Yamaha DTX! Live sound question!

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fita

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Though I love my acoustics I am in a band that wants me to play this kit live. The main problem, I've never played these out and the soundguy is a dolt!

Basically there are 4 outs, so Yamaha says. 2 mains (r&l) 2 aux's (r&l). I want to assign the snare, bass, toms and percussion to individual channels. Is this possible? I can change the outputs to either main or aux! THAT'S ONLY TWO, and remember there are 3 types of people in this world, those who can count and those who can't!

Now I am pretty electronic unsavy so any help is appreciated!

Thanks
Fita
 
If you've only got 2 channels, you can't have the kick/snare/toms etc. on different channels on the desk.

Anyway, why worry - the sound guy's gonna mess up your balance anyway. At least with the DTX you've got control over the volume levels of the individual drums. All the engineer has to do is plug in your L & R and turn up the volume. He doesn't really even need to EQ. Oh, and much quicker soundcheck...

The DTX isn't any replacement for an acoustic but it has it's advantages. Just think - no more snare rattle, no ringing toms, no missing snare ghost notes. Instead, clean crisp sound. Proper stereo image thru PA. All drums mixed and ready to go.

Enjoy your gig...
 
I aggree with Nubius; When you have an electronic kit which you will play live, you shouldn't worry about having individual outs and sending the snare, kick, whatever seperately. You don't need your sound guy to eq/compress/etc. the sounds which are already processed in the module. Just send the main outs and control the rest yourself, if you get the sound you want using the module then there is no problem.

You should only worry about individual outputs when you are in the studio, where the engineer will want to have maximum control over your instruments.
 
Panning is the key!!!

My cousin has a DTX set and we isolate the kick, snare from the rest of the set when recording. I believe he pans the kick hard right and the snare hard left to the aux outs which seperates them completely; the rest of the set comes out the mains and he pre-mixes the ccymbals, toms etc. in stereo (R & L of the main out). I do the same with my drum machine which has a stereo out plus 4 seperate outs. By panning hard left and right in the stereo out I get 6 seperate outs.

You can have a maximum of four outs w/ your DTXunless you retrofit extra outputs.
 
Thanks for the replies!

For the first gig I ran the all instruments out one channel and I learned one thing....DON'T.

My levels were whacked! I had no control of the total sound, so I'd have to raise the level of the snare after the first few songs, then the bass, then my hats. After the show I realized that my drums when mixed in with the rest of the band sounded horrible.

I am going to try panning by running the snare to (aux left)and the bass drum (aux right) I do have capability to go L1-L4 and R1-R4.

If anybody has anymore input, help me out.

Thanks!
 
fita,

Even though you can pan across the auxor main sends in steps of 1 through 4, I believe that all that will give you is various graduations of stereo. To isolate the kick drum and snare, they, and they alone must go to either the aux or main, then pan them hard right and left respectively. That's the only way you can send an individual drum to one channel of the mixing board.
 
That's what I thought?

Even if I panned it inside the module how would the mixer figure it out? I didn't think it would, it's still coming out of one output.

Am I asking too much? One output for my snare, one for my kick, one for percussion and one for my cymbals. Is this possible, am I the only moron trying to do this?

Magicman thanx for the help, whaddayoumean, retrofit the outs? Can you explain a little.

Thanks!
 
No, you have four
outputs:

1. aux out left

2. aux out right

3. main out right

4. main out left


Run four cords from those four outputs to the mixing board then select one output for kick, one for snare, etc. through panning.
 
Almost fingered out!

In the module under "trigger" I think page 12 is Output, you have 2 choices "Main" or "Aux". Then back on page 7 you have panning capabilities, "R1-R7" and "L1-L7".

I ran the Kick and Snare to "Main" output, then panned Kick hard left, then panned the snare hard right. Kabooom, seperate channels. I put the toms & cymbals/Percussion on the "Aux" output and panned the toms hard left and cymbals hard right.

I do get small amounts of crosstalk, but I think that can be fixed in the module, that's next weekends project.

I tried recording on my Tascam mk488II and it all came out good. I read a post last week about using more reverb, it was advice well used!

The more I fool with these things the more I find you need to be dead on when drumming. When you're off a hair, and it can be a red one, you notice it. Recording with this has humbled me quite a bit and showed me I am sloppy!

Has anyone else had this experience or any other experience with these crummy electronic boxs?

Fill me in!

Keep slammin'

Thanks again Magicman!
 
Hi Fita:
I have the same Yamaha electronic kit as you do, but I haven't has the time to perfect the sound for recording like you have...When you get a recording of these drums that you like, could you please post it where I can hear it?
So far my drummer hates this set, but i can see that there is potential to use it live as well, and would love to get a decent recording with it...
Thanks for the great questions!
Magicman: Thank you for your wisdom here, too.
DJ
 
My experience!

