Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hey guys (m/f), 

This week I received my two new PCY65S's for my DTXPII kit. I ordered them August 16th 
at Thomann (for 218 euro's, including CYAT65 arms and shipping costs), they immediately 
mailed that I had to wait for two months. Luckily, the new pads arrived three weeks sooner 
than I expected. So now I have those two empty inputs used (I just couldn't psychologically 
cope with the two empty ones). After long-lasting doubts on how to expand, and, after 
deciding, what felt like a long time to wait, they're finally here! 

Before the PCY65S's arrived I used the PCY65S for ride, the PCY65 for hi-hat, and the TP65 
for crash because the TP65 did not feel right as a hi-hat. But the crash-feel of the TP65 
obviously is also terrible, so my new set-up is: PCY65S into 1, 6, and 7, and the 
KP65+TP65 into 9/10, the PCY65 as hi-hat and the rest as usual. Putting one PCY65S into 
1 means I lose the choke function but that's a small drawback. A plus of this set-up is that 
I only had to change the 1->9 trigger setting before I was able to play. Looking at the set-
up, and playing it, only now it feels as if it's "complete". Btw the new pads look much 
darker: is it different rubber or is it just because they're new?

I have some problems in finding what feels like the right set-up, ergonomically speaking. 
Whether a pad feels like it's in the right position, or should be moved a bit to the left, or 
back to the right, or perhaps to another arm, or perhaps I should, etc. What really bothers 
me here is the stupidity of the clamp design. Of course, Yamaha should have had clamps 
that can be detached without having to completely dissassemble the set-up (I assume this 
is the same with the III/IIISP/DTXT?).  Anyway, it'll probably take a few months to get the 
perfect configuration. Another point is the voices, it will probably take much longer to 
find/design satisfactory cymbal voices, especially since I'm always too eager to play (which 
means that I'll postpone the tweaking and fine tuning of the voices every time I'm behind 
the kit).

 And now I read that expanding the kit with a TP120S really is a huge step forward. 
Hmmmm, interesting....

Erik Paul