Here are some first impressions on the DTX2S from a
25 year veteran acoustic drummer. My genre is '75 to '95 rock/hard rock
(not acid or thrash, but popular HR of the era)
My application is an integration of the DTX2S into
my acoustic kit. I am using approximately 50% of the included
hardware, 4 TD120 toms, 1 TD120SD and the module, all mated to my
Gibralter/Pearl acoustic kit consisting of 10 toms, kick and snare. I will
be using acoustic HHs and cymbals.
I have never touched or even seen up close an E kit
until my recent purchase of the DTX2S, so I have no other kit to compare to, I'm
simply throwing out some impartial, first impressions.
- Love my vendor for being helpful and flexible
with my order (Drumbalaya)
- Hate Yamaha distribution for changing delivery
dates 6 times ranging from very early Spring to what turned out to be late
July
- Love the fact that the rack is sized the same as
my Gibralter hardware so it was easily integrated.
- Hate the flimsy build of the hardware. ; The
tubes are extremely delicate and I have trouble envisioning them taking the
beating on the road that my Gibralter/Pearl equipment does. The clamps are
cheap plastic and I have concerns about their longevity as well.
Additionally, unlike the Gibralter clamps which have a clamshell design which
allows them to be easily removed and replaced, the Yamaha clamps require
complete disassembly of that portion of the kit to slide the clamp off or onto
the bar. Not so convenient.
- Love the ball and socket adjustment for the tom
holders, by far the easiest, fastest adjustment method I've ever seen.
Should become an industry standard for acoustic drums.
- Hate that they didn't put a mounting port in the
SD so I didn't have to have an extra stand in my way, also hate the height of
the SD stand isnt high enough when legs are fully extended.
- Love the included mounting hardware that keeps
the module close to the drummer on the kit
- Hate the cheap plastic mounting surface which I
suspect will crack within a year
- Love the intuitive interface of the
module.
- Hate the fact that the manual is written from the
perspective of someone who is already familiar with E-kits, there is no clear
'start here', 'do this next' context for the complete novice to
E-kits
- Love the quality and diversity of the
voices
- Hate that there are only 4 tom voices for each
kit. For a kit with 2000+ voices, they couldn't foresee that someone would
add more E-toms or be triggering an acoustic kit with more than 4 toms? I
haven't gotten to deeply work with tuning the preset sizes, but without a shell
diameter and depth setting, I don't see this as being a great way to go.
We really need additional tom sizes and this is one of my biggest gripes right
now.
- Love the InsFX option
- Hate that there aren't 4 instead of 2, and I
really hate that we can only assign 1 of the InsFX channels to a voice. In
a situation where the user is trying to recreated a preset voice, but must send
it to an IND channel, we depend on the InsFX channels, but if we need to combine
both REV and CHO we are stuck choosing either/or.
- Love the fact that all necessary cables were
included
- wish they were a little heavier duty and not
prelabled.
Overall, I am pleased with the kit, but I think
they took some shortcuts. I'm really miffed about the lack of additional
tom sizes and I'm hoping a download site will pop up. I also am thankful
that this forum exists, because it provides a great place to get and give ideas
and feedback.
I hope no one thinks I am just ragging on the
kit. I really do like it, but I just call em as I see em.
Thx
Vic