Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "peterpan" <malakies2000@y...> wrote:
> i'm still not sure whether to get a dmpro or a second dtx module. 
> i've seen a second hand dtx pro v2.0 for sale but i've never used 
one 
> before and they are pretty old. failing that there is always the 
> option of gettin a new dtxpress II module. 

Pete,

My pleasure. The discontinued DTXv2.0 modules are really affordable 
now--the low to mid $200 range. My old pal Walt who owned a couple of 
them (and owns the DTX Yahoo list) always liked it a lot, but he has 
warned that it represents the oldest technology in the Yamaha module 
arsenal. That said, it is superior ergonomically and otherwise in 
many respects to the Xpress modules, and it would certainly make a 
viable second-string module for someone who didn't need the latest 
and the greatest. Xpress owners would probably be tempted to give it 
first place, if it weren't for the absence of the three-trigger snare 
and perhaps some triggering issues that I don't know about.

> i just wanna clear one other thing up, i havent really considered 
> roland as i've heard that they dont work very well with yamaha 
> triggers, is that true? or could it be viable to consider a roland 
> module as a second module.

I think that the Yamaha gum rubber triggers work easiest with Yamaha 
electronics, but I have never heard of any outright incompatibility 
between the two--certainly nothing on the order of the Hart/Yamaha 
problem that I and others have experienced and reported. Plenty of 
people have mixed and matched Roland and Yamaha--me included. I 
wasn't knocked out running Roland pads through Yamaha electronics, 
but I wasn't terribly unhappy either (though I've heard the rims on 
the mesh heads are severely attenuated). This is the kind of 
information that Ed Morin has at his fingertips. But, offhand, I'd 
say that if you ccome across a Roland module (TD-7, TD-5) or Roland 
MIDI device (TMC-6, PM-16) at a reasonable price, it would be worth 
serious attention. A TD-6, 8, or 10, either new or used, would have 
to become your primary module to justify the expense--at least to my 
mind. If you're going to buy from Drumbalaya, you should ask Ed or 
Charlotte their opinion about anything. They won't steer you wrong.

Ed (from Massachusetts)