Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "vap19592000" <vap19592000@y...> 
wrote:

> I cannot seem to figure out what volume levels to set for 
individual 
> pads, when it comes to "LIVE" playing. The various drum kits that I 
> have programmed are mostly set to the same, or close to,  volume 
> levels but, some how or the other it seems that I do not get an 
> acceptable cohesiveness from an individual drum kit.
> E.G...some kits have the Hihats too high, or the cymbals
(crash/ride) 
> to high, or the snare/toms too low...etc, etc...volume levels are 
out 
> of "sync".
> 
> Irregardless where you are playing, whether in a hall, gym, 
> restaurant or stage:
> 
> What would be a general acceptable volume settings, for each pad to 
> get a GOOD drum kit sound, as a whole,  where the hats, snare, 
> cymbals, bass drum, toms and percussion instruments blend as a unit.
> 
> What volume setting have you tried for each of the assigned pads 
that 
> you found works well??

VAP,

It's been a while since I attended to these fine points for the 
DTXpress. But I do seem to recall that the samples within each 
category vary in volume. Many people over the years have asked, in 
particular, how to bring up the hi hat in the mix when they have 
already raised the volume for all of the other pads to its maximum.  
In that case, the only thing to do is to lower all of the individual 
levels in the Voice Edit Mode relative to that of the hi hat through 
headphones or a monitor and then raise the volume of the kit as a 
whole through your amp hor PA. What specific parts of a drummer's 
kits get to stand out is a matter of individual taste and/or style of 
music. Personally, I tend to feature my kick and snare first,giving 
each its own channel in the mix. I place all of the cymbals, 
including the hi hat, on a single channel and adjust their individual 
volumes according to their specific sonic personalities. I remember 
that I programmed some of the DTXpress crashes (actually, they were 
the ones that I liked the most) with a slightly subdued volume and 
fairly quick decay, because they sounded more accurate that way--the 
way smaller/thinner cymbals do in an acoustic context. I grouped all 
of the toms together as well, usually mixed so that simple transients 
would cut through the music. At that volume, however, the sound of 
the toms would become annoying if played constantly; different styles 
required different strategies. So much for my ramblings. Good luck. 
Experiment.

Ed