Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hi folks, I'm a guitar player trying to learn some drums for home
recording and getting more out of my drum software.  I also want as
good of a kit as I can afford laying around because as my guitar
playing (and gear acquisition) progresses I find it more and more
likely I'll be able to rope in someone to play with over here
regularly.  I pretty much have a complete basement recording studio now.

I got one of these Yoki DD-502 (osp, simmons, lloyd, etc) about a year
ago and have had fun messing with it occasionally.  It has heads that
can be changed to mesh, standard 1-zone 1/4" mono jacks, and I was
under the impression when I got it that I could upgrade the brain to
"real" gear and upgrade other things over time.

So of course now I'm eyeballing a DTExpress ii, iii, or iv brain.  I
want to trigger the brain with my computer software so that I will be
hearing the same sounds coming out of the same amp/speakers when I
practice drums as when jamming guitar along to my drum software
(Jamstix mostly).  

Has anyone gone this route of trying to upgrade one of these chinese
kits piecemeal?  Namely brain upgrade first?

I already found out about needing a new high hat pedal.  The DD502's
high hat pedal is just an on/off switch.  Even as a beginner I found
it problematic and really don't want to learn on such an arrangement.
 So that's great news really, although it adds to the budget.  I'd
also get a TP65S for the snare (or better?) asap and better cymbals
down the road if I get better at drumming.

Any other surprises lurking for me?  It's only a few hundred bux to
just dump the kit I have now and try to get a used Yamaha kit.  I have
a long history of doing things the long/hard/expensive way  8-)

Actually, what are some better snares I should look at?  I'm seeing
these things mounted on a real stand, seems like a great idea since
mine is fairly bouncy...  If I can upgrade this stuff one piece at a
time I'll probably go for the better stuff (like maybe the rhh130 for
the high-hat right off the bat?).

Ok, I guess that's a second question I have that I'm sure no one has
ever asked before  8-)  As a beginner to drumming, am I going to learn
bad habits on a crappy electronic drum kit versus learning on a real
acoustic kit or a higher quality edrum kit??  I do kind of hope to get
my drumming skills off the ground over the years.  For instance, it is
utterly laughable to expect someone to learn to play drums if the high
hat pedal (or the kick???) are just on/off switches, right?

Well, I'm lazy so I would just ditch the kit and buy a new one.  It
would save all sorts of possible compatibility issues with pads/module.

I learnt on a DTXpress III and now have an acoustic kit as well.  The
benefits to me of the acoustic kit are the wider dynamic range,
ability to use brushes & rods and a wider range of sounds from cymbals
& hi-hat just by how you hit them.  The disadvantage of the acoustic
kit are the limited range of sounds, slow to re-tune and they are LOUD.

The switch to acoustic is not too difficult.  The areas I have had
problems with are the kick drum bounce (although that possibly has
something to do with my chosen kick drum which is 18" unvented) and
hi-hat.  Getting the partially open hi-hat sounds I want seems to
require a lot more subtlety than I am used to with the DTXpress pedal.
 I guess an on/off hi-hat pedal may make the transition a bit more
difficult.

Keith.

Hi Tim

That was the way I went with the same kit (dd502)

When the kit took a flying leap out of the truck and fell on his
brain, I went on ebay and got a dtx-I unit to replace it. (Did you  
know the triangular cymbals create a lot of lift, watch out!) lol

I should have gotten a dtx-VI though, would have been a bit more up
to date... the dd502 hi-hat, snare and cymbals are a bit of a problem
as they don't trigger quite right... I have slowly been replacing
them.

I also play guitar and have been setting up a practice/recording
setup   to allow me to play with others;

powered yamaha mrs400w speakers, 
a tascam 2488(all instruments and vocals run through this), 
digitech gnx3000 pedal,
digitech vocal300 pedal,
bp80 bass pedal, 
an old roland synththesizer, 
dd-502 with 
     dtxpressI brain, 
     rhh-130 hi-hat, 
     tp65s dual trigger snare(too small but works good), 
     a double bass pedal,
     a couple of new clear single zone 16 & 18" pintech 
          cymbals(these work great!). 
     drums run stereo through 2 2488 inputs
     same stereo setup with guitar

So now I have the kit working pretty good, but I  also want more pads
for other sound effects!...  keep your old brain for that kind of
thing and just feed it through the external signal input on the
yamaha... we broke my dd502 brain so I can't do that! DANG!

anyway contact me off group to discuss guitar realted things!
Tom

upgrading DD502
Posted by: "tim_verry" lamontgrady@...   tim_verry
Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:40 pm (PDT)
Hi folks, I'm a guitar player trying to learn some drums for home
recording and getting more out of my drum software. I also want as
good of a kit as I can afford laying around because as my guitar
playing (and gear acquisition) progresses I find it more and more
likely I'll be able to rope in someone to play with over here
regularly. I pretty much have a complete basement recording studio
now.

