Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Has anyone heard of this problem, sometimes but not always when I am 
hitting a snare, cymbal or highhat, the bass drum doesn't trigger a 
sound even thought it is being hit? It is a intermitten problem that 
I have to listen closely to hear. My daughter is trying to learn and 
that how I found it. Any ideas? Any solutions?
Thanks
Robert

Yes, this exact thing happened to me when I was trying to set up the 
Dtxpress 1 module with my new Hart Dynamics kit.  I could not see 
why it was happening - snare and hi-hat yes, that's not uncommon but 
there was no physical link between the bass drum and the other pads 
affected - and I was playing very quietly.
In the end it just cured itself - I switched to another kit and 
changed the pad settings (to DT in my case) and I just noticed it 
had stopped happening - and I could not recreate the problem 
thereafter.

So yes... but no idea why !  Sorry  :-(

If you do find out I'd be interested to know also !  :-)

William


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "robert_cathy" <robert_cathy@y...> 
wrote:
> Has anyone heard of this problem, sometimes but not always when I 
am 
> hitting a snare, cymbal or highhat, the bass drum doesn't trigger 
a 
> sound even thought it is being hit? It is a intermitten problem 
that 
> I have to listen closely to hear. My daughter is trying to learn 
and 

> that how I found it. Any ideas? Any solutions?
> Thanks
> Robert

Oops, sorry - just checked back my notes - with me it was the other 
way around - it was the bass drum that was sounding and the other 
struck pad not.

W.


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "William Sutherland" <ws@l...> 
wrote:
> Yes, this exact thing happened to me when I was trying to set up 
the 
> Dtxpress 1 module with my new Hart Dynamics kit.  I could not see 
> why it was happening - snare and hi-hat yes, that's not uncommon 
but 
> there was no physical link between the bass drum and the other 
pads 
> affected - and I was playing very quietly.
> In the end it just cured itself - I switched to another kit and 
> changed the pad settings (to DT in my case) and I just noticed it 
> had stopped happening - and I could not recreate the problem 
> thereafter.
> 
> So yes... but no idea why !  Sorry  :-(
> 
> If you do find out I'd be interested to know also !  :-)
> 
> William
> 
> 
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "robert_cathy" 
<robert_cathy@y...> 
> wrote:
> > Has anyone heard of this problem, sometimes but not always when 
I 
> am 
> > hitting a snare, cymbal or highhat, the bass drum doesn't 
trigger 

> a 
> > sound even thought it is being hit? It is a intermitten problem 
> that 
> > I have to listen closely to hear. My daughter is trying to learn 
> and 
> > that how I found it. Any ideas? Any solutions?
> > Thanks
> > Robert

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "robert_cathy" <robert_cathy@y...> 
wrote:
> Has anyone heard of this problem, sometimes but not always when I 
am 
> hitting a snare, cymbal or highhat, the bass drum doesn't trigger a 
> sound even thought it is being hit? It is a intermitten problem 
that 
> I have to listen closely to hear. My daughter is trying to learn 
and 
> that how I found it. Any ideas? Any solutions?

Hi Robert,

Dropouts aren't terribly unusual. But, as Will's post indicates, the 
kick pad isn't usually the victim--at least for interactive reasons. 
When a pad on the rack gets hit, the rack can transmit vibrations to 
one or more of the other ones, causing a sympathetic reaction. This 
phenomenon is called crosstalk, and Yamaha has "rejection" settings 
to minimize it in the trigger menu. Rejection's remedy for a pad 
firing unintentionally as a result of events on other pads is to mute 
it unless it is hit with a certain minimum force (the rejection 
number). "Specific rejection" protects a pad from hits on a certain 
other pad, normally close to it, in the same manner. "Self-rejection" 
guards against a pad reacting to itself (double-triggers), usually 
because gain is too high. If a drummer fails to strike a pad with 
enough force to circumvent the muting enabled by any of these 
rejection parameters during another offending event, it won't make 
any noise. Many dropouts are caused by rejection settings that are 
too high. By all means, if the kick drum input carries high rejection 
numbers, reduce them to the point where the offending artifacts 
disappear. 

That said, however, the fact that the kick pad isn't on the rack 
reduces the chances that rejection as a means to defeat crosstalk is 
the culprit. A high self-rejection is still a possibility, though you 
would have known if you'd set it, right? One other possibility is 
that your gain and/or minimum velocity settings aren't optimal. If 
gain is too low and min.vel. too high, you could get false 
triggering. It might not happen when you play the kick by itself, but 
in the heat of battle when your attention is divided, the kick might 
not be getting the same impact. Try changing the gain and min. vel. 
settings as indicated. 

