Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

My view on e-drums is they are really just in their infancy or maybe they
have reached their "pre-teen" years. They have made great strides, but they
are no equal to a real A-drum. The Roland V-pro comes closer to a A-drum
than most in several aspects, but it is still no equal to one. And if you
want a true A-drum look and feel, why spend $5000 on a V-pro when you could
get the real thing (A-drum) for half the price that sounds twice as good. 
 
A-drums have their niche and E-drums have their niche, there is overlap in
what they can do, but they are simply not the same. I can play my edrums at
2 am in the morning, I couldn't do that with A-drums. I can re-tune my
edrums by pressing one button, I could never do that with a A-drum.  
 
I don't believe the DTXpress series was ever really intended for the true
"professional/semi-professional" drummer, even though it has been used by
some. The Dtxtreme IIS (the current top of the line Yamaha kit) is intend
for the serious home user and budding semi-professional. Yamaha doesn't
really have a kit they call out as "For the true full-time professional
player."
 
The stock kits on the Dtxpress should be a starting point on which to build
on. I think the disappointment comes from them not sounding like ones
favorite a-drum. I know that when I was ten years old and got my first
a-drum, it took a while to tune them to sound good to my ears. I had to
change drum heads and mufflers before I was somewhat happy. E-drums are
really no different. They have to be "tuned" and tweaked and just like a
$600 A-drum, no matter what you do to it, it will never sound like a $5000
A-drum kit. The Dtxpress is at the low end of the market.
 
Thanks for you impressions, as this helps bring up awareness that just
because you spend $1500 on a E-drum set, you can't expect to get an
equivalent $1500 A-drum, in terms of sound and feel. 
 
Perhaps with 10-15 years more of development in the edrum market, they will
be almost indestinguishable from a E-drum.
 
OGD

   _____  

From: purtatoe  
Sent: Monday, June 28, 2004 10:43 PM
To: DTXpress@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [DTXpress] My new DTX-3 Special kit


 " Hello out there in E-drum land!

I'm a drummer of 25+ years and a working songwriter. I bought the 
DTXpress 3 special for recording my song demos as getting real drums 
to sound good in a home studio is all but impossible.

As you can see I was not impressed at all. 

I just wanted to give my honest opinion. " 




 
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--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, rdamon@m... wrote:
> My view on e-drums is they are really just in their infancy or 
maybe they
> have reached their "pre-teen" years. 
> 

