Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "swanseadrummer" 
<aeron.kirczey@n...> wrote:
> 
> Hi all, purchased a DTxpress III recently and used it live for the 
> first time on Saturday.  Had a problem with the occasional hit of 
the 
> snare pad not triggering.  There was no particular pattern to this 
> but was disappointed with this happening.  Has anyone else had this 
> problem?  Is it possible to hit the pad too hard?  or maybe I 
wasn't 
> striking the pad acurately enough?

Hi Aeron,

Welcome. Let's keep it simple for a moment. Barring any internal 
damage to the pad, which is highly unlikely, the main reason why the 
snare fails to sound is that something is stopping its signal from 
having the desired effect. Although live playing can involve other 
complications, the most common cause for dropouts is that rejection 
is set too high. A pad's rejection settings in the Trigger Edit Mode 
prevent hits on another pad from creating vibrations that cause it to 
fire accidentally. Essentially, a pad's rejection setting stops it 
from making any noise unless the triggering event--its own or 
anything else's--exceeds the numerical threshold of the setting. The 
higher a pad's rejection number, the more force it requires to do its 
job. Rampant rejection counteracts the very purpose of the kit. 
Reduce the numbers to balance efficient triggering with insulation 
from accidental triggering as best you can. The plain "rejection" 
number provides general protection from other pads; "specific 
rejection" concentrates protection against a particular pad; 
and "self-rejection" keeps a pad from echoing on itself (double 
triggers). They all should only be high enough to minimize the 
problem; otherwise the pads may go on strike. 

Two other settings that impact a pad's triggering are gain and 
minimum velocity. Too high a gain will make a pad more susceptible to 
events on other pads, causing it either to fire accidentally or, if 
rejection rears its ugly head too much above the horizon, to shut 
down. Too low a minimum velocity will also make a pad more 
susceptible to vibrations along the rack. It's also possible that 
pads run at excessive sensitivities, regardless of rejection 
settings, will not be able to recover quickly enough after a first 
strike to process a second. Keep the trigger numbers at moderate 
levels unless experience dictates otherwise. 

The rejection settings apply only to components connected to the 
module. The module has no effect on interference from outside. When 
you play live, keep everyone off your riser, if you have one, and if 
your floor is shaky, keep dancers a safe distance away. Also be aware 
that the bass amp, or just its signals, can resonate enough to damage 
your kit's response.  Many people do extra work on their kits to 
isolate them as much as possible from interference external, as well 
as internal, to the rack.

As bad as the manual is, read about the trigger settings to get a 
feel for what is happening inside the module. Then, if we need to 
troubleshoot further, we won't have to retrace old ground from 
scratch.

Ed