A last resort might be that the something has come loose inside the 
kick tower. Sometimes resoldering everything can improve response, 
even if you don't actually see a loose connection somewhere. 

I hope these suggestions help. Please let us know. If worst comes to 
worst, are you still under warranty? I should add that if you're 
using the KP60 kick pad, I'd be far less surprised by your problem 
than if you were using the the KP65.

Ed

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "emf" <liberatusvirus@y...> wrote:
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "robert_cathy" <robert_cathy@y...> 
> wrote:
> > Has anyone heard of this problem, sometimes but not always when I 
> am 
> > hitting a snare, cymbal or highhat, the bass drum doesn't trigger 
a 
> > sound even thought it is being hit? It is a intermitten problem 
> that 
> > I have to listen closely to hear. My daughter is trying to learn 
> and 
> > that how I found it. Any ideas? Any solutions?
> 
> Hi Robert,
> 
> Dropouts aren't terribly unusual. But, as Will's post indicates, 
the 
> kick pad isn't usually the victim--at least for interactive 
reasons. 
> When a pad on the rack gets hit, the rack can transmit vibrations 
to 
> one or more of the other ones, causing a sympathetic reaction. This 
> phenomenon is called crosstalk, and Yamaha has "rejection" settings 
> to minimize it in the trigger menu. Rejection's remedy for a pad 
> firing unintentionally as a result of events on other pads is to 
mute 
> it unless it is hit with a certain minimum force (the rejection 
> number). "Specific rejection" protects a pad from hits on a certain 
> other pad, normally close to it, in the same manner. "Self-
rejection" 
> guards against a pad reacting to itself (double-triggers), usually 
> because gain is too high. If a drummer fails to strike a pad with 
> enough force to circumvent the muting enabled by any of these 
> rejection parameters during another offending event, it won't make 
> any noise. Many dropouts are caused by rejection settings that are 
> too high. By all means, if the kick drum input carries high 
rejection 
> numbers, reduce them to the point where the offending artifacts 
> disappear. 
> 
> That said, however, the fact that the kick pad isn't on the rack 
> reduces the chances that rejection as a means to defeat crosstalk 
is 
> the culprit. A high self-rejection is still a possibility, though 
you 
> would have known if you'd set it, right? One other possibility is 
> that your gain and/or minimum velocity settings aren't optimal. If 
> gain is too low and min.vel. too high, you could get false 
> triggering. It might not happen when you play the kick by itself, 
but 
> in the heat of battle when your attention is divided, the kick 
might 
> not be getting the same impact. Try changing the gain and min. vel. 
> settings as indicated. 
> 
> A last resort might be that the something has come loose inside the 
> kick tower. Sometimes resoldering everything can improve response, 
> even if you don't actually see a loose connection somewhere. 
> 
> I hope these suggestions help. Please let us know. If worst comes 
to 
> worst, are you still under warranty? I should add that if you're 
> using the KP60 kick pad, I'd be far less surprised by your problem 
> than if you were using the the KP65.
> 
> Ed
 I too, have the same issue! when playing as Ed said "heat of the 
battle" and do an accent of snare and cymbbal, the kick almost always 
will not sound, And I am certainly kicking it! I have tried it with 
the tower yammy set up , as well as a pintech trigger,the small 
cylindrical one (scientific,no?) and the results are about the same. 
I did have some issues with the yammy stand up trigger,and had to 
disassemble and solder the jack terminals back solidly to the pc 
board...that cured the hit/no sound, but not the no kick response 
when hitting cymbal(any) and or cymbal/snare /kick...any ideas Ed? kb

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "nugeman2004" <kbhammerken@g...> 
wrote:
> the rim hits were, for the most
part,always consistent.I have used the kit for about a year,and have
played several gigs, as well as a lot of recording time. It seems
that if I play a busy passage, the center,which I have set up to be a
different,similar voice ,it will react at most times ok. But if I do
the same on the rim,such as a quick burst of single hits, it will
almost always only respond to half(or less) of the contact.

kb,

If you're not getting the response from the rim that you used to get, 
some kind of deterioration might be indicated. But I'm not sure that 
the rim switch is fast enough to register the kind of fast sticking 
that you'd do on the head proper. It's built more for cross-stick and 
rimshot transients. Hitting the switch is like taking an indirect 
route to the piezo at the center; it's one step removed. 