I got one of these Yoki DD-502 (osp, simmons, lloyd, etc) about a
year
ago and have had fun messing with it occasionally. It has heads that
can be changed to mesh, standard 1-zone 1/4" mono jacks, and I was
under the impression when I got it that I could upgrade the brain to
"real" gear and upgrade other things over time.

So of course now I'm eyeballing a DTExpress ii, iii, or iv brain. I
want to trigger the brain with my computer software so that I will be
hearing the same sounds coming out of the same amp/speakers when I
practice drums as when jamming guitar along to my drum software
(Jamstix mostly).

Has anyone gone this route of trying to upgrade one of these chinese
kits piecemeal? Namely brain upgrade first?

I already found out about needing a new high hat pedal. The DD502's
high hat pedal is just an on/off switch. Even as a beginner I found
it problematic and really don't want to learn on such an arrangement.
So that's great news really, although it adds to the budget. I'd
also get a TP65S for the snare (or better?) asap and better cymbals
down the road if I get better at drumming.

Any other surprises lurking for me? It's only a few hundred bux to
just dump the kit I have now and try to get a used Yamaha kit. I have
a long history of doing things the long/hard/expensive way 8-)

Actually, what are some better snares I should look at? I'm seeing
these things mounted on a real stand, seems like a great idea since
mine is fairly bouncy... If I can upgrade this stuff one piece at a
time I'll probably go for the better stuff (like maybe the rhh130 for
the high-hat right off the bat?).

Ok, I guess that's a second question I have that I'm sure no one has
ever asked before 8-) As a beginner to drumming, am I going to learn
bad habits on a crappy electronic drum kit versus learning on a real
acoustic kit or a higher quality edrum kit?? I do kind of hope to get
my drumming skills off the ground over the years. For instance, it is
utterly laughable to expect someone to learn to play drums if the
high
hat pedal (or the kick???) are just on/off switches, right?


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I was trying to talk myself into going for the IV but it doesn't have
midi input!!  That was the main reason for wanting to upgrade the
DD502 to begin with.  Total show-stopper for me.

I was going to ask what do I need to do to have more triggers.  So I
can just use the DD502 or any other brain with midi output, and
connect it to the midi input of the DTXpress III?  Oh I see, you're
saying to use the audio output of the second brain into the "aux" or
whatever input.  I wonder if it would work with midi though?  

The Rhh130 looks way cool.  I'm thinking I should get a really good
snare first...

I'd love to try the GNX3000.  I have a podxt with the "shortboard"
foot controller that's been a lot of fun.

I just got a deal on a used DTXpress III brain I couldn't pass up, but
I figure I'll come out way ahead if I just buy a whole used kit and
sell my DD502 as a complete used kit.  I can sell the III at a profit
or keep it as a second brain if I can figure out how to chain
everything together.

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, Tom Watson <palomineo@...> wrote:

>
> Hi Tim
> 
> That was the way I went with the same kit (dd502)
> 
> When the kit took a flying leap out of the truck and fell on his
> brain, I went on ebay and got a dtx-I unit to replace it. (Did you  
> know the triangular cymbals create a lot of lift, watch out!) lol
> 
> I should have gotten a dtx-VI though, would have been a bit more up
> to date... the dd502 hi-hat, snare and cymbals are a bit of a problem
> as they don't trigger quite right... I have slowly been replacing
> them.
> 
> I also play guitar and have been setting up a practice/recording
> setup   to allow me to play with others;
> 
> powered yamaha mrs400w speakers, 
> a tascam 2488(all instruments and vocals run through this), 
> digitech gnx3000 pedal,
> digitech vocal300 pedal,
> bp80 bass pedal, 
> an old roland synththesizer, 
> dd-502 with 
>      dtxpressI brain, 
>      rhh-130 hi-hat, 
>      tp65s dual trigger snare(too small but works good), 
>      a double bass pedal,
>      a couple of new clear single zone 16 & 18" pintech 
>           cymbals(these work great!). 
>      drums run stereo through 2 2488 inputs
>      same stereo setup with guitar
> 
> So now I have the kit working pretty good, but I  also want more pads
> for other sound effects!...  keep your old brain for that kind of
> thing and just feed it through the external signal input on the
> yamaha... we broke my dd502 brain so I can't do that! DANG!
> 
> anyway contact me off group to discuss guitar realted things!
> Tom
> 
> upgrading DD502
> Posted by: "tim_verry" lamontgrady@...   tim_verry
> Wed Apr 23, 2008 4:40 pm (PDT)
> Hi folks, I'm a guitar player trying to learn some drums for home
> recording and getting more out of my drum software. I also want as

I got the DTXpress III brain.  The Yoki pads worked fine with it.  As
was mentioned before though the hihat pedal is just an on/off switch
so it won't work.