, and the endless hordes of his customers (PC 
makers) do it in their sleep, all day, every day.

Basic PCs now cost pennies to make. Their form factors are tiny. 
They have shedloads of memory, blisteringly fast processors, 32-bit 
sound, sensible MIDI implementations, 32-bit colour, and fixed and 
removable storage. Hell, you can get a DVD drive for pocket change. 
And they support a user interface that 93% of anyone who has used a 
personal computer can understand.

Why in this god-forsaken galaxy do we NOT have drum modules that are 
basically PCs? With colour, graphical interfaces, touchscreens, CD 
drives, USB ports, networking, firewire? And then spend ALL of their 
time writing decent software, and providing decent sounds, all on CD 
or DVD?

Stewart

Would the average user want such an elaberate system?

Im a slave to technology, i love everything about it. I have a degree 
in cybernetic systems. However i dont see the real benefits of 
basically having a PC suck on a drum module. What we basically have 
now is "cut down" PC. If you wanted a CD writer then you simply plug 
one into the outputs of the module and write. A nice user interface 
would be fun, but not fun enough to justify the cost of implementing 
a good graphics system and the LCD screen to boot. 

Put bluntly I like the idea of a module that can do all the things 
that are listed but i like it for no other reason tha nit looks 
fancy. It wont automatically provide a better system.

Phil


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" <moosetication@y...> 
wrote:
> Having ranted fit to bust, I have a few thoughts to share. I shall 
> start with modules.
> 
> (Before anyone has a hissy fit about my subsequent being Intel and 
> Microsoft-centric, don't bother. I don't care. I will not debate 
the 
> technical merits of the outpourings of Bill's minions. I have my 
> views, none of which you can infer from my remarks here, and I'm 
> sure you have yours. And if yours are in the negative, I'm sure I 
> will give a damn about them just as soon as whatever you worship 
has 
> more than a tiny fraction of the marketplace.)
> 
> The year, in case Roland, Yamaha, ddrum, and any other company out 
> there hasn't noticed, is 2004. Two thousand and four. Twenty-three 
> years after the invention of the personal computer. Thirteen years 
> after Bill and another handful of people who look like they did all 
> their clothes shopping on a single trip to Target in 1972 ripped 
off 
> Apple and launched a thing called Windows. Nine years after Windows 
> finally sprang a decent user interface.
> 
> So why, oh why, are these companies, who employ some remarkable 
> smart people, producing drum modue user interfaces that would 
> embarass a calculator? My mobile phone has a better user interface. 
> Hell, MOTOROLA produces better user interfaces and what they know 
> about human-computer interface design could be written in 144-point 
> Gill Sans on an airmail stamp.
> 
> It's pathetic. It's embarassing.
> 
> And why are they continuing to design dedicated hardware? Why go to 
> all the trouble of designing and fabricating what are effectively 
> pathetically underpowered singe-board PCs with processing 
capability 
> that can be comfortably outclassed by my washing machine? Andy 
> Groves, his minions, and the endless hordes of his customers (PC 
> makers) do it in their sleep, all day, every day.
> 
> Basic PCs now cost pennies to make. Their form factors are tiny. 
> They have shedloads of memory, blisteringly fast processors, 32-bit 
> sound, sensible MIDI implementations, 32-bit colour, and fixed and 
> removable storage. Hell, you can get a DVD drive for pocket change. 
> And they support a user interface that 93% of anyone who has used a 
> personal computer can understand.
> 
> Why in this god-forsaken galaxy do we NOT have drum modules that 
are 
> basically PCs? With colour, graphical interfaces, touchscreens, CD 
> drives, USB ports, networking, firewire? And then spend ALL of 
their 
> time writing decent software, and providing decent sounds, all on 
CD 

> or DVD?
> 
> Stewart

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" <moosetication@y...> 
wrote:
> Having ranted fit to bust, I have a few thoughts to share. I shall 
> start with modules.

Stewart old pal,

It does pay to make you angry. Excellent rant. 

Ed

--- philsiu02 wrote:
> Would the average user want such an elaberate system?

Yes. Yes, yes, and thrice yes.