> I too, have the same issue! when playing as Ed said "heat of the 
> battle" and do an accent of snare and cymbbal, the kick almost 
always 
> will not sound, And I am certainly kicking it! I have tried it with 
> the tower yammy set up , as well as a pintech trigger,the small 
> cylindrical one (scientific,no?) and the results are about the 
same. 
> I did have some issues with the yammy stand up trigger,and had to 
> disassemble and solder the jack terminals back solidly to the pc 
> board...that cured the hit/no sound, but not the no kick response 
> when hitting cymbal(any) and or cymbal/snare /kick...any ideas Ed? 

I assume that you're talking about the KP60 and the Pintech Ergokik. 
The KP60 didn't prove to be a terribly reliable trigger. The archives 
are riddled with people complaining about dropouts as well as double 
triggers. Four years ago, Yamaha sent me two of them to try, and both 
exhibited the same tendencies. I re-soldered and tweaked until I was 
blue in the face without any success. But in my case, and many 
others, the troubles were endemic to the kick pad itself; they were 
coincidental with other events on the kit. From what I gather lately, 
the KP65 has not exhibited this bad behavior. Nor have I heard about 
it with the Pintech. If raising the gain and lowering the rejection 
of the kick don't improve its response when you're hitting other 
pads, the only other cause of sound truncation that comes to mind is 
the module reaching its processing limit--32 voice polyphony. Even 
though this phenomenon  is definitely tied to the heat of battle, it 
Usually won't happen unless you're playing along with prerecorded 
songs on layered pads with long decay times, etc. (make sure that Key 
Assign is set to mono). I suppose that the module could suffer from 
other kinds of overload, but I'm not aware of them. I can say with 
some confidence, however, that it does not pay to drive these kits 
too hard with brute force. Rule of thumb: Learn to play e-drums with 
some restraint, and let the module do the work of creating volume. 

I suppose you could keep experimenting with hitting individual pads 
and the kick at the same time to see if you can reproduce the problem 
with any regularity and narrow it down with the process of 
elimination. You could also test different pad-type settings for 
better triggering. That's all that occurs to me at the moment.

Ed

Just to throw out a quick thought.  The KP65 piezo, unlike the PCY/TP pads
has a substantial amount of pading between the surface of the rubber and the
actual piezo.
 
On the PCY, the piezo has a thin layer of plastic and rubber pading between
it and the striking surface, nothing to temp/permanantly deform to any
degree. On the TP the piezo has a metal plate and a thin layer of rubber
pading between it and the striking surface, again nothing to
temp/permanantly deform to any degree.
 
But on the KP65 there is a heavy rubber cover that is not bonded to anything
and behind it is a thick layer of foam that is bonded to the metal plate
that secures the piezo. After repeated heavy blows to the KP65 the following
could and will occur:
 
The outer rubber cover could be pulling away from the foam as it temp.
stretches from repeated strikes.
The thick foam behind the pad could be compressing and not expanding back
out quick enough to make contact with the outer rubber pad. 
 
I used to leave my foot on the pedal with the felt beater pressed against
the rubber pad between beats and would end up having similair missed beats.
Since I stopped leaving the beater pressed against the rubber pad, the
problem has disappeared for me.
 
I wonder if putting some adhesive between the rubber pad and the foam to
bind them together would help?
 
The other possibility is simply a loose connection.
 
Other things to look at are the settings such as the curves; normal, loud1,
loud2, hard1, hard2 and Self rej is set to a low number. 
 
 
OGD

   _____  

From: nugeman2004 Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 9:49 PM
To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [DTXpress] Re: DTXpress 1 Bass drum trigger problem