just
> because you spend $1500 on a E-drum set, you can't expect to get an
> equivalent $1500 A-drum, in terms of sound and feel. 
>  
> Perhaps with 10-15 years more of development in the edrum market, 
they will
> be almost indestinguishable from a E-drum.
>  
> OGD
> 
>    _____  
> 
> Well said, OGD!
 I, too, understand the frustations of the differences in A vs. E 
drums, especially in hi-hat and cymbals. BUT, as I marvel in my 
little piece of heaven (a.k.a. DTXtremeIIS), I realize one MAJOR 
difference... I've "built" 8 or 9 custom kits so far( and haven't 
even scratched the surface yet) - each completely different in 
sound, "feel", and function. They all sound incredible and reflect 
many different drumming styles and  musical needs. With my old A"s, 
I could have any ONE of these, but only ONE!I feel that I own a 
whole music store's worth of drum kits..and I don't even have to 
move to enjoy them all....just push a button! These are not infants 
at all, but very sophisticated grown up instruments. As you've said 
very well, they have lots of room for improvement, and I look 
forward to those advances. But for now, these are "way cool"!!!
Dan   
> 
> 
>  
> 
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> use of, or taking of any action in reliance upon, this information 
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> please contact the sender and delete the material from your 
computer.
> 
> 
> 
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One thing about acoustics live, you need a good set of mic's for 
them. With E's it's a matter of plugging them in and you are good to 
go. I went with e drums for 4 reasons. 1. Practice, no noise as with 
acoustics, 2. Live, no need to worry or problems with how they sound 
due to a bad sound man or no sound man. I control MY sound, and not 
leave it to some knob twirrler. I played a gig using a very 
expensive set of Yamaha acoustics. The sound guy was inexpierenced 
and the drums were really low in the mix. The guy that owned the 
acoustics didn't know he wasn't in the mix. His good sounding drums 
ment squat on that gig. He had 2 mics on the drums, and the sound 
man was afraid of feed back. He got fired after the gig but still, 
that didn't help during the gig. We shared his kit during the gig 
and it didn't modivate me much knowing the drums were buired due to 
that suituation. With e's at least the sound guy can have a good 
signal and just crank it. Even with a bad sound man you have a 
fighting chance. In small halls all I got with acoustics was, "play 
softer, too loud". Acoustics like to be played at a certain volume 
to make them punch out a bit (for rock). With my E's, I can have a 
very punchy sound, CD quality in stereo at any volume. My kick is 
always punchy, regardless of volume. Another thing, I always have a 
problem hearing an acoustic snare due to hearing damage so I tend to 
wack them really hard, esepically live. With my e's, I can aim my 
monitor at myself and get an earload of snare and hear clearly all 
my drums, regardless of how loud the band is. Even if the band has 
good controlled stage volume, I still like running my snare "hot". 
When playing E's, I can have an out front in your face kick, snare, 
toms without a lot of effort. For those gigs where the band does not 
have the drums through the PA, I am master of my sound with my 
trusty JBL EON-2 and Yamaha keyboard amp. I have sterophonic drums, 
CD quality that punch out. If I want to bring the drums up in the 
mix, my little slider on the DTX can put the drums in stunn mode and 
thump the listeners into a drum dancing frenzy. My next item will be 
ear buds. Acoustic abient over tones in a small hall make the drum 
sound a bit flat and mono. Every musician that I ever played behind 
loves the E's. I filled in for a guy last week and the band prefered 
the E's way over the acoustics. Lower stage volume, punchier, 
controlled, stereo, and plesent to the ear. Acoustics, though 
wonderfull for us, has drawbacks in smaller type gigs where acoustic 
drum volumes are poo pooed on. You simply cannot get the same punch 
with acoustics off stage as what's comming out of a speaker. You can 
get a lot more volume with the acoustics, but sometimes with smaller 
places it's not a plus. Since most of my gigs are now reglated to 
smaller venues, the E's work out better for me. 3. For recording the 
e's do it for me. Maybe for the final studio cut "going to Warner 
Brothers", I would use acoustic cymbals. When recorded, one would be 
hard pressed to say, "those are electric drums". Reason 4. 
consistancy and flexability. I can have a Nickleback snare drum, 
Rush snare drum, Loverboy thumping thick 80's sounding rock snare 
drum. A techno kit, retro kit, and modern sounding kit. I can record 
my playing and mix it into tunes and see how good it sizes up with 
the original version. Practice at 3am. Control my sound. Not worry 
about kick drum feed back because it's not miced. Have timbalies at 
a turn of a dial, sound effects, loop beats and solo on top of it 
and make people think I am better than what I really am. Can add 
more reverb on my side stick sound and thicken it up for those 
waltzses. For the money i feel i am getting a lot more then what 
acoustics have to offer. I am not new to drumming and been playing 
over half my life. If I want to practice drums home, I have to have 
E's. A pal of mine bought a two grand acoustic kit, and cannot play 
them in his apartment. So how much worth are edrums when weighing 
the benifits of not being able to practice? I love acoustics and 
wish I could get away using them all the time. But reality being 
what it is, the E's have more benifits for me. If I was playing full 
time again in big clubs with qualified souns men, I would play 
acoustics.  Just some thoughts. 

" just because you spend $1500 on a E-drum set, you can't expect to 
get an equivalent $1500 A-drum, in terms of sound and feel."