Hi Doug,
I am still in the beginning phase of learning. I go thru loving this kit to hating it in the matter of one take.

For unique sounds it's almost unlimited. On my snare I get a good main sound, then I add a hand clap and some tambourine in the backround, you can get the sound phat as hell. I was one of those guys who would never think of getting behind one of these dorky looking kits. I bought mine because of my living situation and slowly incorporated it into my kit. Not until recently did I really start utilizing what I had.

Persuant to recording, do to the small size of the pads I usually put the same sound that I have on the pad onto the rim for my toms. This allows my sloppy play to not seem so sloppy. This weekend I am going to work on loading up the reverb and trying to gate the toms. Do to my lack of knowledge about sound I am open doing anything, Trial and error. I know what I don't want, but finding what I want seems an endless task.

The hihats leave something to be desired. I can never seem to get the hats right, so I never use them live. Plus, I love the feel of real cymbals.

I am still figuring out the sequencer, but I can at least loop a 1/4 note cowbell or 16th tambourine.

This is something you have to work at, or at least something I have to work at. I have found that there is not alot of info on the net about these drums. Like I said earlier they make my playing sound sloppy. I know I'm not the best drummer but I have never sounded that off when I recorded my acoustics. I literally thought I had a good take, not a keeper but decent, then when I listened back, I was embarrassed. I just hope another drummer doesn't hear me play out with these until I figure out how to get things right.

I live at a resort and their was a drummer there last week who had an old roland kit and Sabians. The kick sounded great, the snare was way too loud, the toms got lost. The cymbals didn't fit. So now I don't know what to think! I asked him about how he setup his kit and he didn't do diddly, plus they ran sound from the stage.

So the saga continues! If anyone knows anybody who records with one of these sets or plays live, please let me know.

Later
 
Thanks for your input, Fita.
I too have programmed all my rims to match my heads.
I would do a good tom fill only to hear back in the recording the cowbell I accidently hit on the rim!
If you want to hear what I have done with my Yamaha DTX,
Check out http://www.mp3.com, and type in "The Wedgies" under artist. I played all the instruments on "Finish Me Off", which is the only song posted there with the DTX kit.
All the other songs are with my drummer Mark Seyler, who is not only much better than I, but who is playing his acoustic Yamaha Studio Standard kit.
Tell me what you think?
DJ
 
DTX Live

Cool site! Just found it. I got the DTX system about 2 1/2 years ago. I was a hard core acoustic guy for years, then landed a gig where no one used amps! Everyone ran through processors and then direct to the board. My solution was to split the DTX outputs into a Rolls 6X4 rack mixer (to sub-mix), then to the board. This gave me on the fly control since there was no sound guy - or at least no one that knew how to mix drums. The DTX has about a zillion settings. Two settings that I found really made a major improvement in overcoming the "electronic drums trade-off" is: Velocity cross-fade and RIMKeyOn. If you have not played with these settings - DO!!! I am now starting to do some recording with the DTX, so any input would be great!!!

ZickosMan
 
Hey check out vdrums.com that site has some cool stuff we can steal!

When I play live, I record about 7 measures and let the module run, then I go out by the board and let my band play along. Then I can internally tweak, seems to work well.

The main problem with the manaul is that it really doesn't tell you what each setting will do! This sux if you don't know diddly about sound.

Zickos do you have problems with your hats not responding, what are your settings?

Later
 
Fita-
The Hi-Hat mis-triggers only when I'm sloppy! Also, I have to lead a bit on the HH pedal or the sound tends to be late. Just a querk you get used to. This set really forces you to clean up your playing. What settings are you looking for? Also, try to get a copy of the "DTX video manual". After reading the printed copy several times, I was still completely confused. The 2 set video has three differant drummers doing a demo on most all of the settings plus hints and tips. Really helped clear up things.

ZickosMan
 
That's why I'll never buy anything by Roland.
All thier manuals are too confusing and unreadable. They make no sense at all.
Sometimes I wonder if they have a staff of dyslexic Keebler elves writing thier manuals. :D
 
DTX Video Manual

I got a copy through the local music store where I got my set. I think it's a Yamaha dealer thing, so I don't know if you can order it outright. The dealer should be able to get it.

ZickosMan
 
DTX Video Manual

If you're gonna spend $2,000. on this kit, GET THIS!

Thanks Zicko's! This video is great, it explains all.
 
Fita & Zickos:
You sound happy!!!
I'll go get the video, too.
DJ
 
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