--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "emf" <liberatusvirus@y...> wrote:
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "robert_cathy" <robert_cathy@y...> 
> wrote:
> > Has anyone heard of this problem, sometimes but not always when I 
> am 
> > hitting a snare, cymbal or highhat, the bass drum doesn't trigger 
a 
> > sound even thought it is being hit? It is a intermitten problem 
> that 
> > I have to listen closely to hear. My daughter is trying to learn 
> and 
> > that how I found it. Any ideas? Any solutions?
> 
> Hi Robert,
> 
> Dropouts aren't terribly unusual. But, as Will's post indicates, 
the 
> kick pad isn't usually the victim--at least for interactive 
reasons. 
> When a pad on the rack gets hit, the rack can transmit vibrations 
to 
> one or more of the other ones, causing a sympathetic reaction. This 
> phenomenon is called crosstalk, and Yamaha has "rejection" settings 
> to minimize it in the trigger menu. Rejection's remedy for a pad 
> firing unintentionally as a result of events on other pads is to 
mute 
> it unless it is hit with a certain minimum force (the rejection 
> number). "Specific rejection" protects a pad from hits on a certain 
> other pad, normally close to it, in the same manner. "Self-
rejection" 
> guards against a pad reacting to itself (double-triggers), usually 
> because gain is too high. If a drummer fails to strike a pad with 
> enough force to circumvent the muting enabled by any of these 
> rejection parameters during another offending event, it won't make 
> any noise. Many dropouts are caused by rejection settings that are 
> too high. By all means, if the kick drum input carries high 
rejection 
> numbers, reduce them to the point where the offending artifacts 
> disappear. 
> 
> That said, however, the fact that the kick pad isn't on the rack 
> reduces the chances that rejection as a means to defeat crosstalk 
is 
> the culprit. A high self-rejection is still a possibility, though 
you 
> would have known if you'd set it, right? One other possibility is 
> that your gain and/or minimum velocity settings aren't optimal. If 
> gain is too low and min.vel. too high, you could get false 
> triggering. It might not happen when you play the kick by itself, 
but 
> in the heat of battle when your attention is divided, the kick 
might 
> not be getting the same impact. Try changing the gain and min. vel. 
> settings as indicated. 
> 
> A last resort might be that the something has come loose inside the 
> kick tower. Sometimes resoldering everything can improve response, 
> even if you don't actually see a loose connection somewhere. 
> 
> I hope these suggestions help. Please let us know. If worst comes 
to 
> worst, are you still under warranty? I should add that if you're 
> using the KP60 kick pad, I'd be far less surprised by your problem 
> than if you were using the the KP65.
> 
> Ed
I too, have the same issue! when playing as Ed said "heat of the 
battle" and do an accent of snare and cymbbal, the kick almost always 
will not sound, And I am certainly kicking it! I have tried it with 
the tower yammy set up , as well as a pintech trigger,the small 
cylindrical one (scientific,no?) and the results are about the same. 
I did have some issues with the yammy stand up trigger,and had to 
disassemble and solder the jack terminals back solidly to the pc 
board...that cured the hit/no sound, but not the no kick response 
when hitting cymbal(any) and or cymbal/snare /kick...any ideas Ed? kb



