Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

> the visu-lite hats set up right on 
> a typical hat stand, correct? How do they connect to the DTXtreme 
> module? 

Hi Jim,

Good to hear from you. I trust you got out of Cleveland OK. Have you 
seen my basic material on the Visu-lite hi hat stand in the files 
section of this board? It contains a couple of pictures of the 
controller clamped to a basic Pearl stand, with its metal cord 
hooked to the foot pedal. The dangling stereo leads in the picture 
are for the dual-zone top cymbal. On the DTXtreme module, you'd have 
to use two mono inputs--one being already labelled for the hi hat 
and the other your choice. Obviously, if you have the single-zone 
top cymbal, you don't need the second input. The stereo lead from 
the controller itself connects to the module just as your HH80 
would. As far as programming is concerned, your old settings should 
get you in the ballpark; you can tweak them as needed.

The tricky part--if you can call it that--is to position the clamp 
on the shaft and connect the cord's hook to the pedal in such a way 
as to get a good response, given the height of your stand and the 
relative position of your cymbals. It's best to fiddle and tinker 
now to find these optimal locations, since the electronics will have 
to be re-placed on the shaft whenever you make changes. The ease of 
hooking the cord to the pedal will depend on what kind of stand you 
have. You'll notice that in my file illustration, the hook actually 
is attached to the chain just above the pedal. In my further 
experiment with a Pearl stand, however, I found that this position 
for the hook slightly impedes the smooth motion of the cord, for 
reasons that I won't rehearse now. Fortunately, at least some Pearl 
pedals have a hole that you can use for the hook's clamp. Even 
though this hole is off-center, you can make adjustments to permit 
the cord to traverse its full length nonetheless.

Once you get the cymbals opening and closing according to your taste 
(I prefer a short distance for the top cymbal to travel) on the 
length of shaft that you prefer, locate controller and hook 
accordingly, and connect the cables, you should be able to get 
something resembling a hi hat sound and response. You'll undoubtedly 
have to refine it heuristically. You'll probably notice that when 
the Visu-lite hi hat cymbals close, they'll make something of a 
clomping sound. If I recall correctly, most of your playing is live 
with an amp or PA; so the clomnping might not be much of an issue. 
If it is, you'll notice that I lined the bottom cymbal with fabric 
to cut down on noise. Any number of techniques, however, might help 
the situation. Remember that the most important feature determining 
the hat's variability is the cord's ability to run its full course; 
when you've adjusted the stand to allow it to do so, the hats don't 
actually need to touch each other as they would with acoustics. 

Stick noise on the top cymbal, despite the rubber coating, is also 
louder than many of the usual hi hat alternatives. Again, it's not 
necessarily an issue with all drummers; if it is, the cymbal's 
sensitivity is more than adequate enough to overcome any dampening 
that you might do. Contact me offline, if you want to bat this 
information around a little more.

Ed