Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

Hello DTXheads,

I bought a second hand DTXpress 2 a few months ago and now have a 
problem with the kick pad. Between strokes, I lean my pedals hard 
into the kick pad- as I pull them back, the kick sample is triggered 
again. 
As I am unwilling to compromise my technique, I would be most 
interested to know how to avoid these unwanted notes firing off. Is 
it simply a matter of increasing the thresh hold? How? I don't have a 
manual.
Thanks

Max

--- maxplaysdrums wrote:
> I lean my pedals hard into the kick pad- as I pull
> them back, the kick sample is triggered again. 
> As I am unwilling to compromise my technique

Can I politely enquire why you don't want to change technique?

Leaving the kick beater on the head between strokes is a valid option 
(just like heel-up or down) and I won't try to talk you out of that 
(I do it too, though I'm trying not to). But I would have thought 
putting that much pressure on the beater - enought to distort the 
pad - isn't too healthy for or good for speed. To get the back-stroke 
you need to get all that weight off the pedal, and that takes time 
and energy.

Why do you need to lean on them so hard? Can you sit further back on 
the throne and take some of the weight off?

> I don't have a manual.

You can download Acrobat versions of the manuals here:
http://www.dtxpressions.com/manuals/

Stewart

--- In DTXpress@yahoogroups.com, "moosetication" 
<moosetication@y...> wrote:
> Leaving the kick beater on the head between strokes is a valid 
option. 

Max,

When I started playing e-drums, I had the same "problem." Aside from 
the matter of technique, which is always hard to alter, e-drums, 
unlike acoustics, are touch-sensitive--more so with elevated 
sensitivity and gain settings. The point may seem obvious, but it 
wasn't to me back then. I'd think that I was hitting the kick drum 
once (the KP60--don't get me started), but each kick was starting a 
whole chain of perplexing events. The double triggers were partly 
due to the unforgiving nature of the hard rubber but also the fact 
that I tended almost imperceptively to touch the pad with the beater 
after every stroke, not unlike adding little syncopations and ghosts 
to the snare after a beat. I had to work to become conscious of the 
habit, harmless enough on an acoustic but annoying as hell on the 
Xpress. 

But the solution doesn't stop with the mechanics of the foot. When 
you've downloaded the manual, experiment with lowering the kick's 
sensitivity (if it has a knob, turn it back halfway or less), 
reducing its gain via the trigger menu, and raising its minimum 
velocity, until you reach settings that work under ordinary 
conditions but don't register too many unwanted noises when you 
backslide with the pedal. If the trigger is too hot, it will pick up 
too much; the kick can afford to be a little cruder in touch than 
the other pads. Use volume (a voice parameter), rather than gain (a 
trigger parameter), to register power.

Keep in touch.

Ed

> <moosetication@y...> wrote:
> > Leaving the kick beater on the head between strokes is a valid 
> option. 
> 
	Also leaving the beater pressed hard against the KP65 is not a good
thing. With a acoustics bass drum leaving your bass pedal press against the
drum head may only "de-tuned" the head over long period of time, basically,
"no big deal".  I have had my DTXpressII for almost a year and just recently
started to get some "missed" or low volume hits. I being a tinkerer, took
the pad apart, (I should have taken a photo) and found that about 1"
diameter X 1/8" deep of the center of the foam that is located behind the
rubber outer covering where the beater strikes it is gone. I too had the
habit of leaving the beater pressed against the pad, between beats. I have
two KP65's. The second one maybe only gets 1/3 to 1/2 the usage that the
primary pad gets used. But because my left foot is going between the hihat
pedals and the KP65, my left foot never is left resting on the pad. My left
foot never picked up the bad habit that my right foot did. I checked the
inside of the second KP65 and there was no damage to the interior foam pad.
My conclusion is that it is a result of leaving the beater pressed against
the rubber, which is compressing the foam that cause this damage. I have
since changed my technique to not rest the beater on the pad between
strokes. So my recommendation, if you don't want to change, would be to look
into getting something with a mesh type head or plan on replacing the KP
over time. Just my 2 cents worth.

	So now I just have to find some foam of the same consistency of the
original foam to repair my KP65 with. 

	OldGuyDrummer

 
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Stewart,

Why do i lean on my pedals- good question.

Basically, I lean on my pedals for a relaxed feel. I am an extremely "hard hitter" but i try to strive for relaxation in all elements of drumming (hey- why not make things easier on yourself).

This way of playing still engages the quadricep muscles after the initial stroke, but not to the extent of lifting my entire leg after each stroke (i play heel up). I can get a lot of power and great feel with this method. Obviously, the faster I play, the less I lean.

The con is kick heads become muffled, and there's that double triggering problem I had with my Yamaha KP (i think that's sorted now, thanks).

I've tried the "hover method" but I just couldn't rock out- I guess it's just a hard one to develop.

Max

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