 
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strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error,
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I'm having a related problem with my kick drum pad but I'm not sure 
it's the same thing. The drummer in my band is a bit heavy-footed 
and after about a year of no problems, it seems the pad doesn't 
respond to hard kicks. A moderate kick will trigger OK, but when he 
plays it hard there are random non-triggers (I would have thought 
you would need increasing pressure trigger something that has been 
stretched out?). I haven't taken it apart (any direction there would 
be appreciated) and I'm not even sure what the warranty is on these 
drums. Any help is greatly welcomed- thanks.
Mark
--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, rdamon@m... wrote:
> Just to throw out a quick thought.  The KP65 piezo, unlike the 
PCY/TP pads
> has a substantial amount of pading between the surface of the 
rubber and the
> actual piezo.
>  
> On the PCY, the piezo has a thin layer of plastic and rubber 
pading between
> it and the striking surface, nothing to temp/permanantly deform to 
any
> degree. On the TP the piezo has a metal plate and a thin layer of 
rubber
> pading between it and the striking surface, again nothing to
> temp/permanantly deform to any degree.
>  
> But on the KP65 there is a heavy rubber cover that is not bonded 
to anything
> and behind it is a thick layer of foam that is bonded to the metal 
plate
> that secures the piezo. After repeated heavy blows to the KP65 the 
following
> could and will occur:
>  
> The outer rubber cover could be pulling away from the foam as it 
temp.
> stretches from repeated strikes.
> The thick foam behind the pad could be compressing and not 
expanding back
> out quick enough to make contact with the outer rubber pad. 
>  
> I used to leave my foot on the pedal with the felt beater pressed 
against
> the rubber pad between beats and would end up having similair 
missed beats.
> Since I stopped leaving the beater pressed against the rubber pad, 
the
> problem has disappeared for me.
>  
> I wonder if putting some adhesive between the rubber pad and the 
foam to
> bind them together would help?
>  
> The other possibility is simply a loose connection.
>  
> Other things to look at are the settings such as the curves; 
normal, loud1,
> loud2, hard1, hard2 and Self rej is set to a low number. 
>  
>  
> OGD
> 
>    _____  
> 
> From: nugeman2004 Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 9:49 PM
> To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [DTXpress] Re: DTXpress 1 Bass drum trigger problem
> 
> 
> --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "emf" <liberatusvirus@y...> wrote:
> > --- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "robert_cathy" 
<robert_cathy@y...> 
> > wrote:
> > > Has anyone heard of this problem, sometimes but not always 
when I 
> > am 
> > > hitting a snare, cymbal or highhat, the bass drum doesn't 
trigger 
> a 
> > > sound even thought it is being hit? It is a intermitten 
problem 
> > that 
> > > I have to listen closely to hear. My daughter is trying to 
learn 
> > and 
> > > that how I found it. Any ideas? Any solutions?
> > 
> > Hi Robert,
> > 
> > Dropouts aren't terribly unusual. But, as Will's post indicates, 
> the 
> > kick pad isn't usually the victim--at least for interactive 
> reasons. 
> > When a pad on the rack gets hit, the rack can transmit 
vibrations 
> to 
> > one or more of the other ones, causing a sympathetic reaction. 
This 
> > phenomenon is called crosstalk, and Yamaha has "rejection" 
settings 
> > to minimize it in the trigger menu. Rejection's remedy for a pad 
> > firing unintentionally as a result of events on other pads is to 
> mute 
> > it unless it is hit with a certain minimum force (the rejection 
> > number). "Specific rejection" protects a pad from hits on a 
certain 
> > other pad, normally close to it, in the same manner. "Self-
> rejection" 
> > guards against a pad reacting to itself (double-triggers), 
usually 
> > because gain is too high. If a drummer fails to strike a pad 
with 
> > enough force to circumvent the muting enabled by any of these 
> > rejection parameters during another offending event, it won't 
make 
> > any noise. Many dropouts are caused by rejection settings that 
are 
> > too high. By all means, if the kick drum input carries high 
> rejection 
> > numbers, reduce them to the point where the offending artifacts 
> > disappear. 
> > 
> > That said, however, the fact that the kick pad isn't on the rack 
> > reduces the chances that rejection as a means to defeat 
crosstalk 
> is 
> > the culprit. A high self-rejection is still a possibility, 
though 
> you 
> > would have known if you'd set it, right? One other possibility 
is 
> > that your gain and/or minimum velocity settings aren't optimal. 
If 
> > gain is too low and min.vel. too high, you could get false 
> > triggering. It might not happen when you play the kick by 
itself, 
> but 
> > in the heat of battle when your attention is divided, the kick 
> might 
> > not be getting the same impact. Try changing the gain and min. 
vel. 
> > settings as indicated. 
> > 
> > A last resort might be that the something has come loose inside 
the 
> > kick tower. Sometimes resoldering everything can improve 
response, 
> > even if you don't actually see a loose connection somewhere. 
> > 
> > I hope these suggestions help. Please let us know. If worst 
comes 
> to 
> > worst, are you still under warranty? I should add that if you're 
> > using the KP60 kick pad, I'd be far less surprised by your 
problem 
> > than if you were using the the KP65.
> > 
> > Ed
> I too, have the same issue! when playing as Ed said "heat of the 
> battle" and do an accent of snare and cymbbal, the kick almost 
always 
> will not sound, And I am certainly kicking it! I have tried it 
with 
> the tower yammy set up , as well as a pintech trigger,the small 
> cylindrical one (scientific,no?) and the results are about the 
same. 
> I did have some issues with the yammy stand up trigger,and had to 
> disassemble and solder the jack terminals back solidly to the pc 
> board...that cured the hit/no sound, but not the no kick response 
> when hitting cymbal(any) and or cymbal/snare /kick...any ideas Ed? 
kb
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
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*****
> The information transmitted herewith is sensitive information 
intended only
> for use to the individual or entity to which it is addressed. If 
the reader
> of this message is not the intended recipient, you are hereby 
notified that
> any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, copying 
or other
> use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information 
is
> strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in 
error,
> please contact the sender and delete the material from your 
computer.
> 
> 
> 
_____________________________________________________________________
_
> This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security 
System.
> For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email 
> 
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_