Why? Because such power allows you to produce something that the 
user doesn't KNOW is "elaborate"! To the user, it expresses itself 
in natural metaphors that the user deals with when sat behind his 
kit - physical pads he can recognise, terms he know. Not asterisks 
and impenetrable four-character contractions of long words that 
don't mean anything in the first place. I mean, "MVel" for the love 
of &Deity, what the bloody hell is all that about?

Stewart

I think an Intel or G3/G4/G5 (G3 would probably be plenty fast 
enough)-based drum module wouldn't be too far-fetched, and could be 
made at a cost under $1000 easily. Small embedded operating systems 
like QNX, or even Embedded Linux could be used to keep the OS friendly, 
pre-configured and even modular. Make a modular hardware platform (add 
standard PCI cards for ADAT outs, for instance, USB and FireWire 
drives) in a rack-mount form, and you'll have something that can 
actually interest more than just e-drummers.
Personally, I'm tired of getting the hand-me-down technology from the 
keyboard world. The age where e-drum systems get the insides of the 
Yamaha/Roland creations from at least 2 keyboard generations ago 
deserves to come to an end. It's getting harder to sell dedicated 
e-drum systems when anybody can piece together a Kurzweil/Starr Labs 
Event Station and  a Triton or Motif Rack and get a system that smokes 
any brain currently on the market.
I kinda long for the Simmons SDX back, the UI was incredible, the sound 
quality was amazing, and the Zone Intelligence pads were much more 
sensitive than Roland's positional sensing, and the 9" screen was 
plenty big enough for anyone. If one of today's manufacturers could 
make a module that recaptures the magic of this guy, man, I'd be 
happy...

Stuart McConaghy
Canopus Drums
Meinl Cymbals
SilverFox Sticks


On Wednesday, March 17, 2004, at 06:50  PM, moosetication wrote:

> Having ranted fit to bust, I have a few thoughts to share. I shall
> start with modules.
>
> (Before anyone has a hissy fit about my subsequent being Intel and
> Microsoft-centric, don't bother. I don't care. I will not debate the
> technical merits of the outpourings of Bill's minions. I have my
> views, none of which you can infer from my remarks here, and I'm
> sure you have yours. And if yours are in the negative, I'm sure I
> will give a damn about them just as soon as whatever you worship has
> more than a tiny fraction of the marketplace.)
>
> The year, in case Roland, Yamaha, ddrum, and any other company out
> there hasn't noticed, is 2004. Two thousand and four. Twenty-three
> years after the invention of the personal computer. Thirteen years
> after Bill and another handful of people who look like they did all
> their clothes shopping on a single trip to Target in 1972 ripped off
> Apple and launched a thing called Windows. Nine years after Windows
> finally sprang a decent user interface.
>
> So why, oh why, are these companies, who employ some remarkable
> smart people, producing drum modue user interfaces that would
> embarass a calculator? My mobile phone has a better user interface.
> Hell, MOTOROLA produces better user interfaces and what they know
> about human-computer interface design could be written in 144-point
> Gill Sans on an airmail stamp.
>
> It's pathetic. It's embarassing.
>
> And why are they continuing to design dedicated hardware? Why go to
> all the trouble of designing and fabricating what are effectively
> pathetically underpowered singe-board PCs with processing capability
> that can be comfortably outclassed by my washing machine? Andy
> Groves, his minions, and the endless hordes of his customers (PC
> makers) do it in their sleep, all day, every day.
>
> Basic PCs now cost pennies to make. Their form factors are tiny.
> They have shedloads of memory, blisteringly fast processors, 32-bit
> sound, sensible MIDI implementations, 32-bit colour, and fixed and
> removable storage. Hell, you can get a DVD drive for pocket change.
> And they support a user interface that 93% of anyone who has used a
> personal computer can understand.
>
> Why in this god-forsaken galaxy do we NOT have drum modules that are
> basically PCs? With colour, graphical interfaces, touchscreens, CD
> drives, USB ports, networking, firewire? And then spend ALL of their
> time writing decent software, and providing decent sounds, all on CD
> or DVD?
>
> Stewart
>
>
>
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