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "slivjakm" <mjsliv@h...> wrote:
> I'm having a related problem with my kick drum pad but I'm not sure 
> it's the same thing. The drummer in my band is a bit heavy-footed 
> and after about a year of no problems, it seems the pad doesn't 
> respond to hard kicks. A moderate kick will trigger OK, but when he 
> plays it hard there are random non-triggers (I would have thought 
> you would need increasing pressure trigger something that has been 
> stretched out?). I haven't taken it apart (any direction there 
would 
> be appreciated) and I'm not even sure what the warranty is on these 
> drums. Any help is greatly welcomed- thanks.

Hi Mark,

Is the offending kick pad a KP60 that you bought secondhand? If so, 
forget about a warranty; it must be three or four years old. I long 
ago threw logic out the window with that particular pad; relatively 
speaking, yours seems to have led a long life; not too many KP60s 
lasted that long. I've opened up a few of them looking for why they 
were misbehaving and never found an obvious reason. In your case, 
you'd be lucky if the problem were simply a matter of assigning a new 
pad type. But I don't think so. My guess is that some connection is 
loose on the board, whether visible or not. When you strike the pad 
moderately, the connection remains generally stable, but when you 
hammer it hard, it gets disrupted. The best you can do might be to 
open it up--which is simply a matter of unscrewing the plate and 
pulling the elements apart--check the wires and resolder everything 
regardless of appearances. You might also spray some WD-40 into the 
jack and on the connector. You'll be surprised how uncomplicated the 
insides are. If you're unable to improve triggering and have to buy 
another kick pad, you'll find the new one, whatever it is, superior 
in every way. That's all that occurs to me. Please feel free to get a 
second opinion.

Ed

Ed:

Thanks for the reply. I bought the set new last year (less than a 
year ago, so I'm hoping the warranty will cover it), the DTXpress 
II, so it would be the kick pad that shipped with that. Your 
explanation seems logical. I'll try the simple (WD-40) before I 
tinker with it and void the warranty. Never dealt with Yamaha 
before, we'll see how they are. 
Mark

> 
> Hi Mark,
> 
> Is the offending kick pad a KP60 that you bought secondhand? If 
so, 
> forget about a warranty; it must be three or four years old. I 
long 
> ago threw logic out the window with that particular pad; 
relatively 
> speaking, yours seems to have led a long life; not too many KP60s 
> lasted that long. I've opened up a few of them looking for why 
they 
> were misbehaving and never found an obvious reason. In your case, 
> you'd be lucky if the problem were simply a matter of assigning a 
new 
> pad type. But I don't think so. My guess is that some connection 
is 
> loose on the board, whether visible or not. When you strike the 
pad 
> moderately, the connection remains generally stable, but when you 
> hammer it hard, it gets disrupted. The best you can do might be to 
> open it up--which is simply a matter of unscrewing the plate and 
> pulling the elements apart--check the wires and resolder 
everything 
> regardless of appearances. You might also spray some WD-40 into 
the 
> jack and on the connector. You'll be surprised how uncomplicated 
the 
> insides are. If you're unable to improve triggering and have to 
buy 
> another kick pad, you'll find the new one, whatever it is, 
superior 
> in every way. That's all that occurs to me. Please feel free to 
get a 

> second opinion.
> 
> Ed

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "slivjakm" <mjsliv@h...> wrote:
> Thanks for the reply. I bought the set new last year (less than a 
> year ago, so I'm hoping the warranty will cover it), the DTXpress 
> II, so it would be the kick pad that shipped with that. Your 
> explanation seems logical. I'll try the simple (WD-40) before I 
> tinker with it and void the warranty. Never dealt with Yamaha 
> before, we'll see how they are. 

Mark,

I must have missed that you had a KP65. My guess about the problem 
still holds, but OGD's description of the insides in a previous post 
supervenes. If you do open it up, check the foam behind the rubber to 
make sure that it hasn't seriously deteriorated. Incidentally, Yamaha 
has always been helpful about such things. We've had a good 
relationship with them for a long time. Try calling 1-888-892-6242 
for Martin Arroyo of customer support, or Dave Ksycki 
(dkyscki@...), who heads customer support, especially with 
MIDI. Tell them that the DTXpress Group sent you.

Ed